in Production
Print on demand and offset printing
Printing one copy at a time and printing thousands at once are different processes with different trade-offs. Knowing them makes the choice easier.
There are two main ways to print a book. Print on demand produces copies as they are ordered, often one at a time. Offset printing produces a large run in one go, which then has to be stored and distributed. Both produce real books. They differ in how costs fall, what options are available and what they ask of the publisher.
How each works
Print on demand uses digital presses, which work somewhat like very large, very fast office printers. There are no printing plates to make, so setting up a job costs little, and the cost of each copy barely changes whether one is printed or a hundred. The printer stores the book's files, and a copy is printed when an order arrives.
Offset printing transfers ink from metal plates, via a rubber blanket, onto paper. Making the plates and setting up the press is a fixed cost for every run, whatever the quantity. Once the press is running, each extra copy costs relatively little, so the more copies printed, the lower the cost of each.
Cost and risk
The two methods divide the costs differently. Print on demand has a higher cost per copy but almost no upfront commitment. Offset has a lower cost per copy at volume, but the whole run is paid for in advance, and then it has to be stored and shipped.
For small or uncertain quantities, print on demand is usually cheaper overall and far less risky. For large runs, offset usually wins on unit cost. Where the crossover falls depends on the book's size, page count, colour, binding and the printers involved, so it is worth getting quotes rather than assuming.
The risk with offset is unsold stock. A run that does not sell is money sitting in boxes, with storage costs on top. Print on demand removes that risk, since no copy exists until someone has ordered it.
Quality and options
Digital printing has improved a great deal, and for black-and-white text a good print-on-demand book can be hard to tell from an offset one. Differences are more likely to show in large areas of solid colour, in photographs and in fine colour work, though this varies between printers and machines.
The bigger difference is choice. Offset printing offers a wide range of papers, sizes, bindings and finishes, including effects such as foil, embossing, spot colours and spot UV varnish. Print on demand typically offers a defined set of sizes, papers and finishes. For a book where the physical object is a large part of the appeal, that may settle the matter.
Print on demand is often tied to distribution. The service can make a book available to retailers and print and ship each order directly, with no warehouse involved. Offset copies have to be warehoused and sent out by the publisher, a distributor or a fulfilment service.
Distribution, and using both
The choice is not always one or the other. A publisher might print an offset run for bookshop stock and events while keeping the same edition available through print on demand for ongoing orders and hard-to-reach markets. A book might also start on print on demand and move to offset once demand is clear.
What matters is matching the method to realistic demand, the budget and the kind of book it is.