Thinking Globally, Printing Locally. How Publishers Are Looking to Bounce Back in Trying Times

HP Publishing Solutions Thinking globally, printing locally. How publishers are looking to bounce back in trying times. 1 | Thinking globally, printing locally. or publishers, change and And over the last year or so they’ve uncertainty is never far from had to transform, as has every other their door. Fluctuating trends industry, in response to a changing F in commercial popularity, the world and a disrupted supply chain emergence of audiobooks, eBooks, with some areas of the industry online retailers and the slow demise showing remarkable resilience and of the independent bookstore are just even growth. Assessing the fallout some of the examples of what the from one of the biggest upheavals to publishing industry has had to contend life any of us will ever experience, with in the past few years. Before the impact on the industry is that, the explosion of the internet and irrefutable. subsequent boom in digital media consumption meant that publishers’ The global book publishers market models needed to adapt to remain is expected to decline from $92.8 viable. billion in 2019 to $85.9 billion in 2020 at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of -7.5%. “The decline is mainly due to economic slowdown across countries owing to the COVID-19 outbreak and the measures to contain it.”¹ So how does the industry plot a course forward and back into growth? Knowing what the next big trends are, both inside and outside of the industry, can help publishers forecast and plan for the future with confidence. And one opportunity in particular is appealing to many The publishing industry has always publishers as they look to expand and had to adapt to circumstances that explore new revenue streams. are largely out of their control. 2 | Thinking globally, printing locally. On-demand publishing: a new trend? Think globally, act locally is a phrase that has been used for some time, popularised over recent years and used almost as a shorthand by people and organisations driving awareness of the health of the planet. Organisations across the world are on a digital journey, focused to varying degrees on using digital solutions to change the way they do business to drive themselves forward whilst considering the wellbeing of the planet. The Getting started in new countries publishing industry is no different, and setting up new networks in with publishers looking to enable a unfamiliar locales is never simple, digital-first approach to publishing but growing complexities have content, future proofing both their the potential to turn reaching businesses and the future of the new markets into a more difficult world, while increasing efficiencies. undertaking than it already was. Across the industry, there has been While ‘print on demand’ isn’t a new a growing shift towards a strategy concept, it perhaps hasn’t always of on-demand, with events of 2020 been a simple offering to understand, only compounding this trend. The get started or make work for you. ‘print crunch’ caused by COVID-19 But, done correctly, it can drive saw publishers experiencing a efficiencies of time and cost to both severely impaired ability to publish publishers and their customers with supply chains located in regions wherever they are located. And so with lengthy and varying lockdowns. when many other areas of industry Fluid and fast-changing international have benefited from the cloud trade situations such as Brexit also and on-demand, the question has left best laid plans in tatters. to be asked; why not printing? 3 | Thinking globally, printing locally. Why traditional supply chains don’t always work for on-demand printing Publishers’ traditional supply chains have their strengths and weaknesses. They are well suited for managing their main catalogues and best- selling titles, which can be forecasted with relative accuracy. However, publishers face more challenging circumstances when managing the production requirements of their front list and back list titles, with existing supply chains often too slow, too cumbersome or too prone to external forces to truly be able to deliver on-demand printing. Existing supply chain relationships are, for the most part, simply not fast enough on resource that may already be at to respond, and don’t truly give ‘on capacity. This can make expanding demand’ capabilities. into new territories a difficult practice to scale. Any existing networks that To enable geographical expansion allow publishers to cut down on the and the reaching of new markets, volume of suppliers they use will be a publishers have historically needed to welcome solution. search out and establish relationships with new suppliers. Gaining access to these new markets and managing an increasingly large supply chain can become time consuming and a burden 4 | Thinking globally, printing locally. Placing efficiency at the heart of publishing has never been easy At a time when margins are tight and demand can be hard to predict and fulfil, established printing models used by the industry may not satisfy the diverse needs publishers now have. The traditional physical repository of warehoused stock works for titles that are forecast to sell well. But what of smaller titles, more niche publications or items that require the smallest of print runs? Minimum print runs will be too high, with too long a turn-around time, and too expensive. A solution offering print-on-demand to a ‘book of one’ capability becomes hugely desirable in these circumstances. If A GREEN AND MORE EFFICIENT this solution were to offer a single PUBLISHING INDUSTRY source of supply regardless of location or volume, it would represent a huge In 2020, 99% of paper used by change in the way publishers are able HarperCollins UK & European offices to conduct business. was FSC certified.² With global health a concern not In France, Hachette Livre reduced just for every business but for every its carbon footprint by 18.5% over person on the planet, book miles, ten years since 2009. The Group the distance a publication is traveling introduced carbon labelling of its before fulfilling its order, becomes an books, informing readers of the carbon increasingly important consideration footprint of the book they are holding.³ for publishers also. 5 | Thinking globally, printing locally. Achieving efficiency of distance of travel is an area that many publishers using traditional supply chains can look for improvement in. It’s a problem for which printing closer to point of consumption is the answer. Printing closer to the end-user also has the benefit of making it easier to deliver directly to the point of order, removing unnecessary processes while easing shipping costs and lowering the publisher’s carbon footprint. across the supply chain. As a supply And once orders have been fulfilled, chain grows and grows, a publisher’s achieving an overview of efficiency ability to not just collate their can be difficult, especially when you performance data but also trust it can factor in different reporting formats become impacted to the point where with varying accuracies coming from it is no longer useful. When technology advancements outpace your ways of working, change is required New technology entering the market as content discoverability and market has meant that change is never far growth prediction. away in the publishing industry. From the printing press to the eReader, huge Being able to use tech to predict jumps in what publishers are able to do, potential expansion regions and, and what the public expects, come thick indeed, regions within which demand and fast. In particular of late, Artificial may contract, is very attractive to Intelligence (AI) is being explored by publishers who are looking to use publishing houses, driving areas such forecasting to target growth areas. 6 | Thinking globally, printing locally. location, across the globe. Publishers with a diverse set of printing needs will know that matching printer capabilities to the type of book format and page count required comes from experience. Errors can be costly and time-consuming to resolve, eating into margins that are already paper thin. With different machines printing to different specs and quality, publishers can find that stock can be lost, contracts unfulfilled and SLAs The kind of foresight afforded by AI not hit because of inconsistent print will mean that more publishers will quality. Ensuring consistency of print be looking to tap into existing and quality from one location to another, flexible supply chain networks in new across a global network of production locations in order to satisfy newly- partners, is no mean feat. What identified demand. publishers need is a solution that can provide proven quality at scale, from Printer capabilities and technology the smallest demand in one region to solutions are also constantly multi-region, multi-format printing. evolving. Both a publisher’s and a supplier’s ability to keep up with the latest technology, trends or printing methods can be expensive, requires upkeep and can vary from location to 7 | Thinking globally, printing locally. How HP Publishing Solutions is well placed to help the industry Adapting beyond the traditional supply chain Printing on-demand has never been so easy. HP Book as a Service allows publishers to tap into a pre-existing global supply network. By accessing HP’s Global Print Partner Network, publishers can leverage expertise and experience while gaining peace of mind by eliminating the risks associated with geographical expansion. Efficiency at the core of everything HP Book as a Service gives you print-on-demand capabilities, closer to your end-user, down to a ‘book of one’. That means no inventory taking up space in storage facilities, a reduction in overheads and the ability to satisfy any order, from the biggest to the smallest. HP Book as a Service can also provide publishers with access to data and analytics from one single source, helping them to see the big picture and drive efficiencies across the board.

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