Excerpted from Calling All Authors - How to Publish with Your Eyes Wide Open, Copyright 2006 All Rights Reserved.

CHAPTER 8

Printing since the Gutenburg Bible.

The oldest books are still only just out to those who have not read them. --Samuel Butler, 1835-1902

     For the typical writer, how his book is printed may be immaterial; he just wants to see it in print. Yet, for the publisher, the marketplace and the consumer, how a book is printed makes all the difference in the world. The evolution of printing, since the first practical press was invented in Germany by the goldsmith and printer Johannes Gutenberg in ca. 1447, has produced sequentially greater productivity and wider readership with increasingly faster creation and delivery systems.
     Simply put, Gutenberg applied the ancient technique of the wine press to moveable metal letters.
     The evolution of early printing is summed up this way:
    Around 1040, the first known movable type system was created in China by Bi Sheng out of baked clay. Metal movable type was first invented in Korea during the Goryeo Dynasty (around 1230). Neither movable type systems was widely used, one reason being the enormous Chinese character set.
    Around 1450, in what is regarded as an independent invention, Johannes Gutenberg introduced movable type in Europe, along with innovations in casting the type based on a matrix and hand mould. Gutenberg was the first to create his type pieces from an alloy of lead, tin and antimony – the same components still used today.
    Compared to woodblock printing, movable type page-setting was quicker and more durable. The metal type pieces were more durable and the lettering was more uniform, leading to typography and fonts. The high quality and relatively low price of the Gutenberg Bible (1455) established the superiority of movable type, and printing presses rapidly spread across Europe, leading up to the Renaissance, and later all around the world. Today, practically all movable type printing ultimately derives from Gutenberg's movable type printing, which is often regarded as the most important invention of the second millennium.
       [www.Wikipedia.org]

     Letterpress printing is a term for printing text with movable type, in which the raised surface of the type is inked and then pressed against a smooth substance to obtain an image in reverse. In addition to the direct impression of inked movable type onto paper or another receptive surface, the term letterpress can also refer to the direct impression of inked media such as zinc "cuts" (plates) onto a receptive surface.
     Early Chinese woodblock printing used characters or images carved in relief from before 750AD, and this form of printing was widespread throughout Eurasia as a means of printing patterns on textiles. Printing of images, first on cloth, then from about 1400 on paper was practiced in Europe. In the 1400s, Johann Gutenberg (among others) is credited with the invention of movable type printing from individually-cast, reusable letters set together in a forme (frame). This had previously been invented in Asia, but the two inventions were probably not connected. He also invented a wooden printing-press where the type surface was inked and paper laid carefully on top by hand, then slid under a padded surface and pressure applied from above by a huge threaded screw. Later metal presses used a knuckle and lever arrangement instead of the screw, but the principle was the same.
    
     With the advent of industrial mechanization, the inking was carried out by rollers which would pass over the face of the type and move out of the way onto a separate ink-bed where they would pick up a fresh film of ink for the following sheet. Meanwhile a sheet of paper was slid against a hinged platen (see image) which was then rapidly pressed onto the type and swung back again to have the sheet removed and the next sheet inserted (during which operation the now freshly-inked rollers would run over the type again). In a fully-automated 20th century press, the paper was fed and removed by vacuum sucker grips.
     Rotary presses were used for high-speed work. In the oscillating press, the forme slid under a drum around which each sheet of paper got wrapped for the impression, sliding back under the inking rollers while the paper was removed and a new sheet inserted. In a newspaper press, a papier-mâché mixture (flong) was used to make a mould of the entire forme of type, then dried and bent, and a curved metal plate cast against it. The plates were clipped to a rotating drum, and could thus print against a continuous reel of paper at the enormously high speeds required for overnight newspaper production.
     As computerized typesetting and imaging replaced cast metal types, letterpress began to die out, as high-speed photographic imaging onto smooth flexible plates, known as offset litho, printing became more economical.
     A small amount of high-quality art and hobby letterpress printing remains — fine letterpress work is crisper than offset litho because of its impression into the paper, giving greater visual definition to the type and artwork. Today, many of these small letterpress shops survive by printing fine editions of books or by printing upscale invitations and stationery. They are just as likely to use old printing methods as new, for instance by printing photopolymer plates (used in modern rotary letterpress) on restored 19th century presses.
    The process requires a high degree of craftsmanship, but in the right hands, letterpress excels at fine typography. It is used by many small presses that produce fine handmade limited-edition books and artists' books.  [Information from www.Wikipedia.org]
    

    Now, leap forward to 1997. This year marks the beginning of the high-speed, digital revolution in printing with the advent of Lightning Source, Inc., an offshoot of Ingram Book Company. Since the first books came off the presses to make the first three-hundred books at LSI, the marketplace has altered irrevocably.  From the Lightning Source Website, here is the information in a nutshell:
   

• Lightning Source is the leader in demand-driven book manufacturing and distribution solutions to the publishing industry. We are a customer-focused organization that manufactures superior quality books for publishers, in any quantity, and ships them all over the world.
• Our company was launched in 1997
• We are a subsidiary of Ingram Industries Inc.
• Our headquarters are located in LaVergne, Tennessee
• We have production facilities in both the US and UK
• We print over 1 million books every month and our average print run is 1.8 copies. 
• Our digital library houses over 400,000+ titles
• We have manufactured over 33,000,000+ books to date
• We are partners with the leading book wholesalers and retailers in the book industry
• We are delighted to work with over 4300+ publishers - large and small.  The concept of printing one book at a time, better known as Print On Demand, took hold for titles previously out of print, and for books produced for sale on the internet. Many printing firms have stepped into this realm, worldwide, allowing for global production of books as never before.

   
    The battle royal between established commercial publishers and a new wave of POD publishers ensued, and has created true publishing freedom along with publishing chaos for writers and authors everywhere. The marketplace in the United States alone now struggles under a yearly explosion of 200,000 and more books published by self-publishers, small and medium-sized independent publishers, enormous author mills and commercial publishers (sometimes called traditional publishers). 
   
    The online bookstores such as Amazon.com, BarnesandNoble.com, Borders.com and the like market their books, which are now typically printed after they are sold, to a global market. Every publisher, whether a self-publisher or a mainstream firm, has a website with a bookstore, where the books are available to any who come to browse. Book clubs, philanthropic organizations, online specialty stores, writing services, writer’s organizations, publisher groups, television infomercials and just about every imaginable outlet store from Wal-Mart to Costco and Sam’s Club sells books where most of the books are printed before they are sold, or they are returns jobbed out for deep discount sale (for outlet stores in particular).
   
    The initial financial risks involved with one at a time printing are minimal. The cost of the file upload service and the per book cost at the time of printing represent the only outlay required. Of course, the actual costs of editing, cover and interior layout and design, marketing and publicity add to this. But, at the bare bones of the work, print on demand eliminates the pre-press expenses of film, plates, lengthy proof corrections and re-casting of the film and plates. The time frame of bringing a book to production status is reduced from months to about ten working days, and faster if the firm has a smaller load to manage.
   
    The absolute need to warehouse books is soon to be a thing of the past. This doesn’t mean that books are no longer warehoused. They are.  The lower per book cost of offset printing of books make the viability of first and second print runs of as few as a thousand to several million books attractive for books that have a demand in the marketplace.  Distributors work with warehoused books, and wholesalers do as well. However, the virtual inventory is a reality for any book printed digitally. 
    For example, Ingram’s iPage lists the hard copy and virtual inventory for each publisher, showing a virtual inventory of one hundred books for the digitally produced titles. A virtual inventory refers to the capacity of the printer to produce one hundred books in under forty-eight hours from order to shipping. The actual inventory may be one or two books ready for immediate shipping. Color books, such as illustrated children’s books, take up to four working days, but this time frame is dropping fast. Just one year ago in 2005, printing color books required about ten working days.
   
    The initial downside of digital printing in the marketplace was simply that if a book was not actually in a warehouse somewhere, it was technically out of print, or on back order. Bookstores will not order books that carry either status. So, the wholesalers devised the virtual inventory to correct this issue. And, since a digitally produced book will ship just as fast as a warehoused book, the virtual inventory makes the books available to the bookstore just as quickly as the actual hard copy inventory does.
   
    The price differential of print cost per book is where digital printing still lags behind offset printing. In spite of the fast turnaround time, the per copy cost of a digitally printed book runs about 42% higher than an offset printed book. Of course, the cost of paper affects print costs, as do the kind of printers who quote the offset pricing. Print on demand books from LSI are all printed on the same 55 pound cream paper or white paper, and if the author or publisher wants a 60 pound glossy white paper, he can’t get it. Why? The high speed presses smear the ink on glossy paper.

   There are as many offset print quotes as there are offset printers, and given some competition, a savvy publisher can bring down the print cost of offset printing even more. But, the outlay of several thousand to several tens of thousands of dollars to produce a print run is typically beyond the self-publisher, the small publisher, and those who believe the books they are publishing will not create the marketplace demand to support an offset print run.
   
    The leading wholesalers and bookstores will list LSI printed books on in-store search computers and virtual inventories. However, the leading distributors require offset printed books and a hard copy inventory. Major booksellers such as Barnes and Noble and Borders can order in LSI books from the Bowker Books In Print virtual inventory listings, Ingram or Baker & Taylor virtual inventory listings. But, they are hard pressed to put LSI books on the shelves, except in a very limited way for a local author booksigning. Per book print cost drives the marketplace, and digitally printed books are still too expensive for widespread distribution where the demand must exist for the books to be put on the shelves.
   
    Distributors sell books to bookstores, not the wholesalers or printers. This is why the offset print run is still a requirement to get books on the shelves. Unfortunately, the self-publisher, the independent press, and the writers serviced by author mills and POD vanity firms are typically unaware of this circumstance, and once made aware of it, will back away from the bookstore market rather quickly. Even the groups and organizations that support the self-publisher and the small publisher, such as Publisher’s Marketing Association, Book Sense, SPAN, and many others, carry with them a strong bias toward offset printed books.
   
    POD or one book at a time printing is perfect for the internet. The costs incurred with digital printing are not so great an issue for books sold direct from author or publisher to the consumer, as is the case for website direct sales.
    For authors whose publishers sell their book on publisher websites, it is important to understand the difference in royalty structure required between the Amazon.com bookstore and the publisher’s or author’s own website. Amazon.com (and the other online bookstores) first takes the customary 55% wholesale discount off the top of the retail price, discounts the book about 30%, and sells it with a margin of 25%. So, to illustrate:
    Consumer Retail price:     $19.95
    Wholesale 55% discount: $10.97
    Amazon Purchase price:   $ 8.98
    Sells at 30% off retail       $13.98
                                        $ 4.98 Amazon’s Profit
   
    Publisher Income:   $ 8.98
    Print cost:             $ 4.92
    Publisher net:        $ 4.06
   
    Author royalty comes from the publisher net. If the author is a self-publisher, he gets all the revenue. If he has a publisher, then the percentage stipulated in his contract is what he will receive. The range of author royalty is typically from 8% to 70% depending on the publisher’s business model.
    Also, the time required for the money to filter from Amazon (or any bookstore for that matter) back to the publisher is typically three to six months. The publisher may pay semi-annually or annually, depending on the way he gets paid by the industry sources he works with.
    Sales on the publisher’s website are far better for the author, though they may not be as plentiful.
   
    For example:
   
    Consumer Retail price:     $19.95
    Print cost:                     $  4.92
    Publisher net:                $ 15.03
   
    Even with a 30% discount to compete with the Amazon discount, the results are much more advantageous on a website:
   
    Consumer Retail price:     $19.95
   
    Sells at 30% off retail      $13.98
    Print cost:                     $  4.92
    Publisher net:                $  9.06
   
    Shipping costs are paid by the consumer and are included in the sale to the publisher, covering those costs. The books are printed and sent directly from the printer to the consumer, so there is no fulfillment expense for website direct sales either.
   
    I learned all of this first-hand. Experience is truly the best teacher. The world is filled with hopeful, talented authors, most of whom are unprepared to become self-publishers. The background in the print industry that helps make a good publisher is usually not part of the common man’s skill set.
    When I started Nightengale Press to become a self-publisher, I had worked in advertising as a copywriter, had worked with the first computer typesetters, had owned a letterpress print shop making custom greeting cards using artwork made from medieval block print techniques transferred to zincs and printed on antique crash print machines, and I was a computer graphic designer. I had been an educator for many years. I brought to my first books and authors a strong ability to design the books, understanding of the print industry, the personality to learn all there is to know about the publishing industry and provide education for my authors. Nightengale Press is truly author-centric and strives to support our authors fully and completely.