Book Printing Outlook: Trade, Higher Ed Better

"We've been fortunate to bring in some new customers in the trade area this year," Tobin notes. "We actually did pretty well in trade with a mixture of the types of books we produce, and the new customers we were able to bring on board."

Courier has also positioned itself for positive growth in 2010 backed by a partnership with Hewlett-Packard to adapt its new HP T300 color ink-jet web press technology to the book market. Third-party technology providers will supply collating, folding and book block-building equipment and in-line binding for the manufacture of high-end one-, two- and four-color digital books in a broad range of run lengths. Courier will test the production line on its own publishing companies, particularly Dover Publications.