e-Readers of all types (including Apple’s iPad and Barnes and Noble’s Kindle) are among the hottest products in the retail world. Publishers are trembling because they are faced with the same type of digital disruption that rocked the music industry. Although the overriding message in today’s market is that books are not dead, the methods in which they are published and purchased are changing. The combination of e-books and print on demand is creating an opportunity for organizations that know how to effectively leverage print on demand.

There is a new value chain for book publishing. Instead of trying to guess about print runs (especially in the face of e-books), major publishers can simply print books on demand. Book dealers such as Amazon.com now print books themselves, and authors are increasingly utilizing the self-publishing model to publish and sell their creations directly to the public. In short, the market has become considerably more volatile, ad-hoc, and unpredictable.

As a tribute to the staying power of old-fashioned hard copy books, companies that are offering print on demand services are quietly thriving. Digital print on demand has become the answer for book publishers that are facing an industry confronted with turmoil.