Offset

This week an article in the NY Times went viral. Well, it spread around the publishing industry anyway, so maybe we should say it had a slight head cold? The article speaks to some publishers adding special design effects on the covers of certain titles. The effects include elaborate embossing, special photographs, a shiny gold Rorschach, etc.

ROCHESTER, N.Y. — French print service provider Maugein Imprimeurs has entered the digital print market after investing in the KODAK NEXPRESS SE2500 Digital Production Color Press. The installation will complement the company’s wide- and small-format offering, and enable it to capitalize on the burgeoning short-run book publishing market. Maugein Imprimeurs began as a newspaper printer before moving into commercial printing. Today the company has a nationwide customer base, comprising large enterprises, public organizations and local businesses. Maugein Imprimeurs operates two sites, at Tulle and at Malemort, for wide-format and

Even as more readers switch to the convenience of e-books, publishers are giving old-fashioned print books a makeover. Publishers are putting more thought into books' aesthetics. Many new releases have design elements usually reserved for special occasions deckle edges, colored endpapers, high-quality paper and exquisite jackets that push the creative boundaries of bookmaking. If e-books are about ease and expedience, the publishers reason, then print books need to be about physical beauty and the pleasures of owning, not just reading. When people do beautiful books, theyre noticed more, said Robert S. Miller, the publisher of Workman Publishing. Its like

Sales of print books fell 18.6% in the first nine months of 2011 in the major trade categories, according to figures reported to the Association of American Publishers. And although e-book sales jumped in the nine months—ahead 137.9% at the 15 reporting houses—the gain was not enough to offset the declines in the print segments. As a result, combined print and e-book sales fell 5.7% in the January–September period at the companies that take part in the AAP monthly survey.

ROCHESTER, N.Y., Dec 1— Digital inkjet book printing first began to draw the attention of printers and publishers at drupa 2008. Today, just a few years later, Kodak has multiple customers in Europe, North America and Asia producing and selling millions of digitally printed books that are virtually indistinguishable from their offset counterparts. Kodak and other leaders in digital book publishing recently gathered at the InterQuest 2011 Digital Book Printing Forum to discuss the latest trends, opportunities and success stories in an industry brimming with change. During the forum, many leading book publishers, printers and distributors highlighted their success

Germany, which invented the printing industry more than 500 years ago and dominates the market to this day, has lost its talent for making money from the presses. In the weeks before manroland’s insolvency filing, the company negotiated with Switzerland’s Capvis Equity Partners AG, before talks broke down amid “differing ideas” about the company’s future, Capvis Partner Daniel Flaig said yesterday.

“All solutions failed because of a lack of financial support,” deputy chairman of the supervisory board Juergen Kerner said.

manroland’s collapse highlights the threat to manufacturers as banks curtail financing of machinery that sells mainly to small- and mid-sized customers.

Edwards Brothers announced that it has received chain-of-custody certification from the Programme for the Endorsement of Forest Certification (PEFC) for both its Ann Arbor and Lillington, North Carolina, offset manufacturing facilities.  Edwards Brothers now carries certifications from PEFC, the Forest Stewardship Council®, and the Sustainable Forestry Initiative® programs.

Yurchak Printing has acquired the intangible assets and select equipment of Gonic, NH-based Odyssey Press. Details of the transaction were not revealed. The NAPL mergers and acquisitions team advised Yurchak Printing on the deal.

(h/t Printing Impressions)

We are always just “that close” to putting paper publishing out of its misery and tossing words like “binding” into the same nostalgia heap where “film” and “camera ready graphics” live. Yet the success of books like "Reamde" tells a different story.  Their defiance of digital bliss has little or nothing to do with what’s more efficient or sustainable or convenient.

At the Postpress Commercial Information Days held in Leipzig from Nov. 1-11, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG (Heidelberg) unveiled an inline system combining a digital book production line from Hunkeler AG, Switzerland, and the Eurobind Pro adhesive binder. This makes it possible to switch between digital and offset print content on a single adhesive binder.