What are the release modes?

POD is a new publishing model, or a new business model, which can effectively integrate information resources, logistics resources and human resources, so it is developing faster and faster in the industry.

The smaller the amount of digital printing, the more obvious the price advantage.

POD roughly refers to two kinds of business, one is the printing demand and distribution of books. Companies engaged in this kind of business usually have a certain scale. For example, LSI, the largest publisher in the United States, and Offset, the largest publishing group in the world, all belong to Ingram. Its main feature is that it serves publishers and publishers, and books are ordered first and then produced.

The other category refers to publishingondemand, also known as self-publishing. With the development of network technology and the maturity of digital printing technology, publishing service companies in the United States are booming, and there are many kinds of books published in this way. The company's service target is mainly the author, and its income mainly comes from the author. The income from market sales accounts for about 20%-30% of the total income.

China publishes nearly 220,000 books every year. Behind the huge publishing base is huge inventory pressure and expensive logistics costs. From the global publishing market, book publishing tends to be more refined, more personalized and more professional, which makes the "short edition era" closer and closer to us. Based on some drawbacks, the monopoly of life and death in the traditional publishing mode is being shaken a little bit. Society needs a new business model to make book publishing more energy-saving, cost-saving, efficient and diversified, and POD is undoubtedly a "eugenic" born under this social demand.

The process of pod

Let's take a look at the hardware standards needed to implement POD.

Digital printing equipment. Digital printing equipment is the most basic hardware facilities of POD, including black-and-white digital printing equipment and color digital printing equipment. At present, it has not been widely used in China, and is mainly used for document printing, design proofing and sample book making. The characteristic of this equipment is that it does not print film, does not make plate, and outputs directly. Compared with ordinary offset press, the smaller the digital printing volume, the more obvious the price advantage. According to the data provided by American LSI company, the balance point between digital printing and traditional printing is about 1500 copies, that is, as long as the printing volume is within 1500 copies, digital printing has a price advantage. In China, according to the data of Intellectual Property Publishing House, the price balance point of digital printing was between 300 and 500 four years ago, and now it has increased to 800. As the business continues to mature, this number will continue to grow.

Network technology platform. The platforms mentioned here are remote printing network platform and marketing network platform. First of all, digital printing not only realizes the myth of 1 book printing, but also realizes the printing of books in different places. In other words, publishing institutions can set up printing points in different places and transmit books and documents through the network to complete printing in different places. Secondly, after digital printing, you can make books after placing orders. Therefore, a good marketing system is very important to achieve more effective POD, especially in online marketing. Book wholesale units and terminal readers can send orders to publishers according to the information provided on the Internet, and then complete a complete printing and marketing process.

Reduce inventory

The appearance of POD makes us feel that the publishing industry is quietly undergoing a technological revolution. It can be predicted that the increasingly subdivided book market will provide broad prospects and space for low-print, fast and efficient publishing services. It presents a brand-new publishing and printing distribution mode, especially in how to use on-demand publishing and on-demand printing technology to solve the publishing of short-edition books (especially academic works), buy broken-edition books, and realize China books going abroad, which provides us with a lot of enlightenment and thinking.

POD makes printing and distribution highly integrated, effectively solves the inventory problem and minimizes the logistics cost of returning goods. It is understood that in domestic publishing houses, the inventory code exceeds 1 billion, even reaching hundreds of millions and billions, which is by no means a minority. Moreover, the number of books (such as some teaching AIDS and exam books) that need to be scrapped every year because of the "out-of-season" of books is also staggering. The reason is that it is often difficult to accurately connect the distribution link with the production link. When determining the print run, there are often some "headache decisions". If POD can be used, the market demand can be determined before production, which can effectively avoid or reduce inventory and even achieve "zero inventory".

In terms of operation mode, it can be flexible. When a new book comes into the market, you can first digitally print a part of it for subscription. With the subscription number, you can start mass printing, which can effectively avoid many risks. Another advantage of doing this is to reduce returns and reduce the logistics cost brought by returns. If short edition books are ordered in small quantities and digital printing is adopted in different places, the logistics cost can be reduced to zero.

However, it should be noted that according to foreign experience, digital printing itself has a low profit margin, but it can drive related businesses. According to statistics, every 1 yuan of digital printing will generate ancillary business in 6 yuan, and the profits of ancillary business will be more. The profit realized by American POD mainly comes from distribution. This is also the reason why large publishing houses and self-run publishing groups promote printing on demand. Ordering first and then printing, there is no inventory, which effectively prolongs the life cycle of books and greatly reduces the investment risk and capital occupation of book distribution. Books printed on demand account for about 65,438+0% of the total book printing in the United States, but the proportion of books published on demand and sales volume is much higher than this ratio, and the total number of books published on demand is increasing at the rate of 65,438+04% every year.

Resurrection dead book

A considerable number of books will gradually withdraw from the market after three to five years of circulation in the market, and books will be forced to declare "out of print". Many publishers are reluctant to reprint these books because of the low print run, high cost and low profit. Therefore, in recent years, the shortage of libraries is very common, and it is extremely difficult for newly-built libraries to buy "used books".

Some experts are screening out the "Recommended Collection Catalogue" from about 1.949 published books. It is estimated that there are tens of thousands of books to be printed or reprinted, and there is also a certain demand for books of the Republic of China and some ancient books. In this case, it is obviously unrealistic to use traditional printing methods, so POD becomes the only way to solve this problem. With the sample books or electronic files of the original books, it is undoubtedly a great news for many large libraries to deal with small-batch printed books through technology. In this sense, POD is the best way to revive a large number of out-of-print books.

In addition, POD will bring new space for professional publishing. At present, in the publishing structure of our country, the output value of teaching materials has always exceeded 50%, while the market share of professional publishing full of unlimited potential and innovative spirit is still less than 10% because of its low profit margin.

The weakness of professional publishing makes us stay at the level of "being a publishing power, not a publishing power". In order to develop professional publishing, the state has introduced various policies, such as setting up a publishing fund, but the effect is not obvious. The emergence of POD makes it difficult for professional publishing to prescribe more symptomatic prescriptions. Under the condition of integrating author resources, reader resources and marketing resources, if books can be ordered online and printed on demand, professional books will never fall out of print under the premise of small print runs.

In addition, POD can also affect the import and export of professional books. For example, it can solve the problem of difficult overseas purchasing of books in China and speed up the process of introducing books in China to the world. At the same time, it can also make it easier for domestic readers to buy foreign books.

At present, China is carrying out a new round of reform of the publishing and distribution system, so that the publishing industry can show and play its due position and role in the tide of innovation. As a new thing, POD has just emerged in China. I believe that as a useful supplement to traditional publishing, on-demand publishing and on-demand printing will increasingly show their strong vitality.