Short Run Digital Printing Is A Godsend!

Leading the news in new and interesting printing technologies, we find that Bookmasters, a trendsetter in book manufacturing arena based in Ashland Ohio, has recently begun offering print on demand services for their stable of publishing contractors.

Short run digital printing appears to be a godsend for smaller publishing houses, and the cost reductions associated with short run digital printing translate directly into either larger than normal runs or increased profits on runs sold.

Ray Sevin, president of Bookmasters Manufacturing Service, shares the following: “Due to the lower cost per impression and the speed of [short run digital printing], we now offer even more options for paperback and casebound print-on-demand jobs and for those looking for more affordable color-text jobs.” So increased profits and larger runs aren’t the only thing smaller publishers are celebrating.

Sevin continues: “With full CYMK inkjet printing, we no longer have to print an entire book in color just to accommodate a few full-color pages. [Short run digital printing] capabilities allow us to drop in a full-color page anywhere in a book at industry leading prices.” Great news for smaller publishers, as well as those who are tired of swapping out the black cartridge in color presses more often than necessary.

Of course, the questions circling this issue are predictable – what about quality? Are there any sacrifices required to implement short run digital printing over competing technologies? And what about offset – isn’t that still the best option overall?

Answers are easily found. While offset is certainly still superior for larger printing runs, short run digital printing is specifically tailored for smaller projects. Since the time spent on setup for offset jobs is the majority of the work, and short run digital printing uses software to perform this task, SRDP ends up costing far less than offset, even on runs up to 4,000 units.

As far as quality is concerned, the results are impressive, even to longstanding supporters of digital printing technology. Presented with a unit sample from an offset run and a digital press run, 3 out of 5 industry professionals say the digital version is superior. It looks like short run digital printing is good news for publishers and manufacturers alike.

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