(Cost Saving Strategies, Hints and Tips)

Recently a well-known client of mine contacted me to tell me they were going to a publishers conference in NY. They were responsible for moderating a discussion that revolved around cutting manufacturing and production costs while DOING MORE with LESS...(isn't that the tune of the season!") To help them out I delivered a document they could take with them to remind their colleagues of some key printing areas where time spent truly equals money earned.

Although this is not a comprehensive list, below you will find an excerpt from the document I shared with the client (and now with you) to help get the most VALUE out of your printing dollars.

Design Phase

• Working with an experienced designer who is familiar with the printing process can substantially save you time and money. An experienced designer will know how to properly create your files (i.e. embed fonts, make sure linked artwork is linked, clear instructions, etc.) to save time in EPP thus saving you prepress dollars. Unfortunately, many publishers incur superfluous costs due to excessive EPP charges involved in poorly created artwork. So make sure your designer knows your printer’s file prep guidelines before sending your files.
Note: We live in a .pdf world and many EPP departments are setup to process .pdf’s more quickly than working with specific applications for your files. Processing “clean” and properly exported .pdf’s will translate into cost savings as well.
• Tell your designer what paper and stock you plan to print on. Paper is an organic material and reacts differently to ink densities and colors. As such, sharing the stock specifications with your designer will help him or her design your art in ways that will print more consistent with your original vision. I guarantee this will save you headaches and money down the road.

Paper and Stock

• Know what paper stock your printer has on their floor and readily available. Requesting stocks other than these will cost you time and will generally require the publisher to make a minimum purchase commitment (often 5000lbs or more) which may be too excessive for your project’s run length. Additionally, knowing that ordering special/vanity stocks may require more lead time, make sure you plan accordingly so you do not jeopardize your deadlines.
• Consider decreasing the weight of your paper stock. (i.e. 100lb. opaque to 80lb. opaque) Not only will you save on stock pricing, but you will save on freight as well.
• Know the signature count of your printer. Every printer is unique and will often print a certain signature count more efficiently than another printer, thereby saving you money. For example, Printer 1 might print in 16’s and 32’s, so if you have a 24 page book, it will likely cost more than an even 32 page book (even though less paper is being used).

Cover Finishes

• Know your cover finishes. Just as there are breaking points between digital and offset printing, there are also breaking points in cover finishes. A good thing to keep in mind is that Laminates are generally the most expensive, then UV’s and Varnishes. However, you may find specialty cover finishes like Acqueous coatings costing less at higher quantities than UV, therefore making your product stand out as well as keep more money in your pocket.

Prepress and EPP

• Consider using Black Inks and 1 PMS instead of using 2 PMS colors for your text. Keeping your PMS count down is a good rule of thumb in keeping your costs down.
• If you want to print text pages in full color, consider using 4 color equivalents (or 4c Process Inks) of your intended PMS colors. Specific PMS colors are often more costly and may cause delays in the proofing stage and production.
• Take advantage of printer provided Online Proofing tools. Although once regarded as inferior to the traditional "blueline" proof, many current Online Proofing solutions have highly sophisticated tools in which a designer can double check ink densities, upload changes and instantly approve pages without any charges.
Note: If you print a large volume of products, you will see SIGNIFICANT savings with not having to mail proofs back and forth.

Distribution and Freight

• Want to save on freight? Ask your printer if they have warehousing space and fulfillment/distribution services. Some printers often distribute products for their clients and are able to drop-ship directly to your accounts. This saves the publisher having to pay for freight twice: once, from the printer to the publisher’s warehouse and once again from the printers distributor to their retail accounts.

Digital Printing

• Go Digital. A lot of publishers may still be hesitant about utilizing digital presses for their work, but digital printing has quickly become a standard in the printing industry. In fact, black inks on a digital press often look much sharper than offset with far more consistency. Consider the numbers. 6 years ago there was very little digital (meaning digitally printed) book volume. Today, those same printers are printing millions of page impressions per month. As the offset world continues to see a decline the digital printing market is continuing to rise at a sharp increase.
• Confused on how digital printing can help with your bottom line? Digital printing makes sense when you can accurately forecast your sales. For example, if you know you will sell through 1800 books in the next 9 months, consider printing 3 runs of 600 digitally. Not only will the publisher be seeing increased savings in not having to pay for offset plate making, but they will also find significant savings in relation to their warehousing/inventory dollars.
• Additionally, when publishers order in shorter more frequent quantities, they will less likely have to pay for destruction and remaindering thus keeping their dollars down while providing more accurate sales data for their sales cycles. More accurate sales forecasting means more liquidity for their publisher. This excess cash flow then can be used in other areas of the organization or to re-release back catalog in short quantities (which has quickly become the trend for many publishers).

Other Ways to Save

• To more accurately project your printing costs, work with well-established printers. Vicks, located in NY, is one I highly recommend as they have been said to, "Have more integrity in their word than most people have in their signatures." They have been printing for over 90 years and continue to base their business model on their clients' needs. For other printers it is imperative to MATCH their quotes with their invoices. Unfortunately, in today's world, many printers will offer “below cost/bankrupt” pricing to get you in their door. However, when the actual invoice arrives you may see additional “AA” charges that you didn’t commit to and other administrative costs making the actual invoice reflect a much HIGHER figure than the original estimate.
• Be careful of where you send your projects to be printed. If a price looks too good to be true just remember, "You get what you pay for." This statement is especially true with printing.

Above all, don’t be afraid to ask your printer for cost-effective suggestions. Printers see a lot of different products from many different publishers and if they are truly working for you…they will be happy to make recommendations that are more cost effective while still achieving your product’s marketability, quality and integrity.

If you have any further ideas on this topic, please feel free to leave a comment. Additionally, you can contact me at my website with any questions about the printing process and I will respond as quickly as I can.
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As the famous French writer and Nobel Prize winner, Anatole France once said, "To accomplish great things, we must not only act, but also dream; not only plan, but also believe." Writing a book is by no means an easy task, but with your dedication and belief in your ideas, you can accomplish not only good things, but great things.

Believe it or not, some of your biggest obstacles in actually writing, or drafting, your book is yourself. You have probably heard the expression, "A relationship is only as strong as the weakest person in it." This can also be true with your creativity. Your book and ideas can take on their own identity and you enter into a relationship with your creativity. This "relationship" can have it's ups and downs and its important to identify this so that (1) you can learn to adjust to these times and (2) help ease your frustration levels along the way.

Julia Cameron, author of The Artists Way, is an expert on the foundations of creativity and explores some common beliefs about how we have been conditioned to allow ourselves the freedom to be creative. She states that many of the greatest artists are looked upon as having no self doubt. She goes deeper and says that we need to learn to move through self doubt, not avoid it. The Artists Way has a great way of explaining the concept of self doubt and provides excellent resources to improve your overall creative freedom. If you haven't read the book already, stop reading this blog post and go out and get it!

Another common frustration creative individuals experience is the weight of their vision. You probably have many great ideas but you may feel so overwhelmed with the weight of the process that you have a hard time getting started. This is very common and you should remind yourself that great things have never been accomplished overnight. There are a couple of ways to get around "writer's block." One way is to refuel your creative muscle. Julia Cameron calls this "taking yourself on an Artist Date." This will help refill your bucket of creativity and encourage you to be more productive. Another way is to schedule your writing time in your weekly calendar. You could schedule 15min in the morning or 1 hour, 3 times a week. It's up to you. The point is that if you plan your creative time, it is more likely you will stay focused, and you will feel more accomplished then if you just "wait" for your creativity to strike.

Lastly, be careful of getting into the habit of constantly editing your work before it needs to be edited. Many creative individuals are perfectionists and while perfectionism can assist your dedication, it can also inhibit your creative flow and keep you stuck in the process. Learn to resist the urge to "edit" your work at the beginning stages to allow your ideas to breath and capture the entire world around them. If you can turn off your "internal editor" at the beginning, you will begin to experience the freedom your creativity needs to better communicate your ideas later.

I hope this helps you during your creative process and remember, "In order to live an extraordinary life, one must be able to overcome extra-ordinary challenges." So when you find yourself getting stuck while writing your book, just say to yourself, "I'm just living to be extraordinary," and allow yourself the freedom to refill your creativity and pick up your pencil and start again.

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More and more publishers are switching to recycled stock for their products. Not only could this be a strategic branding technique, but using recycled stock also has many global benefits. To help you better understand this evolving sector in the paper industry, I have included a quick list of benefits and myths of using recycled paper below.

Paper made from 100% recycled content reduces:

• Wood use by 100%
• Wastewater by 50%
• Solid waste by 49%
• Total energy consumption by 44%
• Net greenhouse gas emissions by 38%

The process for making paper out of recycled material is generally more clean and requires less energy than making paper from virgin fibers. Additionally, many publishers are using recycled stock to more effectively target their products to their young adult audiences. For example, the latest hardcover edition and U.S. Deluxe Edition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was produced on a 100% recycled stock. Additionally, higher education institutions such as Princeton are also requiring all of their academic departments to use 100% recycled paper.

Common myths about recycled paper

• Recycled paper is too expensive.

Take the long view. With the rise and fall of paper prices, sometimes all paper is expensive and sometimes it is low. The experienced paper buyer realizes that paper markets fluctuate and one should recognize that recycled paper’s benefits are far greater than simply dollars.

• Quality is uneven and sometimes spotted.

Many of these issues were confined to the developmental phase of creating recycled paper in the 1980’s but the technology being used by recycled manufactures today have significantly increased. Many studies have proven that recycled paper today meets the highest technical standards, sometimes even exceeding familiar virgin papers.

• Belief that recycled paper has too much curl.

Curl is a complex issue and mostly related to fiber orientation, moisture content and the drying strategy. Many paper manufacturers have refined their processes to significantly limit paper curl and it is important that customers are basing their opinions on high quality recycled grades now available and not on experiences gathered years ago.

There are many resources available today to determine if using recycled stock is right for you and your company. One thing is for sure, using environmentally and socially responsible paper is an opportunity for publishers to make a significant impact on a global level.

For further research on recycled paper organizations and initiatives, please visit:

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Digital music downloads are indeed changing the way we think, listen and consume music. But is that all that is changing?

E-Commerce, Retail and Print Music are just some of the other areas in which this digital phenomenon has taken it's toll. Take for instance the private music instructor, where are they supposed to get their music books as they become increasingly limited. Tower Records is no more. Mom-and-Pop music shops are being erased as quickly as the $2 per gallon price of gas. In addition, songwriter's are finding it harder to publish their own sheet music as the record industry struggles to keep it's head above water. It would seem that the print music publishing industry is quickly going downhill. Interestingly, the time is ripe however for those individuals in the music industry to become more creative and innovative with how they get their music to the consumer.

One such innovative idea is Books For Bands (www.booksforbands.net), an online music print publisher whom has found a way for musicians to sell their unpublished sheet music online while also growing their fanbase, online presence and putting some change in their pockets. How do you turn music from a listening experience into a personal experience?...play the song yourself! Although this sheet music company is a startup business, rumor has it that the company is well connected in the music industry which would provide many musicians the groundfloor knowledge of how to get their songs heard by major labels and publishers. A hefty idea, but for the well connected entrepreneur, a possible gold mine for finding new talent while also increasing the awareness of print music publishing.

Has printed music found a new niche?

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