BOOK PRINTING OUTLOOK — BEST-SELLERS FLOAT ALL BOATS

IN GENERAL, when a best-seller hits the market, it directly or indirectly benefits the entire book manufacturing industry. The long runs clog up capacity for those fortunate enough to garner the job, and creates overflow that needs to be spread through the ranks.

Take Courier Corp., of North Chelmsford, MA, for example. The 2006 trade campaign started off slowly, notes Peter Tobin, executive vice president, but developed a head of steam in late summer and early fall, leading up to the holiday push. A degree of the pickup can be attributed to publishers hanging back on reprint orders. But what really lit the fire was a bevy of new titles by big name authors, including Stephen King and John Grisham. Those works generate the one- and two-million print runs.