what is economics of on-demand printing? is it labor intensive?

[code_grey]

I know I should RTF-Google but even the companies themselves are surprisingly light on details (as in, lots of chitchat, but no prices).

So, first of all, how much does producing a single POD book typically cost nowadays? Let’s say 100-200 pages one since presumably this would be a common type.

Second, what are the marginal costs that go into this price? Is it primarily the cost of ink for the printer? Or the cost of the binding? If it is the binding, is the cost mostly for the amortization of machinery being used or for the manual labor?

Or maybe the main cost driver is not the ink and the binding but something else entirely?

[MindsEye_Watering]

Here’s one company that I have used in the past. The linked page illustrates prices depending on size of book, number of pages, etc.

Sorry, can’t address your other questions, though I would guess that the binding and amortization of the (very expensive) digital printer are major components of the pricing.

[Lobohan]

@code_grey

I know I should RTF-Google but even the companies themselves are surprisingly light on details (as in, lots of chitchat, but no prices).

So, first of all, how much does producing a single POD book typically cost nowadays? Let’s say 100-200 pages one since presumably this would be a common type.

Second, what are the marginal costs that go into this price? Is it primarily the cost of ink for the printer? Or the cost of the binding? If it is the binding, is the cost mostly for the amortization of machinery being used or for the manual labor?

Or maybe the main cost driver is not the ink and the binding but something else entirely?

I’m not sure what the prices are nowadays, but digital printing is much less economical than getting something run on a press. Once a press is ready to run (plates made, inked up) it can run off copies indefinitely, and you’re paying for paper, ink and the pressman’s time. So once you get over the high setup cost additional copies are very economical.

With digital printing each sheet costs as much as the last one in terms of machine consumables. If you need one copy digital is much cheaper, if you need 10000 press is likely cheaper. As for the bindery, there are economics of scale there too. If you’re running 20 books no one is going to set up a highly efficient, high capacity machine for it. So you’ll end up getting run on a more labor intensive device.

[Martin_Hyde]

I actually have a friend who, back before the internet got big, worked at a major national book chain and he actually looked into on-demand printing in which mass market paper backs could be created on-demand in stores so customers would be able to basically come in to pick up essentially any book they wanted without having to stock them all. The thought was you could create smaller book stores and et cetera.

However the numbers just didn’t work out on it and it never got out of the planning stages.

[Exapno_Mapcase]

The reason sites don’t give prices is that too many variables are involved. If you know what you want then you can just enter them into their estimators and get a quote. The physical size of the book (length and width), the cover stock and whether it is 4-color or not, the number of pages, the actual paper stock (there are many grades, with different thicknesses, glossiness, shades, and degree of recycling), the use of pictures and interior color, and a bunch of other things along with the number of copies to be printed. You also have different levels of competence and customer hand-holding from different companies and that can make a huge difference.

I agree that offset is still cheaper for large runs. The break point is usually considered to be around 1000 copies.

[code_grey]

@MindsEye_Watering

Here’s one company that I have used in the past. The linked page illustrates prices depending on size of book, number of pages, etc.

Sorry, can’t address your other questions, though I would guess that the binding and amortization of the (very expensive) digital printer are major components of the pricing.

ok, so the black and white printing prices quoted there are on the order of $7-10 per book. I guess it’s “reasonable” given American situation as of right now. Whereas let’s say for China as of right now it might be a lot less reasonable.

[code_grey]

@Lobohan

With digital printing each sheet costs as much as the last one in terms of machine consumables. If you need one copy digital is much cheaper, if you need 10000 press is likely cheaper. As for the bindery, there are economics of scale there too. If you’re running 20 books no one is going to set up a highly efficient, high capacity machine for it. So you’ll end up getting run on a more labor intensive device.

this makes me ask two questions:

1. suppose the publisher will aggregate printing of a large number of titles into batches grouped by similar, or even equal, number of pages. Wouldn’t they then be able to bind them “industrially” just like binding a large run of the same book? If (just a WAG) for large scale binding you need precisely same number of pages in all books being bound, why not just require authors to produce manuscripts with that many pages? I.e. get your 233 page book up to precisely 250 or down to precisely 200 or else pay a big penalty.

2. just how skilled is the labor involved? How hard is it to train the guy who couldn’t find a job at McDonald’s to do this binding books job for a similar wage?

[A.Gwilliam]

Data point of sorts:
Blackwell’s bookshop on the Charing Cross Road, London have (or certainly had) a print-on-demand facility actually on their shop floor, with a large machine lurking in the corner to do all the work.