Somerville, Mass.

Candlewick Press has announced the hiring of John Mendelson as senior vice president of sales and digital initiatives. Mendelson will join the Somerville, Mass.-based children's publisher May 18. He is currently director of trade sales at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, where he has worked for more than a decade in a variety of sales positions.

In 2003, custom publishing was again the fastest growing publishing activity for academic and professional publishers, with most enjoying double-digit sales growth. But some publishers saw little or no profit margin improvement in their custom publishing activities. Why, then, do some custom publishers continue to outperform the industry in sales and profits, while others lag in one or both of these key performance indicators? A Booz Allen Hamilton study, titled Smart Customization, Profitable Growth Through Tailored Business Streams, provides insight into how some companies convert incremental revenue from custom products and services into a better bottom line. Companies who were 'smart customizers' "focused simultaneously on value creation

The paper selection process for books printed digitally differs radically from that of books destined for offset. What designers and production managers should know. Choosing the right paper for a book printed digitally can make or break such on-demand publishing projects. Digital paper has unique reflective, color, sensory, and operational characteristics compared to paper destined for, offset or other printing technologies. For example, digital paper has increased moisture, is smoother, and more dimensionally stable. The more precisely the edges are cut, the more efficiently the paper moves through the press. Digital papers are smoother than offset papers for good toner

Ames On-Demand has released a new version of its popular BookBuild online ordering and content management system. The new release helps publishers better communicate with creative staff, and more easily reuse content across multiple publications, company officials say. It remains directly connected to Ames' high-speed digital presses, allowing custom publishers to manage content, order, and printing entirely online. The update, dubbed version 3.0, provides publishers and writers with a centrally shared, secure publication repository. Users can upload and store content as separate elements, such as chapters, tables of contents, and graphics. Using an online form, publishers can drag+drop the content into templates, get