Printing Squeeze, B&N Snafu Worry Publishers

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Printing Squeeze, B&N Snafu Worry Publishers Jim Milliot -- 10/2/00 *Companies compete for press time as printers run full out; B&N says distribution center glitches fixed* An extremely tight printing environment and problems with Barnes & Noble's ability to get books into its stores are causing sleepless nights for publishers as the industry heads toward the all-important holiday season. "Printing capacity is as tight as I've ever seen it," said Jed Lyons, head of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and president of National Book Network. Lack of capacity is delaying first printings by as much as two weeks while some reprintings are taking more than a month longer than usual. A spokesperson for Random House noted that the publisher "is making the best of a challenging situation" regarding reprint turnaround time. The specter of running out of a hot-selling title over the holidays comes at the same time that publishers are worried about B&N's ability to fix problems at its distribution centers that are delaying many books from getting on shelves in a timely fashion. The head of one major New York house described the situation at B&N as "a very big problem. We are very worried." A B&N executive told PW that the backlogs the chain was experiencing should be corrected by this week. Most publishers agree that the strain on printing capacity results from several factors, the most important being the trend of publishers doing lower first printings and smaller reprintings to keep inventory low. "It takes more time to do two printings than one," observed Walker & Co. publisher George Gibson. And while publishers are going back to press more often, the number of total units is not increasing significantly, making printers loathe to add extra equipment. In fact, printing capacity in the U.S. has shrunk since Quebecor closed its Vermont facility earlier this spring. Tim McGuire, v-p, production, at Simon & Schuster, estimated that the number of reprints have increased dramatically over the last several years. "It's been an incremental increase that peaked this summer," he told PW. In addition to shorter, more frequent runs, very strong education and religion book markets have made it almost impossible to shift the printing of trade titles to printers that specialize in the education market, McGuire said. The large first and second printings for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had only a minor impact on the capacity problem. By the time Scholastic went back to press for its second three-million-copy printing for Goblet, it needed to scramble a bit to find the necessary capacity, but Scholastic v-p Francine Colaneri said the house found more than enough capacity and is comfortable that it will be able to accommodate further reprintings of Potter titles. Larger publishers, while worried about printing availability, feel they have enough flexibility, given the amount of printings they do, to avoid being caught without stock, although that is not always the case for smaller houses. Esther Margolis, president of Newmarket Press, said that one of her recent hot titles was out of stock for four weeks because she could not get press time. To avoid just that situation, Gibson has increased the first printings on Walker's major titles by 15% to 20%. The decision to increase the print runs was difficult, Gibson said, because just-in-time publishing has saved Walker a considerable amount of money, and for that reason, there is little chance publishers will revert to significantly higher first and second printings. To prevent the printing problem from evolving into a crisis, publishers agreed that they need to improve their planning. "Scheduling printing has become an issue that you must think about when you're planning your list," said Claire Griffin, director of sales and marketing at NYU Press. "We need to do a better job of setting printings closer to advance orders," Hyperion publisher Bob Miller said. "Just-in-time only works if you can resupply quickly." Backlog Cleared The printing squeeze was a contributing factor to about a two-week backlog at B&N's distribution center, B&N v-p Alan Kahn told PW. "We fell behind, but we are back on track. I don't foresee any more problems," he said. Kahn acknowledged that B&N did have some internal problems, which have been corrected, and added that those problems were compounded by the change in printing patterns that resulted in some extra-large shipments. Several, but not all, of the major houses reported that for about the last month B&N was able to get books that had a one-day laydown on the floor on time, but that other books were not hitting the shelves when publishers had expected. Kahn said he was comfortable that Barnes & Noble will be back on schedule beginning this week. In all the concern about printing capacity, more than one publisher noted the irony--with all the hype about e-books, the biggest concern for publishers this season is finding enough printing time to produce old-fashioned print editions.

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Printing Squeeze, B&N Snafu Worry Publishers
Jim Milliot -- 10/2/00
Companies compete for press time as printers run full out; B&N says distribution center glitches fixed

An extremely tight printing environment and problems with Barnes & Noble's ability to get books into its stores are causing sleepless nights for publishers as the industry heads toward the all-important holiday season. "Printing capacity is as tight as I've ever seen it," said Jed Lyons, head of the Rowman & Littlefield Publishing Group and president of National Book Network. Lack of capacity is delaying first printings by as much as two weeks while some reprintings are taking more than a month longer than usual. A spokesperson for Random House noted that the publisher "is making the best of a challenging situation" regarding reprint turnaround time.

The specter of running out of a hot-selling title over the holidays comes at the same time that publishers are worried about B&N's ability to fix problems at its distribution centers that are delaying many books from getting on shelves in a timely fashion. The head of one major New York house described the situation at B&N as "a very big problem. We are very worried." A B&N executive told PW that the backlogs the chain was experiencing should be corrected by this week.

Most publishers agree that the strain on printing capacity results from several factors, the most important being the trend of publishers doing lower first printings and smaller reprintings to keep inventory low. "It takes more time to do two printings than one," observed Walker & Co. publisher George Gibson. And while publishers are going back to press more often, the number of total units is not increasing significantly, making printers loathe to add extra equipment. In fact, printing capacity in the U.S. has shrunk since Quebecor closed its Vermont facility earlier this spring.

Tim McGuire, v-p, production, at Simon & Schuster, estimated that the number of reprints have increased dramatically over the last several years. "It's been an incremental increase that peaked this summer," he told PW. In addition to shorter, more frequent runs, very strong education and religion book markets have made it almost impossible to shift the printing of trade titles to printers that specialize in the education market, McGuire said. The large first and second printings for Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had only a minor impact on the capacity problem. By the time Scholastic went back to press for its second three-million-copy printing for Goblet, it needed to scramble a bit to find the necessary capacity, but Scholastic v-p Francine Colaneri said the house found more than enough capacity and is comfortable that it will be able to accommodate further reprintings of Potter titles.

Larger publishers, while worried about printing availability, feel they have enough flexibility, given the amount of printings they do, to avoid being caught without stock, although that is not always the case for smaller houses. Esther Margolis, president of Newmarket Press, said that one of her recent hot titles was out of stock for four weeks because she could not get press time. To avoid just that situation, Gibson has increased the first printings on Walker's major titles by 15% to 20%. The decision to increase the print runs was difficult, Gibson said, because just-in-time publishing has saved Walker a considerable amount of money, and for that reason, there is little chance publishers will revert to significantly higher first and second printings. To prevent the printing problem from evolving into a crisis, publishers agreed that they need to improve their planning. "Scheduling printing has become an issue that you must think about when you're planning your list," said Claire Griffin, director of sales and marketing at NYU Press. "We need to do a better job of setting printings closer to advance orders," Hyperion publisher Bob Miller said. "Just-in-time only works if you can resupply quickly."

Backlog Cleared
The printing squeeze was a contributing factor to about a two-week backlog at B&N's distribution center, B&N v-p Alan Kahn told PW. "We fell behind, but we are back on track. I don't foresee any more problems," he said. Kahn acknowledged that B&N did have some internal problems, which have been corrected, and added that those problems were compounded by the change in printing patterns that resulted in some extra-large shipments.

Several, but not all, of the major houses reported that for about the last month B&N was able to get books that had a one-day laydown on the floor on time, but that other books were not hitting the shelves when publishers had expected. Kahn said he was comfortable that Barnes & Noble will be back on schedule beginning this week.

In all the concern about printing capacity, more than one publisher noted the irony--with all the hype about e-books, the biggest concern for publishers this season is finding enough printing time to produce old-fashioned print editions.