Special Report: Printers' Outlook: Not Your Father's (or Mother's) Book Manufacturers
Second, we have offered e‑book conversion along with our print editions, so publishers have one point of contact for all the formats that their consumers –request.
Beisser: What are some of the trends you're seeing among your publishing customers?
Twomey: Trade sales are most affected by digital readers. While the overall digital share of trade sales is now around 20 percent, some best-sellers will have 50 percent of sales in electronic formats. Education is much less affected, as there is institutional resistance to change, and as e‑books are generally a value-added offering and not a replacement [for print]. Reference and b-to-b sales were affected by electronic substitution several years ago, and changes in these segments are modest. E‑books do reduce total print sales, but they also make demand-planning more difficult. As a result, reprint lead times are dropping. The fall trade cycle has seen a higher peak relative to the summer than in prior years.