INTERQUEST provides content-rich sessions for the Magazine, Newspaper, & Book Markets

Charlottesville, VA - INTERQUEST, a leading market and technology research and consulting firm serving the digital printing and publishing industry, announces that more than one hundred publishing professional attended the 2013 New York Digital Printing in Publishing Forum. The event was held on September 23rd and 24th at the Marriott Marquis New York in conjunction with the Publishing Business Conference & Expo (www.publishingbusiness.com), produced by Book Business magazine (www.bookbusinessmag.com) and Publishing Executive magazine (www.pubexec.com).

According to Gilles Biscos, President of INTERQUEST, "We focus on market sectors where digital production printing is making an impact. Book printing was one of the earliest publishing markets where digital printing made an impact and it remains an important and growing segment for vendors and providers. With advancements in speed, throughput, quality, and cost we now see digital printing spreading to other publishing markets, and felt the time was ripe for us to expand our event into these areas."

The Monday, September 23rd afternoon seminar focused on trends, developments, and opportunities for digital printing in the magazine and newspaper markets. Gilles Biscos, President, and David Davis, Director, opened the forum by sharing INTERQUEST research for the newspaper and magazine markets. This session was followed by a panel of leading digital printing and finishing equipment vendors from Canon Solutions America, Hewlett-Packard Company and Standard Finishing Systems in a round table discussion. The participants provided an update of their companies' latest developments and discussed trends and applications in both the magazine and newspaper markets.

The day continued with an example of how digital printing has been successful in the magazine industry. Hearst Magazines, a leading magazine publisher, and SCI, a leading service provider, have developed a program of highly personalized magazine onserts. Hearst wanted to develop high quality very personalized and targeted advertising for their magazines. By using PURLs, personalized QR codes, augmented reality, and text & image personalization, they have produced over a dozen ad campaigns in a number of their magazines. The ads are done as onserts that are poly bagged with the magazines. No additional postage expense is incurred. Laura Reid, Vice President of Production at Hearst magazines, said that the program has been very successful because of the collaborative effort between Hearst, SCI, and with HP (the print provider). They produce the pieces on both toner and inkjet equipment. "We are getting smarter about it in terms of looking at creative ahead of time and deciding on which piece of equipment these would be best served."

On Tuesday, September 24th INTERQUEST held its eighth annual Digital Book Printing Forum, a full-day event focused on key sectors of the book market. According to Gilles Biscos, President of INTERQUEST, "The book market continues to adjust and retool to the new realities shaping it, and digital printing continues to play a leading role in supply chain strategies. It's exciting to see the technology and applications unfold and expand over time, and our goal with these events is to provide an environment that fosters education and innovation for new and established professionals from the entire book ecosystem."

INTERQUEST presented the results of recent research the company has conducted in the book industry throughout the day along with panel discussions with publishers, printers, distributors and suppliers. Gilles Biscos kicked off the day with an overview of the book market and the ongoing growth of digital printing.

This was followed by a panel of key players from publishing, manufacturing, and distribution. The panel included: Craig Bauer, Senior Vice President, Publishing Operations & Strategic Planning, Hachette Book Group; John Edwards, President & CEO, Edwards Brothers Malloy; and Kelly Gallagher, Vice President of Content Acquisition, Ingram Content Group. The panel discussed issues including shrinking brick and mortar book stores, the rise of self publishing, the impact of eBooks, the efficiencies of the supply chain, the role of Amazon as an ally/competitor, and the increase in distributed global printing. When asked what changes would take place in their respective parts of the market three years from now, the panel responded: more consolidation; more eBooks, continued increase in moving to 'zero inventory'; publishers as content providers and printers as supply chain providers.

A panel of book professionals from the education and professional (STM) markets rounded out the morning sessions by presenting experiences with digital applications, opportunities and challenges. The panel was comprised of speakers from Frederick Printing/CGX Publishing Solutions, Webcrafters, and Bridgeport.

The afternoon portion of the program commenced with a panel of executives from leading digital printing equipment vendors. Panelists include: Canon Solutions America, Eastman Kodak, Hewlett-Packard Company, and Ricoh Production Printing. The following session consisted of industry experts discussing opportunities and challenges related to digital book printing in the areas of finishing, substrates, and distribute-and-print. Joint presentations were provided by Standard Finishing Systems and Total Printing, and Appleton Coated LLC and SCI. The final session examined the state and future of digital printing in the trade and religious book sectors. The companies represented included Ingram Content Group, King Printing, and Lulu.com.

The 2013 Digital Printing in Publishing Forum is sponsored by leading players in the market, including Appleton Coated, Bridgeport National Bindery, BR Printers, Canon, Glatfelter, Hewlett-Packard, KBA, Kodak, Ricoh, and Standard Finishing. It is supported by the Association of American University Presses (AAUP), the Evangelical Christian Publishers Association (ECPA), the Association of Publishers for Special Sales (APSS), the Association of American Publishers (AAP), and the Association of Business Information & Media (abm).

For more information about the event, please visit the forum's web site: http://www.inter-quest.com/2013NYCDigitalPrintingInPublishingForum