Yesterday I attended the 2009 Digital Book Printing Forum in New York City (http://tinyurl.com/dy8tdm). RISO was a sponsor of this event, which was presented by INTERQUEST (www.inter-quest.com). A major topic of discussion was the current and future trends facing the book publishing and printing industry. It was noted that the overall book printing market is flat to slightly declining, but that digital book printing is on the rise. Why? The need for shorter run lengths, faster turnaround time, frequent updates, multiple versions, and personalization. Digital printing enables these trends and allows for significant cost reductions. With digital printing capabilities, more publishers now work without inventory of any kind.

School textbooks represent one of the strongest growth areas for digital book publishing, followed by business trade books. Other book/booklet applications are included in the "STM" segment, which is short for Science, Technical, and Medical. In this area, information is changing so fast that many books are outdated by the time they hit the shelves. Again, digital printing allows for these print-on-demand (POD) requirements so that books can be updated and printed on the spot. Plus, since the cost of manufacturing a book on demand is relatively low, it’s now profitable to print low quantities of many titles and still make a profit. It’s a new era in publishing and printing.