Written by John Conley
VP Commercial Print and Publishing, Xerox Corporation

Have you been following the story of Google’s acquisition of Frommer’s Travel in August of 2012, and the subsequent news just last March that the newly-owned Google company would no longer be producing print versions of their travel guide? Well, there is now another twist in this ongoing saga, but this time it’s a positive turn for consumers of the travel guide series and the print industry as a whole.

Just last week, news broke that Frommer’s had reacquired their business from Google. The Wall Street Journal reported that a delighted Arthur Frommer, founder of the Frommer’s business, stated his intention to “publish some 40 titles, 20 of which will be available digitally and in print, and the other half available only in print”.

In a world with the prevalence of tablets and smartphones growing by the day, print should not be forgotten. This is especially true in the eyes of a traveler, either with a desire to disconnect and unplug while traveling, or a necessity to do so due to lack of Wi-Fi, exorbitant roaming charges, or confusing/expensive/incompatible international phone plans. For these reasons, printed guidebooks help provide travelers with peace of mind and an always-faithful resource.

Case in point: a 2012 study was conducted to assess the types of technologies and resources being used by tourists visiting Ireland.

The intent was to provide tangible data to tourism businesses on usage of travel guides and mobile devices by visitors. The study identified that the majority of respondents (37%) stated to using physical hard copy travel guide books for information and reference, with the second most frequently used resource being information provided by a tour office (17%).

Mobile devices and travel apps represented the third most frequently used category at 14% – a surprise to Ireland’s Tourism Department who initially speculated that mobile devices would be used at a considerably higher rate.

These findings are in line with a recent study conducted by JWT, showing  81% of respondents (and 84% of baby boomers) stated that physical objects personify an endurance that digital objects are not able to recreate. In that same study, 77% said they enjoy the smell and touch of printed books.

This isn’t to say that print should be mutually exclusive to tablets, mobile devices, and other gateways to the digital world. There is a meaningful connection between print and digital, as we’ve seen in countless examples where a digital experience was made more enjoyable by the presence of print, and vice versa.

With an affinity for the tactile and tangible coupled with a baby boomer population that currently accounts for roughly 80% of domestic and foreign leisure travel – there is certainly an enduring value in offering printed travel guides. And Frommer’s agrees.

While print will continue to thrive for Frommer’s in the near term, it will be very interesting to monitor the strategy moving forward for how print and digital are integrated, and how Frommer’s will balance the needs of the emerging digital consumer with the remaining conspicuous consumption years of the baby boomer.

This represents the real opportunity for Frommer’s rebirth in print. It is one thing for print to merely survive, but this is an opportunity for print to thrive and evolve.

Interested in more topics similar to the book publishing industry, digital print, or cross-media integration? Check out:

• Craving Offline Experiences: In Today’s Digital World, Do you Turn to the Physical and Tactile?
• Optimism about the Future of Print Highlighted by Printers in Survey
• Printed Books Making a Comeback Over E-Books
• Connecting Print to the Digital World One Scan at a Time

Written by Howard Fenton
Senior Technology Consultant
NAPL

According to a recent Wall Street Journal (WSJ) article, the death of the printed book has been greatly exaggerated. The article points to the results of a Pew Research Center survey that showed that the percentage of adults who have read an e-book rose modestly over the last year from 16% to 23%. It also showed that 89% of print book readers say they have read at least one printed book during the last year while only 30% report reading a single e-book during the same period.

The article goes on to suggest that e-book popularity might have been an anomaly. Author Nicholas Carr writes, “The initial e-book explosion is starting to look like an aberration. The technology’s early adopters, a small but enthusiastic bunch, made the move to e-books quickly and in a concentrated period. Further converts will be harder to come by.”

Not only is there evidence to support the growth of printed books, there is also evidence of a shift in printing technologies used for books, from offset and toner to inkjet technologies. In the InfoTrends study, “US Digital Production Printing Forecast 2011 to 2016″ InfoTrend predicts an increase of 52 billion pages printed on digital devices and that a transfer will occur from toner-based devices to inkjet presses.

With all the talk of inkjet presses in the last few years, it should be no surprise to learn that there are new shows being offered that are dedicated to inkjet production printing. I just accepted an invitation to participate in the new Inkjet Summit event this April 9-11.

The WSJ article also points out that a survey by Bower Market Research found that only 16% of Americans have actually purchased an e-book and a whopping 59% said they had no interest in buying one. But I’m not exactly sure if a lack of interest in purchasing e-books equates to no interest in e-books at all, because public libraries allow people to withdraw e-books and just like in the music industry, there are sites that allow free downloads of e-books.

But perhaps the most interesting aspect of this article is this speculation that e-books and printed books may be application specific. In other words, e-books may be better suited for readers of fiction, thrillers and romances. And paper books, which the WSJ claims it is for “weightier fare”, may be better suited for literary fiction and narrative nonfiction.

Personally, I don’t agree with the idea that certain kinds of books are better suited for one medium or the other. For me the decision is much more basic, much like the decision we make in the supermarket of either paper or plastic. I don’t use paper for certain purchases and plastic for others, most people prefer one or the other. However if you made a better bag, that might impact my decision. For example, there’s a lot of excitement about a new Amazon Kindle Paperwhite feature that predicts how long it will take to finish the chapter. A better e-book might motivate more readers of e-books.

What’s your opinion? Are you buying more printed books or electronic books? Do you prefer to read certain types of books electronically and others on paper?

Interested in more topics similar to e-books and printed books? You may like:

• Markets and Apps: E-Books vs. Printed Books
• Are E-Books & E-Readers Killing Printed Books
•  Amazon’s New Kindles: Disruptive Price of a Disruptive Technology for the Book Industry
• Kodak Makes News with On Demand Books – and That’s Good News for Xerox Corporation
• Optimism About the Future of Print Highlighted by Printers in Survey

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Howard Fenton is a consultant and business advisor at NAPL. Howie advises commercial printers and in-plants on benchmarking performance against industry leaders, increasing productivity through workflow management, adding and integrating new digital services, and adding value through customer research. He is a paid contributor to this blog.

Written by Jo Oliphant
Manager, Continuous Feed Europe, Xerox Corporation

Let’s take a moment to recap Hunkeler Innovationdays (HID), which recently took place in Lucerne, Switzerland. As trade shows go, this one rewrites all the rules typically followed and that’s probably because the host of the show is a vendor themselves; Hunkeler AG. My experiences with trade shows is that typically everyone wants to try and be bigger than everyone else, which has resulted in some elaborate and elegant stand designs, some of which don’t actually work effectively! Inevitably, the trade show venues have expensive food and drink for sale and there is a lot of walking to do. HID levels all of that. One hall, food and drink is supplied, the big vendors all have the same floor space and there are strict limits on how high (and therefore how big) everything is. The result? A more “industrial” approach to stand design. The best part of HID is the attendees: almost all are decision makers or key influencers and that calibre of attendee is reflected in the depth of conversations taking place.

Let’s take a look at what Xerox had to say at HID 2013.

At Hunkeler 2011, Xerox announced the CiPress 500 Production Inkjet System. Hunkeler 2013 saw the introduction of the Single Engine Duplex (SED) variant, extending the capability of the press to customers who either do not have the volume or the space to merit a Twin Engine Duplex (TED) system but still want to take advantage of printing vibrant colours on commodity offset stocks with strong process controls, a very powerful FreeFlow Print Server and strong environmental credentials (everyone wants this attribute, but doesn’t want to have to pay extra for it).

This new variant offers customers an additional growth path and also the capability of additional resilience for customers with TED installations. Some customers may start with a SED and as volumes grow can upgrade to a second SED and configure it to run either as two separate SED’s or one TED…meaning if one system requires maintenance then the other engine can be configured to run on its own, maintaining some level of productivity.  Secondly, if a customer has a very short turnaround time on a job but has a larger job running at the same time, then it’s entirely feasible to run both SED’s with different jobs in parallel.

The CiPress platform is showing itself to be extremely capable in respect of its media handling capabilities. Some 30+ different applications were on show for customers to take away, including live work from a German CiPress customer; CWN Druck. This live work included children’s customised catalogues with a digital outer shell and offset printed contents, the digital shell from the Bon Prix catalogue (Bon Prix are part of the very large Otto Group) and tool catalogues on 40gsm paper. In addition to these there were also postcards on 9pt (220gsm) stock, some books on different plain papers and the real “wow” application of a very heavy coverage flyer printed on 29gsm stock. This super light stock is bible paper and CiPress is the only inkjet capable of printing onto this weight of stock, the only other way of printing this is to use an offset press.

Xerox previewed a new product called the Color 8250 Production Press attracting a lot of customer interest. This is an 8,250 full colour A4 sheets per hour cut sheet printer intended for transactional or direct mail volumes between 1 and 3 million A4’s per month.

The 8250 prints on plain uncoated papers and offers more of a business colour quality than graphic arts quality colour and better fits what might typically be expected on transactional, direct mail and trans-promo applications. It is powered by the FreeFlow Print Server as available on every other Xerox Production Press and is expected to ship in Europe early in Quarter 3 2013.

Xerox also reinforced the messaging on workflow and had GMC , XMPie and Solimar Systems all demonstrating how their workflows can elegantly connect different customers business requirements to ensure optimised presentation of their information for a variety of different output platforms. In addition to the workflow and the print platforms, Xerox continued to reinforce the story on business development; an area which many companies take advantage of from Xerox.

Did you attend HID 2013? What did you think? Did you see anything that made you say “wow”?

Interested in more topics similar to Hunkeler and Inkjet technology? You may like:

• What the Impika Acquisition Means for Xerox and our Customers
• Overall Equipment Efficiency (OEE)
• Newspapers: Sustainable Business Model or Yesterday’s News
• Printed Customer Communications – Marketing Opportunity or Inconvenience?
• Can Digital, Inkjet and Offset Production Printing Coexist?
• Is Digital Printing Killing Offset?

Written by Mary Roddy
Marketing Manager, Premier Partners Global Network
Xerox Corporation

Innovative personalized chocolate packaging that produces $100,000 in profit through a single holiday season, a direct marketing campaign that helps Mercedes-Benz UK achieve a 53:1 ROI, a wedding invitation book that helps drive over $2.5 million in revenue….what do all of these have in common? They are all previous winners of the Xerox Best-of-the-Best Program, a worldwide award contest, open exclusively to members of the Xerox Premier Partners Network.

This program draws participation from the most successful and innovative print shops across the globe, showcasing creativity and business impact using Xerox digital technology. In addition to recognition of great digital work by the graphic communications community, winners receive outstanding marketing and promotional opportunities. Each winning entrant is featured in a case study which can be used with customers and prospects, posted on the web, discussed in presentations, and as a proof point in email and direct marketing campaigns. Winners are showcased at regional, national, and international industry tradeshows/events and also in international press releases.

Today we’re announcing the 2013 Xerox Best-of-the-Best Program will open for entries on January 8, 2013. Members of the Premier Partners Network can submit their work in any of the following categories:

-Books
-Collateral (Web-to-Print)
-Digital and Offset
-Digital Packaging
-Direct Marketing
-Photo Publishing
-TransPromo

If you are a member of the Premier Partners Network –be sure to take advantage of this tremendous opportunity! On January 8th, visit the Best-of-the-Best website at www.xerox.com/bestofthebest to get started.

If you are not a member of the Xerox Premier Partners Network, visit the Premier Partners Portal today at www.xeroxpremierpartners.com to learn about the program and benefits members receive, and become a member!

You’ll want to hurry – this year’s Best-of-the-Best Contest closes April 3, 2013!

Written by Mary Roddy
Global Marketing Manager, Xerox Premier Partners Global Network
Xerox Corporation

Written by Kevin Horey
Vice President, Product Marketing Solutions
Xerox Graphic Communications Business Group

At Graph Expo inChicago next week, we’re reminding the graphic communications industry that in a world full of color, black and white still brings in the green.

We’re doing this to support the introduction of the Nuvera^® 157EA Production System and the Xerox Nuvera^® 314EA Production Perfecting System.

We’re bullish on black-and-white printing.  Why? According to InfoTrends, digital production black-and-white cut-sheet volumes for short-run and on-demand books will grow at a nearly 10 percent rate through 2016.

Delivering technology that delivers superior black-and-white output has long been a Xerox commitment – the new Nuvera production systems speak to that focus.

A long-time user of the Nuvera line, Andrew Liszewski, production manager, Matrix Imaging Solutions, agreed to test the Nuvera 314EA system, which produces 314 pages-per-minute in its dual-engine format.

The system has improved continuous tone image quality, a more powerful controller, and productivity enhancers like the IntegratedPLUS Finishing Solution for Booklets offering both automatic in-line and off-line finishing.

And we’re making it easier for users with a new ergonomically friendly production stacker that unloads finished applications while the system is still operating.

The system’s overall productivity boost enabled Matrix Imaging Solutions to apply a 5-to1 ratio of machines to operators as compared its usual 2-to-1 ratio.

For many businesses, these are the kind of advancements needed to ensure black-and-white printers make significant revenue and profit contribution well into the future.

How is your black-and-white business? What applications are you producing? Are you taking advantage of the digital book publishing surge?

Written By By, John Conley
Vice President of Publishing
Xerox Corporation

On Demand Books has announced a partnership with Eastman Kodak Company and ReaderLink to provide photo books through the KODAK Picture Kiosks.  This is great news for the photo book market as well as the book publishing market.

Both photo books and on demand self publishing books are solutions that are aimed at meeting the growing customer requirement of “what we want, when we want it, the way we want it.”

This is a benefit that the Espresso Book Machine (EBM) and its supporting software technology uniquely bring to the consumer retail experience.  This agreement will further enhance the growing reputation and value of On Demand Books’ EBM solution in both photo and books.

This new growth channel for the EBM solution is also great news for us.  Xerox is both a channel partner and an investor in On Demand Books.  We have worked hard to help increase the visibility of On Demand Books and to investigate all of the potential opportunities and sales channels where the EBM technology can create an exciting and profitable retail experience.

I believe this opportunity will further enhance the On Demand Books and EBM brand while at the same time create a second channel for sales – which Xerox views as complimentary to the book stores, libraries and universities where many EBMs are located today.  The different needs and purchasing practices of end users is one of the reasons why EBM will succeed in various settings.

Xerox will continue to support these kinds of efforts because we support books ~ and their long shelf life.

So, what would drive you, as a consumer of photo or published books, to a retail outlet to try out this technology?