Forty percent of book publishers say they had worked with an overseas printer in the past year according to a recent survey. Book Business, an industry trade mag, has a story with 15 tips from printers and publishers about outsourcing overseas. A couple were quite interesting:
- Consider an offshore partner with an onshore office. Charlie Clark, director, C&C Offset Printing Co., which is based in Portland, Ore., but prints in China, suggests the best situation is when publishers work with printers who have offices in North America staffed with Americans.
- Make sure legal contracts address potential problems. When sourcing work offshore, issues can arise over who owns intellectual property rights in software, database architecture, design and a variety of other areas. To avoid headaches, “be sure that contracts specify what will be returned to you and at what cost if you want to withdraw from a deal,†recommends Morris.
- Expect the unexpected. When dealing with an overseas supplier, language, cultural and corporate issues are bound to arise. “Remain alert at all times to the fact that unexpected aspects of the relationship may prove problematic and may require compromise,†says Crawford. Publishers will avoid a lot of headaches if they are familiar with their supplier’s holiday schedule. Don’t expect a project to ship if the printer is closed for a national holiday.
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