David Taylor joins Lightning Source UK as Business Development Director
Press release from the issuing company
JUNE 25, 2003 – Lightning Source Inc., a pioneer in print-on-demand and digital fulfillment services, is pleased to announce that David Taylor has joined Lightning Source UK Ltd. as a Business Development Director, a newly created post for the rapidly expanding company.
“It’s great to have David on board with us full time,” said Malcolm Allen, Managing Director, Lightning Source UK. “David will play a crucial role in terms of promoting the benefits of print on demand.
“Publishers and booksellers can benefit immensely from quality print-on-demand programs,” he added. “Our Lightning Source US and UK operations have just grown exponentially since inception, and as publishers and booksellers continue to learn of our benefits and services, we expect to make great contributions to traditional publishing and bookselling.
“David has an unrivaled network of contacts within the UK and international book trade, great passion for the trade and a refreshingly clear view of what we can do with on-demand print and distribution technology that very much focuses on books and the people that want to buy them. David is a tremendous addition to our team.”
Mr. Taylor has worked in the UK book trade since 1984 and rose from the shop floor of Blackwell’s bookshop in Broad Street Oxford to the board of Blackwell’s UK library supply business. After leaving Blackwell’s at the end of 1999, he co-founded the Nibbie-shortlisted internet bookselling company, swotbooks.com, of which he is still non executive chairman. He is a past Chairman of the College and University Booksellers Group, and is currently a member of the BA Council and Chairman of the Internet Booksellers Group, which he was instrumental in setting up. He has also acted as a judge on both the Whitbread and NCR Non Fiction book awards and has written a number of articles for the trade press.
“I remember seeing the first Lightning Source operation being set up in Nashville, TN in 1997,” Mr. Taylor commented. “My first thought at the time was that no book need ever again be out of print, nor unavailable to someone who wanted to read it.
“As a bookseller with 18 years of experience, I know how many sales are lost because we cannot get books that our customers want. I do not think we have even scratched the surface yet in terms of what we can do with print on demand technology. I very much see my new role at Lightning Source as one of helping publishers and booksellers recover whole new areas of previously lost revenue. Keeping books alive is a great job to be in!”