Making Life Easier
Color may be a large factor, but that doesn’t mean it should be the only consideration when determining if digital book printing is right for you. "Tools and solutions that enable a return on investment and an opportunity to pursue more business," are important reasons, according to Mello. And the printing solution that can do this must be flexible for all parties involved.

"Digital book printers should look for a solution that provides them with the flexibility to produce different types of books," shares Dwivedi. Hence, the hardware device should have the following attributes, substrate and format flexibility, VDP capabilities, ease of integration, and top-notch quality," he adds.

Digital workflow automation is the key to flexibility. Conley says, "You have to have the ability of automated workflow, without it, the process becomes labor intensive. And you can’t make money in a digital book publishing venue with labor intensive practices. If you try, you will be severely handicapped on a cost basis."

If a device doesn’t have a flexible workflow, then it won’t be easy to work with over the long term, especially if you want to expand your offerings. Instead of buying an entirely new print system, it is a lot easier to integrate into an existing, flexible one. "Digital gives you the ability to do more things with your workflow," explains Broadhurst, "like monitor it remotely at any time."

Ease-of-use and convenience are other important considerations. Digital photobooks allow people to upload photos from their homes by downloading their own photo publishing software. This diminishes the need to run out of the house. Photos, photo albums, and personalized greeting cards can be created in under 24 hours at many retail outlets and Web sites including Wal-greens, Costco, and Shutterfly. "We like fast food, we don’t like to go out and wait in line. The soccer mom doesn’t have time, they want to drop their kid off and get errands done," Nguyen says. Ease-of-use is a central theme in everyone’s life—whether it is the consumer, publisher, or printer.

Binding it All Up
The right finishing equipment has the potential to cut time and save printers money. The appeal of finishing equipment is all in the automation. A 2006 PRIMIR funded study, Installed Base and Market Potential for Traditional Bindery and Finishing Technologies, reports that 95 percent of the new perfect bindery devices in the next five years will be automated. Less human intervention means fewer opportunities for mistakes.

Hunt believes automation is a common denominator in book publishing. "[This] drives a series of benefits that are mission critical for digital book publishers. Automation also equates to ease of use, which means you can train and cross-train operators faster and easier, providing greater staffing flexibility. Quick set-ups and changeovers are absolutely necessary for short-run digital books."

Commonly, finishing equipment is neglected. "Much of the historical focus in the digital book manufacturing market segment was on the speed and quality improvements of the various digital print engine technologies. However, one should focus even more on the quality of the finished product," Fetherman stresses.

Hunt agrees, "Post press used to be an after-thought, but savvy book producers today are aware of the labor costs and set-up waste that result when you drive digital book production through binding and trimming lines designed for long-run offset. Post press workflow and equipment are now recognized as important pieces of the production puzzle that deserve early consideration. The bind quality of digitally-produced books must be as least as good as offset books, whether the run length is one or 100,000."

A Sticky Situation
As digital photobooks gain popularity, manufacturers of perfect bindery equipment are feeling the heat. Traditional perfect binders are compatible with three different types of glue, ethylene vinyl acetate (EVA), polyvinyl acetate (PVA), and polyurethane reactive (PUR). Unfortunately, EVA and PVA do not stick well to coated paper stocks like those used in photobooks. If you try to bind coated paper with EVA or PVA glues, which only adhere to bond paper, the book would fall apart in less than a week.

PUR on the other hand could last a lifetime. Besides adhering to coated paper, there are other benefits of PUR glue, as described by National Starch and Chemical. It can hold materials together in temperatures up to 200 degrees Fahrenheit and it will not fracture at temperatures as low as minus 45 degrees Fahrenheit. PUR is flexible and less of it is required, preventing unnecessary glue from seeping out of the binding. It will not dissolve when exposed to alcohol, toluene, or gasoline. And lastly, PUR is very durable. Page pull tests average up to 40 to 60 percent better than with other adhesives.

Unfortunately, perfect binder machines that work well with PUR go for one to two million dollars and are traditionally used by big name printers who do the bindings for large magazine publishing houses. For smaller digital book printers that cost cannot be justified, especially for short runs.

Companies like Duplo USA are responding to this problem. In June 2008, at DRUPA, Duplo will offer an automatic DPB 500 perfect binder that is compatible with PUR glue.

An Interactive Marketplace
Lulu.com is a digital marketplace where users create paperbacks, hardcovers, photobooks, calendars, posters, and virtually any other user-generated content imagined. Since 2002, up-and-coming authors are able to eliminate traditional publishing barriers by publishing and selling their work on their own. Without sites like Lulu.com this would be virtually impossible. "Hundreds of thousands of titles that might never have made it to market now can because of the very low set up costs in digital printing," explains Andrew Pate, senior VP of global fulfillment and operations, Lulu.com.

The typical workflow process, as outlined by Pate, begins when a user uploads their content; they then build their project, and lastly order a proof. The creator then revises or approves the proof and orders an initial supply.

98 percent of Lulu.com’s business runs this way, by print on demand. In a typical run they print 1.8 books per title. Lulu.com is an avid user of the Xerox portfolio of products, which include the Xerox DocuTech, Nuvera, and iGen 3. Says Pate, "Xerox demonstrates high quality monochrome reproduction and a dedication from a product and marketing standpoint to book publishing needs."

Lulu.com uses a wide variety of finishing devices as well, from Xerox Bookfactory to Duplo USA and Muller Martini. Not only do they offer traditional binding options, but also users visiting Lulu.com’s site are given the option to choose between coil binding and wire binding when creating their book.

Pate finds that there are several challenges when it comes to digital book publishing. One of which are materials, "Materials are of very high quality but variable in terms of shade and finish across vendors and markets. Color reproduction is impacted by the amount of fluorescence and brighteners in paper, so you can get inconsistent results," Pate says.

Self-Publishing Comes of Age
With the growing threat of e-books, UBuildABook is making out just fine. Although short run quantities of digitally printed books are perfect candidates for e-books, digital book publishing is still very cost-effective when printed and bound in quantities under 1,000.

UBuildABook was founded three and a half years ago by a new media entertainment company. As the popularity of digital printing grew it spun-off to form an independent business. The company caters to self-publishers looking to print and distribute their works without the expense/control of a publishing house.

A writer’s attraction to digital book printing is based off of many factors, according to Dennis Sookikian, CEO, UBuildABook, LLC. "Primarily, digital book printing provides the most cost effective means to get a book printed and professionally bound in a short timeframe, along with being able to get reprints in small quantities. Also, digital printing provides the flexibility to print color pages interspersed with B&W pages and the customer pays based on the amount of color pages. It also provides the capability to give a customer a fully bound proof book—a replica of the final book printed on the same device. It also can produce the exact quantity of books desired by the customer. No overs or unders with their associated costs and drawbacks."

Despite these benefits, challenges loom for the business in the area of educating clients. "So few customers are experienced in the digital book printing world," explains Sookikian. "The customer inexperience leads to the necessity of having a customer service and design team to provide customer phone support and at least 75 percent of all incoming files need some type of adjustments to pass prepress."

Despite these challenges UBuildABook prints runs from 25 to 500 books. Using the Internet to generate their business, they are able to turn around an order in anywhere from ten to 14 business days.

The company uses Xerox DocuColor 240/ 250, chosen for its color consistency and compatibility. They also use a HP Designjet 130 for book covers and dust jackets because it prints up to 26 inches wide. Cover preparation follows, with binding right after. Depend-ing on what type of binding is required, there are several finishing devices used. A saddle stitcher is built into the Xerox DocuColor Professional Finisher, which is used in about one percent of business. A Sterling Digibinder by Spiel Associates is used for both hardcover and paperback books. The workflow ends with quality control and preparing the books for shipment.

UBuildABook prints a variety of both hard and soft cover books with full-color wrap around covers. Most include yearbooks, textbooks, art and portfolio books, children and baby books, photo albums, genealogy books, special interest books, scrapbooks, and the typical fiction and non-fiction self-published books.

Staying Power
Publishers continue to push for new ways to create short runs with a faster turnaround time. Their demand is what drives the market. Coincidentally, they will also push for finishing products that fit into their existing workflow. "The envelope will continue to be expanded with regard to comprehensive in-line workflow that marry high-speed print engines with next- generation finishing technologies to virtually eliminate work-in-progress challenges," forecasts Fetherman.

With new products such as personalized story books and digital photobooks rocking the print market, it is only a matter time before a new, revolutionized system of digital book publishing comes our way. As consumers clamor for these high demand products, more publishers will realize the benefits of digital printing. This will create a domino effect, with the print and finishing industries pushed to raise the bar even higher.