IBM Corporation

Why On Demand?
May 1, 1999

by Tatyana Sinioukov At BookTech '99, publishers and printers shared success stories of turning to print-on-demand as a way of keeping reprints and out-of-print titles alive Today, the industry is changing. "Authors are becoming publishers, wholesalers are becoming printers, retailers are becoming printers and publishers," said Larry Brewster, vice president and general manager, Lightning Print, a subsidiary of Ingram Industries, La Vergne, TN, at the BookTech '99 "Digital Short-Run Case Studies" session. Such factors as the digitizing of desktop publishing and distribution and existence of the Internet and print-on-demand are reshaping publishing, he said. "The bookstores are no longer limited by four walls--you can

Publisher Perspective - Book Manufacturing Turnaround Times
November 1, 1998

By Rose Blessing The top brass at printing companies insist that their top priority is finding ways to meet publishers' demands for faster turnaround times, an August feature in this magazine reported. Now, a look at how print buyers view this trend Diane Grossman Assistant Production Manager Publishing Services Academic Press Now and then Diane Grossman asks for a miracle from her printers--and gets it. Yet overall she has not noticed faster industry job turnaround times since joining Academic Press nearly two years ago, she says. On the whole, turnaround times have never been a problem area, possibly because she's able to give her

The Electronic Book Arrives
November 1, 1998

by Tatyana Sinioukov The next big idea -- the electronic book--has materialized in this fall's releases of SoftBook and Rocket eBook by the two Silicon Valley companies, SoftBook Press, Menlo Park, CA, and NuvoMedia, Palo Alto, CA. BookTech asked some publishers their opinion about a possible onslaught of e-book products. Even those who don't believe it will lead to a sudden death of the paper book want to know how the e-book will read, how it will feel when held, how, if at all, it will affect the book-publishing and book-selling businesses and, ultimately, consumers' perception of a book. Is a book a

Managing a World of Content
August 1, 1998

Blast-Off by Rose Blessing Ever sit around brainstorming about a new product idea? Before World Book embarks on the creation of a new product launch, these are some of the questions that development teams typically consider, Ross explains. Concept and Content What kinds of content do you plan to use? Photos, illustrations, text, graphs, charts? How will you get it&emdash;assign it to on-staff writers or illustrators? Derive it from previous products? Gather from a third party? Should a new technology be incorporated, like a hot new kind of image or animation? How much value will it really add? What is the audience? Is it entertainment? How-to? Education? A blend? Is the concept