GRAPH EXPO® “Books & Bound Documents Day” Showcases Expanding Digital Print Market Opportunities

The trend toward printing short-run books and bound documents is becoming well established. Bowker, the official U.S. agency for issuing International Standard Book Numbers (ISBNs), reported in 2006 that over half of all commercially sold book titles produced between 2005 and 2006 were printed in quantities under 5,000 units, and 30% of all titles printed were produced in quantities of less than 100 units-volumes particularly suited to digital printing. According to research firm InfoTrends, print jobs arranged through the Internet made up more than 12 percent of the total U.S. printing market in 2005, and e-printing was projected to increase at a rate that will more than double by the year 2010. Meanwhile, data from digital research pioneer Interquest suggests that the books on demand market is expected to grow nearly 50%, from about 20 billion pages in 2006 to some 38 billion pages by 2009.