Print continues to be at the top of the list as a major global industry. It surpasses even the car manufacturing and video game industries. People continue to read books, manuals, and other materials in printed, as opposed to electronic form, and the demand is expected to continue.
Increased Print Sales
In 2015, for example, 80% of all worldwide book sales were print versions. The following year, in 2016, unit sales increased by 3.3%. This represents the third year in a row that the book printing industry experienced growth.
When compared with the first half of 2015, paperback book sales increased 8.8% during the first half of 2016 as well, according to the American Association of Publishers Wednesday. Hardcover books also experienced a slight increase in sales of 0.9%, and grossed $989 million. Electronic books, however, experienced a 20% drop in sales.
Preference for Print Reading Over Electronic Devices and Audio Books
Even though there have been recent technological advances with electronic reading devices, most Americans are choosing to read books in print. A Pew Research Center study was conducted in 2016 where it was found that 65% of people in the United States read the print version of a book. This was over double the percentage of Americans that read an e-book, at 28%. Furthermore, this was quadruple the number of people that listened to audio books at 14%.
When reading articles, many individuals prefer to read print rather than online versions. Recent figures indicate that print is believed to be more engaging for 59% of the individuals that participated in a recent survey.
Printing and Bookbinding Services
Books used to be bound by hand using a roller machine. It would usually take bookbinders about an hour to bind 100 books. Thicker books, however, took longer to bind, and an experienced bookbinder could usually complete 20 in an hour.
Currently, a variety of companies within the Global Commercial Printing Industry are responsible for printing books and providing other vital services. These include prepress services such as typesetting, and post-press services such as book binding,
Prior to binding non-perfect bound print books, a high-speed automatic paper punching machine is used. The Sterling DIGIPUNCH, for example, can punch up to 72,000 sheets of paper in an hour. Using an automatic paper punch has definitely made a difference in the amount of time it takes to prepare these books for binding.
There are different types of automatic wire binding styles available, such as double loop wire binding. This type of binding is useful for documents such as manuals and reports so they can be opened and laid flat. Coil binding and perfect binding are also in demand.
Whether your business requires perfectly-bound printed materials, or you want automatic paper punch and coil binding machine services, these and other services are available. Even though some businesses may continue to make materials available online and in other electronic formats, print continues to be the preferred format.
