Lightning Source
On-Demand Book Manufacturing:
Keeping Books & the Environment Alive
Rob Clements
Sales Consultant, Canada
A bit about Lightning Source
• Founded in 1997
• 500,000+ titles are stored in our Digital Library
• 50,000,000+ books printed globally “One-at-a-time”
• Digital and offset printing for complete supply chain management
• Average print run is 1.8 copies
• Global Operation
• LaVergne, TN
• Milton Keynes, United Kingdom
• Allentown, PA
• 5,000 Publishing Partners
• 1.2 million books printed per month
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POD – What’s that all about?
POD helps you optimize inventory management using the
most effective print and distribution models in a globally
distributed network
Or….
Print Book, Try and Sell Book
Becomes
Sell Book First, Print Book Next
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Key Advantages of a POD Model
• Reduced risk – print it when you get a sale rather
than print it and put it in a warehouse
• Reduced capital requirements
• Eliminate stock write offs
• Environmental Advantages
• Speed and certainty of supply
• Print in market – virtual not physical exporting
• Print in any language
• Print in larger print for the visually impaired
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The Models
• Direct to Publisher
Publisher book orders are printed and shipped to any location in any
quantity
• Manufacture & Distribution
Titles are sold through a network of distribution partners including
Ingram, Baker & Taylor, Amazon.com (and other Amazon international
sites), Barnes & Noble, Bertrams, Gardners and others
• Offset
Complete life cycle manufacturing
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Helping Publishers be Green
It is not what we do, but rather
what we allow our customers to do,
that is important.
POD – helps publishers be green.
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Is POD really green?
YES!
Lightning POD allows:
• Publishers to print only what they need – No waste!
Overstocks, Overruns, Pulping, potentially wasted raw materials and returns are
minimized or disappear
• Publishers to have assurance about the environmental soundness of
the materials their books are made of
Paper/Forest certification schemes - certified mills, suppliers and materials
• Publishers a Distributed Print Option
Using a globally distributed network, books are printed at the location nearest to the
order
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Papers and Certifications
POD…helping our publishers be green.
• All paper is sourced from COC (Chain of Custody) suppliers and mills
• All papers are individually or dually:
FSC
SFI
PEFC
Green-e certified
• Some papers carry post consumer waste (PCW) content
• Some papers are manufactured using alternate eco-friendly power
sources
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Distributed Print
One file serves a globally distributed network
• Books are printed at the plant closest to the order
– LaVergne, TN, Allentown, PA , Milton Keynes, UK
– Pacific Rim expansion to be announced
• Eliminate costly inventory costs, transfers and freight
• Less transportation and conservation of fossil fuels
• No pulping – manufacture only what is needed or what is ordered
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Who uses Lightning Source?
A SNAPSHOT:
• University Presses – Cambridge, Oxford, Penn State, Princeton, Yale, Rutgers, LSU
• STM / PTR Publishers – Wiley, Springer, Elsevier, McGraw-Hill, Information Age
• Academic Publishers - Taylor & Francis, Palgrave, Continuum, Sage
• Educational Publishers – Pearson, Key Curriculum
• Associations/ Non-profit Organizations – AMACOM, Naval & Military Press, Royal
Society of Chemistry, IWA Publishing, Council on Foreign Relations
• Author Services Companies – Authorhouse, iUniverse, LuLu, Xlibris
• General Trade Publishers Little Brown, Harper Collins, Random House, Simon &
Schuster, Perseus, Hachette, St. Martin’s, Kensington, FSG, Harcourt
• Religious Publishers – Thomas Nelson, Xulon, Presbyterian Publishing, United Methodist,
Eerdmans Publishing, Augsburg Fortress
• Micro Publishers – New Concepts, Libros en Red, Rosetta, Holy Fire, TRIAD, James Rock
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Lightning POD has….
• Allowed books to be kept alive forever
• Allowed books to be brought back from the dead
• Allowed books to be published that would never have made it
• Allowed new publishing models to emerge and flourish
• Allowed publishers to build upon their green initiatives
• Printed and delivered books faster than ever before
• Replaced warehouses full of stock – virtually
• Created the strongest distribution channel on the planet
• Allowed millions of people to buy the books that they want
• Realized £/$m of sales for publishers that would have been lost
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Rob Clements
Sales Consultant, Canada
Rob.clements@lightningsource.com
www.lightningsource.com
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