Digital Book Production: The Demands of On Demand

The expectations of e-commerce have heavily influenced this trend. Not only can books be ordered online and delivered overnight; they can also—in theory—be highly customized, thanks to innovations like variable data printing (VDP) and custom content aggregation. In higher education, for example, professors may specify custom, bound coursepacks—creating a unique textbook for a class of 20 or 30 students. On the consumer level, photobooks and other highly personalized books are becoming commonplace. While mass customization is still far from universal, at least for now, the expectations of book e-commerce ("I want my book, and I want it now") are playing havoc with traditional sales channels.