The Printers' Evolution
BB: What segment(s) of the book market are currently most impacted by short- and ultra-short-run printing models?
Spall: All of our segments are using digital print in short- and ultra-short-run manners with slight variations. Within the trade segment, we commonly see publishers using ultra-short-run (one to 50 books) for [advanced reader copies (ARCs)] and for managing the end-of-life reprints. In the university press segment, we are seeing a lot of initial print runs using a short-run model (50 to 250), and our religious segment is using digital to produce reprints in varying run counts. Other segments such as graphic novels, [science, technical, medical (STM)] and journals use digital for short, ultra-short and, in some cases, over 500 count in order to expedite book delivery. …