Production and
Manufacturing
L8
Ing. Jiří Šnajdar
2015
The functions of design, production, and
manufacturing are as much art as science,
especially when one considers that both interior
design and jacket/cover design are usually found
under this heading.
In many large publishing companies, design,
production, and manufacturing are separate; in
smaller houses, they are usually combined.
Production and manufacturing cover a lot of ground.
Not only are these functional areas responsible for
the transformation of manuscript or disk to finished
book, but they are also responsible for a major
expenditure of money.
Design, production, and manufacturing, in many
publishing houses, are not considered as glamorous
as editorial or sales, and may be looked upon as
secondary.
The design, production, and manufacturing
functions demand increasingly technical knowledge
of what printing presses run which sheets of paper
most cost effectively;
Design, production, manufacturing are in the
forefront of the computer revolution.
Production managers must now be able to converse
knowledgeably about the use and application of
digitized data—especially XML coding and
conversion.
Production and manufacturing departments also
must be experts in handling crisis situations. It’s
critical to have strategic controls in place.
The Production Schedule
To produce a meaningful cash-flow chart, in addition
to your budget and sales projections, you will have
to create a Production Schedule.
The production schedule will tell you when that will
happen, because it tracks the flow of the manuscript
from the time it is fully edited to the time it leaves the
printer.
That chart only focuses on the last moment of the
production schedule.
The typesetting and page layout; the separation or
digitization of photographs; the actual printing and
binding all involve the use and flow of cash. One of
the most important functions of your production
manager or managing editor is to prioritize the work
going through the production process.
To keep the flow of books on schedule, the
production manager must maintain a tight rein
on who’s doing what and in what order it’s being
done.
It is basically a linear calendar of events that records
the inflow and outflow of production material
throughout the production process.
Make sure that your production schedule has two
rows for entry: one for the estimated date something
will happen; one for the actual date it happens.
Keep in mind one particular fact: the production
department is all too often called upon to bail out a
book that is late.
Management wants to get a return on its cash in the
shortest possible time.
Editors should know exactly what’s expected of
them, and when it’s expected.
Production departments get very little respect—and
they deserve a lot.
Production Meetings
To facilitate the creation of the production schedule
and maintain that schedule, the production
department must meet at regular intervals.
The production of the book and the managing editor
or person responsible for production and another
weekly meeting between the managing editor and
the rest of the production staff.
Editors, frankly, tend to be optimistic when it comes
to production schedules and their own programs. It’s
better to be realistic.
If an author will be late, let the production
department know about it as early as possible so it
can make adjustments to the schedules.
Production must be candid with the editors. Some
changes are clearly unacceptable due to cost
overages.
Once the production people are informed by the
editors of the weekly progress (or lack of progress)
of their manuscripts, the production department
must discuss the results among themselves to be
sure everyone is aware of what is happening and
how it impacts all the other books on the list.
Production Checklist
This is simply a checklist of every part of the book to
ensure that all the copy and elements needed for
the book are in and accounted for, including bar
codes, CIP information, and other important
material.
These production checklists should be given to the
editorial staff, so they can gather most of this
information prior to its being needed by production.
With the production schedule and the production
checklist in hand, you can begin to push the
production process forward with a good degree of
assurance that you’ve got it under control.
Until the next crisis hits!
XML
XML stands for “eXtensible Markup Language.
XML has become the de facto standard for digital
formatting, because it allows and facilitates the
conversion of digital content into a wide variety of
formats including web, print, syndication, e-book,
mobile phone, and others.
Clear descriptive tags within the text, and the
location of those tags, create the basic XML
vocabulary. And once coded, the text can be
reshaped from one vocabulary to another.
Schematically, it would look like:
Content - Defined Rules - New Formats
The key is that the defined rules allow for flexibility.
If you want to change something, you change the
rules, which then flows through to change the
content to the new rule definition.
The key is to code your content with XML as close
to the beginning of the editorial process as possible
(ideally by having the author do it at the writing
stage).
So become familiar with XML and begin to code
your titles with it as you create those titles. Earlier is
better when it comes to XML..
Costing and Estimating
The production function can be significant in terms
of both incurring costs and saving money for your
company.
With paper, printing, and binding (PPB) averaging
approximately 50% of the total cost of goods, it is a
sizable amount of money. If you can save 10 cents
per copy, you can save $500—a meaningful amount
of money, especially when multiplied by numerous
titles.
How can you ensure that your manufacturing costs
are reasonable?
Costing and Estimating
The simple answer is to set up costing, or
estimating, forms, “Request for Quote” forms, with
the specifications for your job, and to send those
sheets to a minimum of five manufacturers per job.
It is meaningless to solicit preliminary bids from
printers and then change the specifications on the
final product.
Not only will this cause confusion for you and the
vendor, but it will waste time and effort.
Costing and Estimating
Different printers and binders often have different
printing and binding equipment.
Because of these differences, some printers and
binders will be better suited to producing your
particular book at lower prices than will others.
Additionally, different manufacturers have different
work flows, with some being busy at certain times
while others have less work.
Costing and Estimating
The point is, if your product is to be produced at the
lowest price, you have to capitalize on finding the
vendor whose equipment is best suited to your job,
who has the time to do it, and who offers you the
most suitable payment terms.
As an example, one printer offers a 5% discount
for work done in the first quarter of the new year.
The Request for Quote begins with the title of the
book and the month the files will arrive at the
manufacturer.
Costing and Estimating
The date is important for the reason just stated: it
may be a slow time for that printer. This could affect
the price quoted to you.
Following these details, the pertinent specifications
of the book are listed:
• Size of print run
• Trim size
• Number of pages
• Format: hardcover and/or paperback
Costing and Estimating
• Type, weight, and bulk of paper required for text,
endpapers, and jacket/cover (uncoated, coated,
matte; white, blue, blue-white). Because paper
constitutes about 50% of the PPB cost, different
weights can have a major impact on the estimate
you get.
• Color of ink (i.e., just black; four-color)
• Type of lamination on a paper cover or paper-overboard title
• Preparation
• Proofs desired (blues, matchprints, hard, soft,
other)
Costing and Estimating
• Type of press to be used
• Type of binding (perfect, adhesive-notch, Smythsewn, flexible, etc.)
• Packing requirements (including carton
specifications, labeling, pallet size, banding, etc.)
• Shipping and freight costs
• Special requirements (head and/or footbands;
shrink wrapping; thumb-notched index tabs; etc.)
• Payment terms
Costing and Estimating
Once you get your bid sheets returned from the
vendors, make sure you’re comparing apples to
apples. Vendors typically send bids out in their own
formats, which may or may not coincide with the
way you’ve asked for them and will undoubtedly be
different from their competitors.
One manufacturer may, for instance, provide bids
using its stock paper, which may be 50#. (In paper
jargon, # is the symbol for pounds.) Another
manufacturer might quote using 60# stock. If this
happens, the price for the paper will most likely be
different.
Costing and Estimating
Often, different binders use different thicknesses
and weights—which cost different amounts. If you
are unclear about a part of the bid, ask for
clarification.
Once the information in your cost sheets is
comparable, you can usually eliminate one or two of
your five bidders fairly quickly.
The other three may be competitive. If this is the
case, I suggest you go back for another round of
bids.
Costing and Estimating
By being honest with the vendors, telling them you
have an equal or lower bid and asking them if they’d
like the chance to rebid the job. In most cases, you’ll
get a reduced estimate.
The lowest price is not always the best.
There may be circumstances that warrant paying a
bit more. Because of the size of manufacturing
expense, the cash-flow demands of the production
and manufacturing function are probably greater
than any other in the company.
Costing and Estimating
„ One piece of advice to smaller publishers in
relation to production, it would be to rebid, rebid,
rebid.“
Because production expense is so large, it
behooves every publisher to use every trick in the
book to save money on this expense.
Money-Saving Tips
1. Use a book manufacturer to print your books.
2. Use the manufacturer’s paper—don’t even think
about buying and inventorying your own.
Costing and Estimating
3. Standardize your book sizes. Most manufacturers
have presses that create fairly standard-size books:
5 3⁄8"x 8"; 6"x 9"; 81⁄2”x 11"; etc.
4. Use notch or perfect binding rather than Smyth
sewing. In the “old days,” Smyth sewing was the
only way to go.
5. Reduce the paper weight. Because paper is such
a large percentage of the manufacturing cost, in
most cases, depending upon the grade being used,
the less the weight, the less the cost.
Costing and Estimating
6. Use ultraviolet (UV) coating instead of glossy film
lamination. While you won’t get the same gloss as
film lamination, UV lamination still protects the book
from fingerprints and minor damage while saving a
few cents per book.
7. Use “permeated” paper covers on hardcover
books instead of cloth.
8. As an alternative to a full-cloth binding, or a
permeated-paper case, use a three-piece case
instead of full-cloth.
Costing and Estimating
9. Don’t overweight your cartons.
10. Pack your books in standard carton counts, so
each carton contains the same number of books.
11. Standardize your pallet counts. This way, the
larger distribution centers can order pallet quantities
and handle them, rather than multiple cartons.
Sales . . . and More Sales
Most of you entered the world of publishing because
you had an idea, not because you wanted to sell
your books.
So you’ve been somewhat familiar with the editorial
side of the publishing world because it’s one in
which you’ve taken an interest, whether as an
author or publisher.
By now you’d better know how to sell and market
your books.
What Sells Books and Who Buys Them?
If you ask people in the publishing business what
sells books, they will give you a lot of answers:
reviews sell books, jackets sell books, publicity and
promotion sell books, price is important, and on and
on.
If you ask the general public what motivates them to
buy books, the top two answers in every case are
subject/topic and author’s reputation.
Over 44% of adults purchasing books base their
decisions on subject and approximately 24% on
author’s reputation.
Only 2% think price is important; 2% think cover art
or endorsements are important; and less than 1%
think having a book on the best-seller list.
What this tells us is simple: both editors and
salespeople better have a good idea of what
subjects are important to consumers and they must
find books by authors with credentials and good
reputations.
Distribution: Options and Issues
Your book’s been found, edited, and produced. Now
what do you do with it? How can you move it from
your warehouse (sometimes your garage or
basement) into the wholesalers and retailers and
ultimately from there to the consumer?
Sales and distribution are crucial to your survival as
a publisher.
When reviewing your sales options, keep in mind
that, however you ultimately choose to sell, every
buyer to whom you or your distributor is selling will
also see books from all of your competitors. With
that in mind, let’s look at the question of distribution
and the various options available to you to sell your
book.
1. The best way to sell books is to have a sales staff
completely dedicated to the demands of selling your
books—with no other interference—and to sell those
books directly to accounts.
2. A second method of distributing is to use your
own reps, but use an outside fulfillment house. This
enables you to maintain your sales contacts inhouse, but eliminates the need to maintain a
warehouse or to deal with accounts receivable
collection. The fulfillment organization collects the
money from the accounts and passes it along,
minus the fulfillment fee, on a regular basis.
3. A third way to sell your books is to use
commissioned sales reps. These are freelance reps
who sell your books as well as those of other
publishers.
4. A fourth way to sell is to use a distributor. A
distributor is an organization that warehouses, sells,
and fulfills orders for a number of publishers. The
benefit for the publisher is that all of the sales,
shipping, and fulfillment functions, including
accounts receivable and collections, are in the lap of
the distributor, not the Publisher.
5. Another method that smaller publishers use to sell
books is to put books into the major wholesalers or
key internet retailers, especially Amazon.com.
6. Another way of selling is on the Internet, whether
through your own website or through an online
bookstore. This is an excellent way of doing
business, with little overhead attached to it.
The question that remains unanswered, however, is
how many copies you’ll sell. The upside of Internet
selling is that it is growing incredibly fast.
Amazon.com, the largest of the online booksellers,
had media sales of $5.3 billion in 2008, a 16% jump
from 2007.
Given these sales options, which ones are
reasonable for most smaller publishers?
„ using commissioned reps is feasible, as is using a
distributor “
Although the decision of which sales channel is best
is never a clear-cut one, a few timely questions may
help you decide:
• How many people can your sales support now?
• Is it more important to you to acquire more books
or sell the smaller quantity you now have more
effectively?
• Given your budgets, can you support more
people?
• How do you like to spend your time? Acquiring,
editing, or selling?
• Do you want to bother with warehousing and
fulfillment?
• Do you want to assume the risk of bad debt?
• Can you afford to have your books and your
money tied up if a distributor goes bankrupt?
Sales Budgets
In effect, this figure should accurately reflect the
sales you expect from each book. However, quite
often the sales environment changes between the
time you establish your sales estimates and the time
of your actual sales activity.
What can make such an impact on the estimate?
• The finished editorial product itself.
• New trends in the market. A book takes time to
write and produce.
Sales Budgets
• Cash flow. Throughout the year, your own budgets
must remain flexible and reflect your company
finances.
• Industry changes. Those who have published
between the 1970s and 2000s have seen enormous
changes.
There has been a major decline in the number of
booksellers (but an increase in the number of
outlets) due to the emergence of the chains and
online e-tailers.
Sales Budgets
What has this meant for publishers?
Both greater and lesser opportunities.
Greater, because the superstores carry a wider
range of stock and therefore carry more titles from
more publishers. (And greater because online etailers can sell significant numbers of books.)
Sales Budgets
Lesser, because the quantity of each title is less
than might have been carried in the past. This has
had a dramatic impact on publisher’s advance sales
projections—which cascades down to marketing
and sales budgets.
It has also had an enormous impact on unit costs
per book as well as dramatically impacting printing
technology.
Title Launch Meetings
As I noted in the editorial section, the sales function
relies upon the acquisition and timely delivery of
books it feels it can sell.
To establish an ongoing program that functions well
throughout the publishing process, both editors and
salespeople must be at ease with the acquisition
selections coming through the pipeline.
Title Launch Meetings
The title launch meeting, usually held every six
months, is for just this purpose. Here is the time and
place for everyone involved with a book or a list to
sit down together for the purpose of discussing
various points about that book:
• Purpose of publishing the title
• Market niche
• Title
• Cover—both art and text
• Sales points
• Marketing thoughts and initial campaign outline
• Sub-rights angles and needs
• Production aspects
The title launch meeting is one at which the editorial
staff takes the lead in presenting the books. But the
editor’s real role is to simply talk a bit about each
book before opening it up to other functional areas
for comment.
The editor must be sure to answer all of the
questions that arise in this meeting because they’re
sure to come up again either from the firm’s own
reps or the distributor’s reps or, more importantly,
from buyers.
The most effective strategy for title launch meetings
is to invite all participants to air all of their thoughts.
With the meeting’s comments in hand, the editors,
salespeople, and everyone else should retire to
consider what’s been said and to act on the
information to:
• move forward quickly those points that work well
• revise or reorient those areas that seem to be
problematic
• clarify positioning
• define title marketing and sales budgets within the
context of the entire new line
• coordinate functional schedules for each title.