Better known in the French publishing world, Nord Compo, a 43 year-old French publishing technology company based in Lille, France, is looking to expand its business in the North American market.
Nord Compo offers prepress services and its clients include Elsevier, Hachette, Michelin and Wolter Kluwers. Most recently in the U.S,. the company provides prepress services to the Princeton University Press, Chicago Review Press and Rowman & Littlefield.
According to Larry Bennett, Nord Compo’s executive director of business development in North America, the company employs about 150 people at its Lille headquarters in addition to a staff of 300 employees based in Madagascar in Africa where the company’s prepress work is done.
Nord Compo specializes in end-to-end composition services. Clients can submit an unformatted Word file and Nord Compo can deliver print ready PDFs along with ePub, ePDF, Mobi, KF8 and other e-book file formats. The company offers a wide range of “digital services, including preparation of e-book files, enhanced e-books for children’s book and STM publishers, and creation of apps for Android and iOS devices,” said Bennett.
For small to medium-sized publishers that release 50 to 100 titles, Nord Compo can set up several book design templates rather than provide new designs for every title. When files are submitted to prepress, publishers indicate which template to use for each title. Nord Compo, Bennett said, can cut the time needed in the book production cycle—the company has trimmed four weeks off the Chicago Review Press’ turnaround time—as well as the cost.
