34 Cost-Cutting and Time-Saving Production Tips

30. Ask about off-peak discounts.
Publishers may be able to take advantage of cost incentives to manufacture new and reprint titles during off-peak periods. For Transcontinental, for example, the off-peak season, during which publishers are offered incentives, is January through April, says Beaudin.

31. Spend less on cover art.
Cover designs, especially in the textbook market, are becoming less “sophisticated” in terms of features like stamping and embossing, Beaudin notes.

32. Standardize sizes and materials utilized.
“Publishers need to standardize their products both in terms of sizes and materials. Products that ‘fit’ the conventional supply side are more economical to produce,” says Beaudin.

33. Seek manufacturing solutions that can expedite the process.
“On the manufacturing side, zero make-ready presses are also speeding up the process,” he says. “Digital printing and customized publishing continue to grow significantly.”

34. Attention to prepress is critical.
According to Beaudin, more emphasis on file-production options that can be supported by new technologies farther down the line reduces unit costs. Where appropriate, prepress solutions such as electronic file transfer, soft proofing and “proofless” workflow can speed the process. “This is the most important factor for publishers to consider,” he says.

“The most critical part of the process is prepress,” he stresses. “Increasingly, publishers are adapting to the new technologies and providing PDF-certified files. Providing files that are … error-free is essential to streamlining the entire workflow. The only factor that remains in place for presses and bindery is that they become faster and more productive.”