INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, today announced a successful 2012 Digital Book Printing Forum held for the seventh year during the Publishing Business Conference and Expo in New York City on March 20th. Nearly two-thirds of the 150 attendees were publishers and printers.

According to Gilles Biscos, President of INTERQUEST, "Shorter print runs, better inventory management, and the growing popularity of eBooks are changing the supply chain for printed books. Our conference sessions highlighted how companies can take advantage of these changes by incorporating digital printing in their book publishing and printing strategies. The quality of the program, the expertise of our speakers, and the interaction of the audience made for a very powerful program this year."

Bethlam Forsa, Executive Vice President of Content Development and Publishing Operations at Houghton Mifflin Harcourt delivered a stimulating keynote address. She provided insight into how a major publisher views the future of educational books, including the respective roles of printed and electronic content. "Our strategy is to meet our customers no matter where they are in that digital evolution by providing high quality, standard based, pedagogically sound curriculum that meets or exceeds their needs." She said Houghton has built enormous flexibility into the products it creates, with content available in multiple formats, in multiple modalities and for multiple devices. "Our goal at the end of the day is to create our content with enough flexibility that we are able to push it into multiple formats." She gave examples of products and programs which can be delivered in digital, print or in both formats.

Following the keynote, Gilles Biscos, President of INTERQUEST, presented results from recent research done in the North American book market. A panel of leading book manufacturers followed. The panel included: Adam DeMaestri, President of BR Printers; Larry Bennett, President of Distribution Services at Bookmasters; Nick Lewis, President of Publishers' Graphics; and Dale Williams, Vice President, Strategic Content Imaging (SCI).

The afternoon sessions included a leading vendor's executive panel discussing topics and issues key to the growth of digital printing. Speakers for the panel were Scott Schiller, Hewlett-Packard Company; Kris Albee, Océ North America; George Promis, Ricoh Production Printing; and John Conley, Xerox Corporation. David Davis, Director at INTERQUEST then provided more research findings and trends for books.

A session for workflow, finishing, inks, and paper provided an update on the challenges and developments relating to these book issues. Joint presentations were given by suppliers and their customers. Speakers included Katie Kriemelmeyer, President, AGS, a Consolidated Graphics Company & Bruce Beiderman, National Accounts Manager, Standard Finishing Systems; Steve Franzino, Vice President Technology, Courier Corporation & Paul Bradshaw, Senior Vice President, Publishing Papers, Appleton Coated LLC; and John Pecaric, Senior Vice President of Operations, RR Donnelley & Yuan Yu, New Business Development Manager, Cabot Inkjet Colorants.

The final session of the day was a panel of publishers who shared their experiences with digital printing and discussed trends and perspectives of paper books and eBooks. Speakers included David Hetherington, Vice President, Academic/Educational Merchandising and Digital Printing, Baker & Taylor; Keith True, Management Accountant, Bridge Publications Inc.; Laura Mars, Vice President Editorial, Grey House Publishing; and Richard Hollick, Program Manager, Print-on-demand, Oxford University Press.

The New York Digital Book event concluded with a cocktail reception hosted by Xerox, a leading supplier of digital printing solutions. At the reception, INTERQUEST presented awards in recognition of leadership and innovation for printers and publishers in digital book manufacturing. This was the inaugural year for the awards which were selected by a distinguished panel of industry editors and analysts. The awards were given to Ingram's Lightning Source, Pearson, and John Wiley & Sons.

The Digital Book Printing Forum was sponsored by leading players in the book market, including Appleton Coated LLC, Bridgeport National Bindery, Cabot Inkjet Colorants, Hewlett-Packard, Ricoh, Océ/Canon, QuadGraphics, Standard Finishing Systems, Webcom, and Xerox. The event was supported by the Small Publishers Association of North America (SPAN) and the Association of Educational Publishers (AEP).