If you are a conference organizer and have a responsibility to collect all articles, review them and make sure they are published in one format or another, you understand the work involved. With the focus on electronic distribution, it seems clear that you will produce or hire someone to produce your procedures on CD, DVD, USB, or web server. What you don’t expect is that you should also produce a print edition on cheap demand. “Wait a second,” you are saying. “Isn’t that the most difficult and expensive print to distribute” and “Aren’t we happy we left that behind?” Here are five good reasons to consider making a print edition available to your members, affiliates, and the research community at large.
1. Some still need to print: For whatever reason, in a very big world, there are researchers and libraries that still have a preference for printing, or even the need to print. It is true that most researchers are quite satisfied with electronic access, and for good reason: articles are in color, titles are indexed, and topics and keywords are searchable. However, there are libraries, research institutes, corporations, and individuals from the academic world that still request printing. Sometimes because they like the feel of a book, and sometimes because they are not comfortable enough that “electronic only” meets all their needs. In the case of large libraries, there are multiple and diverse audiences to serve, and not everyone is satisfied in the same way.
2. Provide access to all segments of the research community: Most scientific engineers and authors, as well as the professional societies and associations to which they are affiliated, regard the dissemination of their research as a strategic priority. While the electronic format has certain clear advantages over easy distribution, why deny a segment of the research community simply because it chose one format over another? Hidden benefit: Engineering libraries and research institutes, which often prefer printing to CD, DVD or USB, are they full of potential new members and potential future conference attendees?
3. Produce only what is necessary: Print-on-demand, by definition, eliminates expensive print runs, excess inventory, and wasted trees. On the other hand, it also removes “out of print” books. A print-on-demand version is simply available to those who need it, when they need it, no more, no less!
4. The on-demand model reduces complexity and cost: By definition, print on demand (POD) is less complicated and less expensive. A simple search for “conference proceedings printers” should yield many options from printers with experience in printing proceedings. Since the demand for printing is declining, you will need to look for a printer that partners with you (agrees to do the job in exchange for the sales revenue share) and that has the following capabilities.
- Prepress job (create table of contents, author index)
- Sort and merge articles and paginate
- Create the cover and cover
There are even printers who will handle the processing, packing and shipping of orders to their members or affiliates … they talk about cost reduction and complexity.
5. Redeploy your resources to more strategic priorities: For most associations, printing and distributing a few extra copies of the procedures is not high on the priority list. Find a good partner and use your valuable resources on more strategic tasks.
Get started looking for a print-on-demand partner today who can produce the book, promote it, process orders, and package and ship it. You will get another distribution channel that promotes your society and conferences. You will get a small source of income that is a 100% profit contribution and the whole concept supports the notion of disseminating research, which most professional organizations include as part of their mission statement. Everyone wins here: the customer who still prefers printing; the printer who is probably looking for new ways to stay in the game; and you, the conference organizer who would love the many positive results, but need time to figure out about a hundred other priorities.
