Opportunities and Issues

September 2012

By Muhammed Kamil, Publishing Consultant

Contents

3 C emp y M ke C e M F B k Re e Se v e me e e e Sy em B e M e 6 8 12 30 31 33 34

Digital Publishing in Africa Opportunities and Issues p je e e p m e e wee m em e e e , e , e e p p e , e e; e e ep p mp y e . He e, pe e m m ew k e we e e p e pe y. we m eve yp e ew e e e p , e; e, e e p e eve e e we e m e e expe e e , we e . T em e e e e p e w m w p J y 2011. T , e e e me ew e p e me . M mme K m , j ,N e e e p , e e ve y ve e -

Digital Publishing in Africa

Introduction to Second Edition

e e p e J y 2011 m y ew p m e m eme ve e ee e m ke w e e p y e e em e e e w k, e e Fp e m e me, e e e ve p p pe . e pe eve pme e e e Digital Publishing in Africa, Opportunities and Issues e m z K e e k e e ev e kp w ee e e p pe y w pp e eme x. F p e p peee e mp e m e p pe F ee mp e v me m e p p.T e e e e y ev e y e e e m ke e me w e e y e v y ve ; p e m y e me v e ve me ew p pe , m z e , kp e , m e ee mp e, e m e p e e ; p e w e p p e we p p p y e e em ke ew p ype . F ex mp e, e e N e m y (N yw ) e p e k p m emem e m w p , p p e e e ve pe p e w e p . m y e p k e e y v e m y mem e , e , p e v e e pe ee eme e e y e p m ke . ee p e m ke week y mm y ew p pe ee y e p p m m z e we e ew ev ew mme e m e q e e e p

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Digital Publishing in Africa 3

Introduction For multi-talented creative artists the borders between writing, graphic arts, photography, music and cinema are fluid. To writers who produce scenarios and TV drama scripts as well as books, for one from whom music composition flows just as readily as poetry and prose, publishing and performing arts production are neighboring fields of art that at times integrate. An artist with entrepreneurial inclination might very well find combing publishing, music production and cinematic production suitable to fulfilling expression of his or her interests and capabilities. Traditionally artists tended to regard business out of their purview but exploitation of artists by business people has led to the current situation where the instances and measure of artists control over the business aspects of their careers is unprecedented. Surveying the current array of easy to use, quick and ostensibly comprehensive digital management tools for the new Xerox iGen 150 production printer the stage is opportunely set for artistically and literarily creative people to succeed as publishing entrepreneurs. In the mid 1990s the Nigerian government in the midst of a legal crisis between authors and publishers over non-payment of royalties encouraged authors to start publishing their own books. Having a business management background I was one of the first writers able to benefit from this new window of opportunity. That was in 1995 and in December 1999 I bought my first digital printer, a Xerox Docuprint N40 with duplexer and A3 image capacity. My sole intention at the time was in house production of 400-500 page quarterly review of history in the making West Africa & World Index, but in time I learned that by sourcing my consumables outside the expensive Xerox system I could use what had been designed as a 40 page a minute office printer to profitably do short run commercial printing for the academic community at the University of Abuja. Xerox was at that time bringing out new laser printers at a dazzling pace and the first lesson I learned about investing in digital printers is that it only takes a year for your machine to become obsolete whereupon you start finding it difficult or impossible to buy the maintenance kits required after a quarter million or so prints. Much has changed since then; in recent years leading digital printer manufacturers such as Xerox, Hewlett Packard, Konica Minolta and Ricoh that initially focused on digital printers advertised for office use have introduced lines of commercial production printers, appending their model names with the distinction Pro which in the idiom of this business means production rather than professional. Brochures for these machines stress profitability and competitiveness in the printing industry rather than benefits of office document management as did those for the first generation of digital printers. New management software tools are continuously being developed by independent tech companies that sell them to all makes, thus Fiery software is used by most of the market leaders. Xerox tells us that it has a group of associate software developers collaborating to ensure that no production problem goes unsolved. Whereas our maiden edition of Digital Publishing in Africa in 2011 stressed the need for job costing and financial management tools, given Xeroxs new ProfitAccelerator and the relentlessly competitive nature of the digital production printer business we can see the industry irreversibly on the road to the kind of vision and business management partnership with production printer owners advocated in our 2011 edition. Generally, this review stresses duty cycle capacity, print speed and job costing tools as distinguishing factors from brand to brand more than color quality. Not to say there are absolutely no differences in color quality among leading brands but they are certainly less significant than duty cycle and print speed variances. However, from the webDigital Publishing in Africa 4

Introduction sites and brochures of the major players in the market we are left with the impression that Xerox is leaping ahead as pacesetter in the commercial digital printing industry. Xerox pace setting should not be taken for granted though, in this high stakes innovative industry every competing company demonstrates determination to be in front, or at least not to be left behind. HP still has about 80% of the post laser digital production printers in the global market and is the first of the major digital production machine companies to offer a digital web press specialized for food packaging as well as a wide format color workhorse. Initial faults associated with digital color printing such as streaks, uneven color distribution and inconsistent color toning are now eliminated by internalized quality control technology. With each new model leading digital printer manufacturers advertise improvements. This quest for perfection is institutionalized throughout the industry in Research & Development characteristic of todays intensely competitive technology markets. A 2007 published study entitled Estimating & Job Costing Digital Printed Matter by Prof. Malcolm Keif notes that 2005 printing industry return on sales was just 2.5%, attributing this to shrinking margins to be competitive. Technological advances in the printing industry he points out, making printers equal in quality competence, have intensified competitiveness in both lithographic and computer to machine (digital) printing. He also observed the printing industry sluggish growth; yet in the five years since Professor Keifs study offering printed matter for downloading in PDF from the internet has increased dramatically, not to mention software and hardware innovations inviting people to not only read from but store their libraries in hand held computers. Xerox ProfitAccelerator job costing tool includes comparison of the Xerox iGen 150 Digital Publishing in Africa 5 cost for any given job with how much it would cost to print using offset, which not only helps in determining which jobs should be referred to the companys new digital web press, but serving notice to the lithographic industry that its days are limited if not yet over. In Africa where expensive digital printing systems such as Xerox offers will be rarities for some time to come, anyone investing in digital production printing is unlikely to face the intensity of competition characteristic of the North American printing industry. Quite to the contrary, a new generation of cutting edge technology commercial digital printers now offer visionary African entrepreneurs opportunity to be pace setters. Publishers stand to gain immensely from the new printing technology because printing books on demand rather than stocking them, as is necessary when dealing with offset printing houses, presents an opportunity to develop new business models that better serve the income flow interest of both authors and publishers, and fine artists as well. Although this review of digital publishing opportunities and issues in Africa features and compares leading machines it is essentially an industry review rather than an in depth review of machines on offer. The objective here is to acquaint African publishers with the opportunities and issues presented by the digital production machine manufacturing community in the post laser era where printing cost has been substantially reduced and technology advanced to the point that new business models especially suitable for them can be actualized. Muhammed Kamil

Contemporary Publishing Business Modeling

eading digital printing machine brochures in the 1990s up to the advent of digital production presses one found the obvious intention of manufacturers like Xerox, HP, Konica Minolta and Ricoh was to provide optimum in-house printing solutions for companies not in the commercial printing business; reading the brochures of these manufacturers today their target audience for new generation digital production printers is commercial printers. My target audience in writing Digital Publishing in Africa is specifically publishers, encouraging them to incorporate digital production printing as well as graphic arts and hand held digital readers into their business models. Companies are selling their digital production printers intent on convincing print houses that what they have on offer will strengthen their business through increased customer satisfaction and workflow management. As a publisher I am nonetheless interested in workflow management and cost minimization, but I am my own principal customer and would invest in the machines that serve with satisfaction my team and me in our artbusiness of publishing. Indeed the cost of state of the art digital production printing systems is prohibitive for most African publishers and we shall look at the challenge of financing at the end of this review; presently let us focus on possibilities for a publisher that manages to have one of these systems. Given the current digital technology available in Africa publishers are not only positioned to control their complete operations from editing and designing to printing, but can retreat from the financing of books since authors may be expected to pay for the number of copies they can afford at a given time, still having the opportunity to order more copies at a later date. In a market like Nigeria where booksellers are accustomed to being supplied on consignment terms (payment after sales) publishers might also want to withdraw from the sales aspect of

the business. Aside from my in-house publications the only books I ever sold as a digital publisher were for lecturers who didnt want to have direct sales transactions with their students. I would deduct my publishing price (based on printing, staple binding, cover design, layout and editing cost) from the amount received and deposit the balance in the lecturers bank accounts. Looking at the possibilities picture from a larger perspective, printing on demand puts the publisher as a supplier at an advantage vis--vis the book vendor which could eventually result in publishers insisting on C.O.D. orders before printing and supplying. Thus with the spread of digital printing by publishers we could see a complete reversal of the terms of supply, shifting the advantage from vendor to publisher. That Nigerian publishers had become notorious for not paying authors royalties was partly due to the dilatory cash flow occasioned by the payment after sales terms imposed by book venders. Owning a digital press is essential to a publisher achieving central relevance and dominance in the supply chain between author and vendor without financing either printing or supply to vendors. Being positioned to supply according to immediate demand the publisher who owns a digital production machine, to begin with provides motivation to writers by making it possible for them to publish their books under a publishers brand with ISBN identity at bare minimal cost. Since the Nigerian National Library condition for supply of ISBN identity is that the recipient give it 6 copies of each title published, the publisher may have the author/client pay for printing the National Library 6 copies. Hence if an author wants to start with 25 copies of his book he must initially pay for printing of 31. Authors keen to sell their books might also be relied upon to introduce them to bookDigital Publishing in Africa 6

Contemporary Publishing Business Modeling in Africa stores but a more efficient and professional approach would be for publishers to each month publish and supply to book vendors a newsletter advertising titles they have on offer. These newsletters would best be sent to vendors via e-mail and vendors would place their orders by return e-mail, directing a copy of the order to the author so that one knows exactly how many of his or her books are being sold. In this arrangement the publisher and author would share the margin on contractually agreed terms, eliminating the concept of royalty obligation. This would be a win-win business model for both publishers and authors. While adding print production using state of the art technology, digital publishing services can now be reduced to editing, designing and layout, provision of ISBN and C.O.D. sales, eliminating the onerous task of monthly multiple vendor sales follow up, as well as production financing. I have never directly charged and wouldnt like to ever charge authors for editing or designing their books by itemizing editing, designing and layout charges in their invoices. Since the publishing/printing margins are best standardized to avoid smart customers comparing notes and arguing claims of unfair invoicing, editing, layout and cover designing of monochrome page books would not vary by length. The thicker the book the more pages you print and the lower the cost ratio of cover designing to printing income, though time/cost of laying out the book increases with length. A publisher in marketing his services to authors might offer as extra cost options pages of illustrations or photos to be interspersed between text pages. I would offer illustrations for fiction and photographs for nonfiction. For corporate brochures the publishing options or mix of PDF for download or CD, short run printing and bulk digital web press printing should be introduced from the outset. Assuming there is a mix of short run printing and PDF for both download and CD, the design and editing price would first be negotiated as the basis of production, because in any case development of a PDF is the primary imaging stage. However, authors like myself who produce books with photographs ratio to text at more or less 25 to 30% should be treated like corporate customers rather than authors, although editing may not be included and the proof reading charge could be nominal in respect of the authors professional kinship with the publisher. Printing industry BHR and ABC costing models are visionless expediency in publishing culture context. Selling paper printed books online as Amazon does could possibly work well in the 15 member Economic Community of West Africa States (ECOWAS) the East African Community (EAC) and Southern Africa Development Community (SADC), given existing free trade protocols but the Amazon Kindle model whereby soft copies of books are sold for download into a handheld digital mass storage and reading device requires adequate security such as Kindle ownership identity criteria and impossibility of transferring books out of ones Kindle, or whatever brand handy book storage and reading device is being used. I imagine intellectual property security facilities already exists and its just a matter of specific application in Africa. The term printing on demand generally has advantageous implications for publishers in Africa; and this should be borne in mind as new products, markets and business models are developed. Digital production printing affords customization of both quantity and content; once opportunities for customization are promoted and appreciated demand can expected to be driven commensurate with purchasing power. The greater the demand for your production the more empowered you are to determine transaction terms. Digital Publishing in Africa 7

Digital Publishing Market Indicators

ublishing in Africa is often an artistic and intellectual operation that is separate from printing which in the offset dominated era has been essentially an industrial operation, though there are many mixed arrangements whereby publishers of newspapers and periodicals own their own printing presses. Nevertheless, the intellectual and printing operations of these publishers would most accurately be described as complementary rather than integral. Digital publishing was introduced in Africa with the proliferation of desk top computers and as higher speed laser printers, duplexer option and color laser printers gradually entered the market new opportunities arose. Demand for small quantities (less than the minimum offset 1,000 impressions) and poor

unpublished international relations book to carry with him to the United States of America where he would be meeting distinguished academics of his discipline. I edited the book, designed the cover, printed it on my Xerox Docuprint N40 monochrome machine and Tektronix 740 Phaser color laser, and together with book binding specialists we produced 10 copies of his book with colorful laminated card covers. He was quite pleased and proud to leave Abuja for Boston with 10 beautifully presentable copies of his intellectual achievement, complete with ISBN identity. Nigerias empowering policies favoring authors who wished to become publishers, whereby one only had to present a copy of his or her manuscript to the national library to receive 6 ISBNs, made becoming a bonafide publisher possible for all interested writers. The Xerox 9700 laser printer introduced in 1977 was the worlds first high speed electronic printer, putting out 120 pages a minute in monochrome and featuring the first duplexer. Atop the console is a first generation Xerox word processor. For many years to come the Xerox 9700 was the worlds premier high speed, high volume electronic printer, routinely printing over 1 million impressions a month.

quality of offset production are two factors that made digital printing an attractive option in Nigeria, particularly in academia where lecturers who had invested in printing their books experienced dilatory sales and returns. With digital printing available a lecturer could print as little as 5 copies of his book for promotional purposes and then print more as demand arose. A professor once came to me to print 10 copies of his

The Xerox Director General in Abuja had taken a keen interest in what I was doing and, convinced by my argument that we should pursue a vision of replacing the old Chord machines that dominated Nigerias printing sector with Xerox digital printers, tried to persuade Rank Xerox U.K. to set up a toner cartridge refilling operation in Nigeria to reduce the cost and expand the market of digital printing. Xerox, a company whose disDigital Publishing in Africa 8

Digital Publishing Market Indicators interest in the popular market I knew well having been Sales & Administrative Manager for its Liberian dealer Sinamax in the early 1980s at the time when Canon and Minolta were gobbling up African customers with their low cost, light weight photocopiers failed to grasp the opportunity. HP set up a toner refilling operation in Abuja at the time but didnt have the advanced high speed digital printers to compete with the growing line of Xerox digital printers, which by 2001 had come to include some high speed color printers with finishing units. New machines were then pouring out of Xerox every few when I carried a 4 page, single sheet, greeting card design for the simplest duplex printing no one, not even the engineer proprietor, in the showroom could handle it and they refused to let me come behind the counter and help them do it. It has only been in the past two years that some operators in Khartoums so-called Media Valley are able to do duplex printing for brochures and reports. I personally helped some of them master it. In the absence of dealer knowledge about the operation and possibilities of the Xerox Docuprint N40 I had figured out how to do duplex booklet printing, opening up an

The Xerox 4050, 2nd generation high speed monochrome laser printer, had a tape tower.

months and before the end of 2001 the Xerox C2065 console model was putting out 65 color pages a minute with a duplexer. I got to see the Xerox C2065 up close when I came to Khartoum on a publishing contract in the last quarter of 2001. Odyssey, the Xerox agent in Sudan, was operating the countrys first digital printing operation but

insatiable market printing for lecturers and departments at the University of Abuja. I must admit that before discovering the collating and two-up facilities on my Xerox DocuPrintN40 I printed A5 pages of a booklet, scanned them into my PC and pasted them on an A4 landscape page setup in MS Word. Not satisfied with the unprofessional appearance I sat down and started examining and playing with the Docuprint N40 print driver, discovering that to get two A5 pages duplex printed on an A4 sheet I had to set the image size at 135% rather than 100%; then I got a beautifully laser printed collated booklet. I started saving the page sequencing in a MS Word file for different length booklets, enabling easy pasting into the printer driver and I was off and running. In Abuja F.C.T. I alone offered short run booklet printing services in the first two years of the new millennium. My experience in demand publishing for departments and lecturers at the University of Abuja confirmed my intuitive belief that authors Digital Publishing in Africa 9

Oc JetStream Digital Web Press

Digital Publishing Market Indicators

Advertised as an industrial printer particularly suitable for food package printing the HP Indigo 20000 Digital press can also do book publishing and other media industry jobs, making it the versatility champ

would prefer dealing with a publisher who is an author and intellectual colleague rather than a hierarchical publishing company. The digital media center has been the commercial phenomenon of the digital revolution most in touch with the general public in Africa. Commonly known as Business Centers the digital media centers have since the early 1990s provided the public computer typing and graphic arts services suitable for short runs, scanning, CD making, architectural and engineering drawing printouts and reproduction, fax messaging, telephone calls and internet access. Over time, the digital media center has changed features. With widespread internet access and mobile phones, demand for telephone call and internet service dried up. Also widespread computer usage knowledge and ownership has curbed growth in the computer typing market. Digital Publishing, driven by the new generation commercial production printers, promises to be the prime business of future digital media centers, but for the time being the market is still dominated by office machines on which printing cost is multiple times that of computer to plate offset printers providing much better quality output than in the film to plate era, though rarely as good as the quality one gets from a reconditioned Xerox console printer imported from Europe turning out 60 color pages a minute.

This is perhaps the most significant difference between printing in Africa and in the Global North. I am taken aback when I read in brochures that the digital production printer can give quality almost on par with offset printing, because even with African printers often sending their color separation tasks abroad, aside from printing done in South Africa and Morocco I have not seen any African offset job qualitatively equal to what a reconditioned Xerox C6060 laser printer does. In my promotional material in Nigeria I offered book printing for 500 copies or less. That is what lecturers in a small institution like University of Abuja were looking for, especially for conversion of course notes to booklets. Increasing decentralization in Africa empowering provincial or state and local governments invariably opens new short run printing markets for monochrome hand books with color covers, color A4 size booklets featuring projects and programs and spot color newsletters; and above all, in Nigeria where local governments control primary education, digital web presses like those offered by Canon Oc and Xerox, can produce text books in smaller volumes and at lower prices than could be possible on offset printers. The speed gap between digital web presses and the fastest single sheet digital producDigital Publishing in Africa 10

Digital Publishing Market Indicators tion printers is close to 20 to 1. HPs indigo color prints at a maximum speed of 160 pages a minute and Xerox iGen 150 at 150 color A4 pages a minute in duplex, but Canon Oc 3900 prints at 2700 color A4 pages and Xerox 2800 Inkjet web press can deliver color A4 pages at 2,624 pages a minute. The digital web press is particularly cost efficient for producing large books in small quantities, because on a computer to plate offset printer a 400 page color A4 book could require 100 plates, while on the digital press no plates are needed. Volume consideration determines whether to print on your Xerox iGen 150 or the companys 2800 Inkjet web system; use the web press if placing the job into its job sequence is time convenient for the customer, if not print on the single sheet press. Unlike offset printers where cost increases with the number of different pages in the job, the digital web press needs only to consider the machine operating time, meaning that if multiple jobs are lined up for the web printer which in the case of Xerox or Canon Oc have monthly duty cycles in excess of 60 million A4 images, less work would be directed to the single sheet printer as the web printer takes over much of the load. This raises the question of whether one should first buy the more expensive digital press if the money is available and perhaps invest in the single sheet digital press as an ancillary. I believe there must be logic in that proposition since single sheet digital production printers are advertised as short run companions, not replacements, of offset printers. Digital web presses are essentially replacements for offset printers and can integrate short runs into their lineup of jobs that keep them sufficiently busy to make use of their monthly duty capacities which can be as great as 80 million A4 pages; therefore where purchasing capacity enables I think the digital web press should be the primary investment for book publishers and the single sheet digital production printer an ancillary purchase, but having both is preferable.

Digital (short run) Market for Color Single Sheet Production Printers
1. Wedding Invitations 2. Events Publicity 3. Brochures 4. Annual Reports 5. Conference Reports 6. Picturesque Books 7. Documentation 8. Business Cards 9. Calendars 10. Newsletters 11. Posters 12. Diplomatic Reception Invitations 13. Restaurant Menus 14. DVD Case Covers 15. CD Labels 16. Covers for Text Books 17. Marketing Kits 18. Rsums 19. Magazine dummies to be used in soliciting adverts 20. Training Manuals & Handbooks

Digital Market for Monochrome Single Sheet Printers

1. Text Books 2. Government Reports 3. Project Documents 4. Feasibility Studies 5. Students projects, dissertations and theses 6. Training Manuals & Handbooks

Digital Web Printers

1. Newspapers 2. Magazines 3. Textbooks 4. Posters 5. Picturesque Books 6. Brochures 7. Annual Reports 8. Training Manuals & Handbooks

Digital Publishing in Africa 11

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

ntegrating a digital printing system into the publishing companys operations can be a natural process if the machines have qualities that make investment in digital production printers a boon not a drag on the existing business model. The criteria for digital production printers benefiting publishers are mainly business related because all the leading machines now not only deliver high print quality but have automated correction capabilities for such problems as streaking, uneven toner spread, color tone inconsistency and paper creasing and jamming. However, profitability and return on investment gaps between machines appear wide.

ble of doing short runs economically since neither uses plates; but until the advent of the continuous feed digital printers short run printing of large multiple volume jobs was not practical because such jobs would cost prohibitively on offset printers and inconveniently tie up single sheet digital printers. Giving a clear indication of the configuration direction digital printing is moving in while introducing the new Xerox 2800 Inkjet Continuous Feed Printer Ralph Schlozer wrote, July 11, 2011on InfoTrends InfoBlog, High speed color continuous feed inkjet printing is currently by far the most dynamic market in

The new Xerox iGen 150

Minimal downtime, optimum duty cycle capacity, print speed and job costing tool are vital to optimizing profitability and clientele building. Also, investment should be made with job allocation strategy in mind. Strategically, optimum business model performance involves a web, or continuous feed printer as Xerox calls its new digital entry, dedicated to lined-up orders, while a compatible single sheet machine contributes covers to lined up book orders because of the paper weight limitations of the web printers, but otherwise reserves capacity for demand printing. In this model the single sheet printer specializes in retail business while the continuous feed printer handles bulk orders, which could include large scale short runs like 10 copies of a 100 volume law library with each volume averaging 350 pages. Both single sheet and continuous feed printers are capa-

digital printing. Installations have quadrupled in the last three years. Impressions on color inkjet printers are expected to increase by more than 40% year-on-year for the next five years. Unsurprisingly there is a lot of momentum in the vendor community to expand their offerings and gain a piece of the pie. Investing in such costly printing systems a publisher will naturally be concerned about commitment from the vender to supply maintenance, parts and services for 10 years and should like to have with the vender concrete evidence based discussions on trade in to invest in the venders latest model 5 to 10 year later. Xeroxs ProfitAccelerater in including investment planning tools affirms this vender takes into consideration your five year future with the machines being purchased and vision for sustaining your business growth in the succeeding years. Digital Publishing in Africa 12

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

2800 Inkjet Color Continuous Feed Printing System

Approximate Price: $2.5 million

he Xerox 2800 Inkjet Color Continuous Feed Printing System, which went on sale in August 2011, is the fastest duplex image producer in this new but growing market using a single machine configuration, offering advantages of lower power consumption and less space required. The $2.5 million machine Fuji Xerox plans to sell 50 units of in the Asia Pacific region per year prints at a speed of 200 meters per minute, which translates to 2,624 A4 pages in duplex 2-up production (used for A-4 size booklets such as magazines and brochures). Other brands printing faster than this use two machines per production unit configuration, leaving the new Fuji Xerox entry with the title most compact system in the 2,000ppm range. Paper widths up to 20.5 (520.7mm) fit into the new Fuji Xerox web machine and paper weight range, 64gsm to 154gsm, is near par with the Canon Oc Jet Stream specification.

Interior view of printing system

Like its Oc competitors resolution is 600 x 600 dpi. The system has the Fuji Xerox controller supporting PostScript and PDF and includes a color management tool. Initially offering no finishing options may be to encourage resort to the iGen 150 finishing system. Since the single sheet iGen 150 is advertised as a complement to the high speed machines, Fuji Xerox is positioning for complete printing system offering with its current lineup. A 2800 web system combined with the single sheet iGen 150 that can print on media weights up to 350gsm (for covers), has innovative job costing tools and would run about $3.5 million. Digital Publishing in Africa 13

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Digital Publishing in Africa 14

Configuring a Digital Publishing System The Xerox ProfitAccerators job costing feature and comparison of the digital printers cost for any given job with offset cost fully satisfies the concerns we raised in last years edition of Digital Publishing in Africa about the lack of production cost clarity imposed by digital printer manufacturers. All the leading digital presses have workflow management software tools that ensure efficient operation with minimum manpower. Hence, while incorporating digital printing Applying the old rule of thumb in African management that the less people you have in a workplace the higher the productivity to the digital age where multitasking is normative and digitalization in the printing industry simplifies function after function, the management models of the Western World printing industry with multiple departments and cost centers has no relevance to African publishing which is an organic business built on creatively talented people who have assimilated digital systems sophisticated.

Canon Oc ColorStream 3000

into the publishing operation, turning book marketing into a supplier terms advantage transaction and eliminating financing, the African publisher ends up with a more streamlined, profitable and cash adequate operation in which he has absolute control over the finished product and all the processes entailed. Unlike industrial printing operations common in Africa, the digital printers can be operated by graphic designers. HP, for example, boasts that 2 of its Digital Indigo Presses can be operated by 1 person. However, the HP Indigo line does not come with finishers, whereas its principal competitor in the single sheet market, the Xerox iGen 150 offers a range of inline finishing and binding units, including a Book Factory and booklets solution.

The digitalized African publishing company with in-house production printers I envisage as a composed environment where concentration rises to the level of all consuming awareness of what has to be done and how to do it, given the multiple digital assets at hand automating tasks that in the era when industrial printing evolved required concentrated clerical and manual work. The publisher in the digital age might borrow more work culture ways from sports and the fashion industry than from the printing industry, though working with machines that were essentially intended for commercial printers. Training young Africans in the digital age is to my mind best done adopting football team methods of developing smoothly fast coordinated, integral mental and physical reflexes. Digital Publishing in Africa 15

Configuring a Digital Publishing System Spending much less money than a comprehensive Xerox publishing system requires I might buy one of the Canon Oc 3000 Series digital web printers, accompanied by Canon Oc imagePress Pro C7010VSP, or the $50,000 Konica Minolta bizhub Pro C6501 that prints 65 color pages per minute, equals Canon in duty cycle and has higher capacity inline finishing. In South Africa where the Ricoh Pro C901s Graphic Arts Edition is available I might pay almost three times the price of the Konica Minolta to mate the Oc web press with one of the industrys highest rated values, printing 90ppm with highly rated 1200 x 1200dpi color quality, comprehensive finishing unit and 300,000 A4 image monthly duty cycle. I have been assured by Ricoh that this machine will soon be available in Nigeria.

Ricohs flagship, the Pro 901s Graphic Arts Edition, commercial color printer is one of the fastest color digital printers, putting out 90ppm in duplex mode

Canon Image Press C70101VP is several times more expensive than the Ricoh above while underperforming it in speed and duty capacity, but has the advantage of being widely available in Africa, as well as excellent color quality reviews. Digital Publishing in Africa 16

Configuring a Digital Publishing System HP is still digital production printer leader in market penetration with 80% of the machines in the field worldwide bearing its label. HP took the lead in the field with introduction of the HP Indigo series in 2003, making it the first post laser digital printer. The HP Indigo 5500 early top of the line had a color print speed of 120ppm, monochrome speed of 240ppm and monthly duty capacity exceeding 1 million A4 images. It cost in the $415,000 to $425,000 range. Having switched from its initial dry ink technology to liquid electroink, HP currently has two flagships in this field, the 160ppm, 4 million image monthly duty cycle Indigo 7600 and the 29 image capable 10000 which is considerably slower than its 13 x 19 image capable sibling. These ratings slightly top those of Xerox iGen 150 but the obvious drawbacks of HP are that it has no finishing units and its digital web press, HP Indigo 20000 intended for industrial package printing would be underutilized in publishing. Machine investment decisions should be made after surveying all the options in the light of what you intend to publish and print. In Africa demonstrations of printing machines are rarely if ever provided by showrooms. One must rely on brochure and website information, professional reviews and survey ratings. Speaking of reviews, despite appearing not cost efficient for the African market, Canon Ocs imagePress Pro C7010VSP has racked up good sales and received excellent print quality ratings in the United States as an ancillary printer dedicated to covers and demand jobs in offset print shops. Considering that top end printers by leading manufacturers are all fiercely competing to provide the best print quality, I dont believe that when choosing between Xerox, Canon, Ricoh and HP African publishers and printers will decide on the basis of color print quality, which does not substantially vary; unless all other essentials are equal. Knowing this to be true even in the industrys home regions Digital Publishing in Africa 17 digital production printer manufacturers are now emphasizing efficient workflow management tools and profitability.

Ricoh Pro C901s Graphic Arts Edition, available in South Africa but not yet in Nigeria, is a post laser commercial digital printer using chemical toner in bottles that can be replaced without stopping the machine. The toner compartment sits stop the console for optimally convenient access

Configuring a Digital Publishing System Cost of production is crucial when shopping for a single sheet production printer. Xerox explains that its ProfitAccelerator helps in investment planning, does cost estimates and helps in 5 year business planning. HP assures its Indigo 7600 Digital Press can print at lower cost than offset printers up to 1,800 A4 pages. Of course lack of inline finishing implies either shopping for a finishing system to buy and fit to the HP Indigo or outsourcing the finishing operation. Outsourcing parts of the production process like finishing and binding could either streamline the internal operation with cost benefit or increase costs, depending on the reliability of internal operations such as finishing or the reliability of sub-contractors available. In Africa relying on outsourcing when machine manufacturers are competing to provide seamless internal solutions for their customers should not be an attractive option because of prevailing reliability deficits. Also, integrated solutions are preferable in Africa, streamlining service and maintenance reliance to a single vender under contract. Professor Keif tells us that most conventional printers operate at between 70 to 85% uptime, with Xerox claiming 85% for its iGen 150. However, he notes: Digital printers may operate at lower productivity. This is especially true for on demand businesses, that must always have capacity available to sell. These printers cannot schedule production at maximum capacity. We have already noted that this is where the single sheet production printers achieve their relevance; when planning go for full capacity booking for the digital web press but keep the single sheet preoccupied with the stream of immediate demand jobs.

Digital Publishing in Africa 18

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Single Sheet Digital Color Production Printers Comparison

ll 5 machines reviewed are widely regarded by reviewers as the leading digital color printing machines in the market. Significantly, the Konica Minolta BizHub Pro C6501 is a fraction of the cost of the other machines while comparing favorably in most categories. However, the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphic Arts Edition is regarded by some reviewers as the best value, owing to its speed which does not vary with paper weight or duplexing and other capacity features that are ahead of the Canon Image Press Pro C7010VP which cost at least 3 times more than the Ricoh flagship. However, the new Xerox iGen 150 and HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press are far ahead of the other machines in speed and monthly duty cycle as well as price. The Xerox iGen 150 and HP Indigo 7600 print at lower cost than offset in the 1,000 to 2,000 impressions range, carrying the short run cost advantage of single sheet digital production machines into the lower limit of offset territory. Xerox has historically priced its products higher than competitors and now Konica Minolta BizHub Pro C6501 which cost less than 10% the price of the Xerox iGen 150 and HP Indigo 7000, is making great progress in lowering the commercial digital printing entry level. Overall, Konica Minolta BizHub Pro C6501 might be considered the best deal for most digital media centers in Africa, as well as publishers . A reputable brand, in 2008, Konica Minolta was recognized as the #1 Brand for Customer Loyalty in the MFP Office Copier Market by Brand Keys. Konica Minolta is a world beater at offering quality, state of the art printers at incredibly low prices. At about $140,000 the Ricoh Pro C901 Graphics Edition also gives good value with a low entry level, but is not widely available in Digital Publishing in Africa 19

Africa. All these machines are receiving accolades globally. In Africa price will invariably limit the presence of traditional market dominators like the HP Indigo and Xerox iGen, but owing to much greater speed and monthly duty cycles 10 times greater than the rest of the field these two brands have the capacity to payback their cost in good time and continue earning optimum profits for years to come. Canon Image Press C7010VP is fortunate to be a corporate sibling with Canon Ocs low cost digital web printers, because on its own at half a million dollars it has neither the speed nor duty cycle to compete with the other main competitors in this dynamic field. The manufacturers of these machines, with the exception of Konica Minolta, offer them as companions to offset printers in big printing operations, but now that Xerox and Canon Oc offer digital web presses the ultimate challenge to the future of offset printing has been launched. Konica Minolta boldly advertises its BizHub Pro C6501 as a superior substitute for offset. Practically, the Kyocera TaskAlfa 500Ci which prints 50 A4 monochrome and 40 color A4 pages a minute and 19ppm A3 is at about $15,000 with all options, including finisher, a much less expensive machine, built in South Africa and widely represented on the continent by MFI. It is however not compared in the table with the production printers but is ideal for the boss office, as is the Xerox Phaser 7760.

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Leading Digital Production Printers Comparisons

Printers compared in this table are all single sheet models; the information is derived mainly from their brochures and websites. It can be noticed that the most expensive printers, Xerox iGen 150 and HP Indigo 7600 provide scant information, but significantly Xerox provides job costing and business planning tools.

Digital Publishing in Africa 20

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Digital Publishing in Africa 21

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Ricoh Pro C901s Graphic Arts Edition Direct Operating Cost at Khartoum Prices
Toner Cost per A4 page.$0.035 x 4 (duplex A3 booklet printing @ 35% coverage) = $0.14 Coated (Art Paper) 90gsm 500 sheets, cut into 2000 A3 sheets = $65 2000 = 0.0325

A3 duplex color sheet printing toner and paper cost Toner.$0.14 Paper.$0.0325 Total..$0.1725 A4 duplex color printing and paper cost: $0.0940 Cover Sheet: Coated (Art Paper) 200gsm 100 sheets, cut into 400 A3 sheets = $45 400 = 0.1125 Toner.$0.14 Cover.$0.1125 Total$0.2525 These figures suggest profitable color duplex booklet printing at a rate of $1.67 per A3 sheet, compared to the standard laser printing rate of $2 per A3 sheet. However, we could have quantity benefit structured pricing starting from $1.67 1 to 50 A4 pages @... $0.42 50 and above A4 pages$0.37 1 to 10 sheets..$1.67 per duplex printed A3 sheet 10 to 50 sheets$1.33 per duplex printed A3 sheet 50 to 100 sheets..$1.00 per duplex printed A3 sheet 100 sheets and more.$0.67 per duplex printed A3 sheet (compared to prevailing market price of $2) Maximum Production Per Hour..90ppm A4 x 60m = 5,400pph Maximum Production Per 3.5 Hour Work Day...5,400pph A4 x 3.5h = 18,900 Monthly Duty Capacity.300,000 A4 pages; 75,00 duplex A3 sheets @ $0.67 = $50,250 Note: These figures are informed guesses; accurate production cost analysis requires collaborative figuring between the manufactures representative and publishing house

Digital Publishing in Africa 22

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Xerox iGen 150

erox iGen 150 is advertised as an improvement on the iGen4, Xerox declaring that it reflects culmination of the lessons the company learned since entering the post laser digital production printer field. Ever confident that the brand and its products are best in the field, Xerox fills the iGen 150 brochure with claims of improved profitability and offers job costing tools to assure you that the brand means what it advertises. The inline finishing units, including booklet maker and book fac-

Approximately $725,000 tory and color management tools are state of the art. One hundred and fifty is how many 2400 x 2400dpi pages it prints in a minute. So that you dont have to pair this royal breed with a less worthy offset brand, Xerox now offers the 2800 Inkjet digital web printer (see page 13). Digital Publishing in Africa 23

Digital Publishing in Africa 24

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

HP Indigo 7600

P boasts that its Indigo 7600 Digital Press is the fastest 13 x 19 format offering in the market, turning out 160 color pages per minute in Enhanced Productivity Mode. HP insists its new liquid Electroink technology delivers incomparable color quality, offering up to 7 colors. The HP Indigo 7600 moreover has raised imaging capacity. The substrate variety this machine is capable of printing on numbers 2,500, including transparent and metallic media. Monthly duty cycle of 4 million A4 images also trumps the field. Its Vision System powers an automated intelligence system that reduces operator intervention while assuring optimum quality production. HP Indigo Presses are known to have the capacity to print samples without interrupting long runs in process. Remarkably, the HP Indigo 7600 Digital Press can print at cost lower than offset up to the 1,800 to 2,000 image job range.
1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11. 12. 13. Feeder High-speed laser writing head Charge roller Photo Imaging Plate (PIP) Binary Ink Developers (BIDs) Blanket Impression Cylinder Perfector Ink cabinet Vision System Proof tray Staker Imaging Oil Recycling System

Digital Publishing in Africa 25

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

HP Indigo 10000

he HP Indigo 10000 Digital Press is a specialized graphics arts printer that works with paper widths up to 29 (3 wider than the Xerox iGen 150 takes). Like all Indigo Digital Press models, manufactured in Israel, where the indigo dry ink digital press was conceptualized by an Israeli scientist before his technology and company were bought by HP, the 10000 is a sturdy, well made machine, revealing no hint of the flimsiness commonly associated with HP office printers. Printing at 76 pages per minute in enhanced productivity mode, the Indigo 10000 is not simply a picturesque book, poster and calendar printing machine, printing on a variety of 2,500 substrates including metallic material, and capable of printing raised imagery this 4 to 7 color machine is the ultimate graphics workhouse. Like its 7600 sibling, the 10000 features HPs new liquid Electroink which further reduces printing costs and boosts the Indigo lines challenge to offset presses in the 1,000 plus impressions range. Digital Publishing in Africa 26

Configuring a Digital Publishing System

Konica Minolta bizhub Pro C6501

owing to competitive features at the digital production printer fields lowest purchase price is fast becoming the market penetration leader in Africa. Konica Minolta has in recent years enjoyed top rating in most categories of office printers and gets good reviews from users who appreciate the brands high end offerings at the most affordable price. Its Simitri High Definition Polymerized Toner claims uniquely small particle size, but we are yet to have indications of its cost efficiency. Digital Publishing in Africa 27

Configuring a Digital Publishing System Canon imagePress Pro C7010VSP avoids giving operation cost indications in its brochure, data sheet and product document, but in any event it seems not intended as a stand along machine but as a complement to the Oc web printers. Direct cost of printing on the Ricoh Pro C901s Graphic Arts Edition can be approximated from toner output figures and power consumption tariffs, in addition to paper cost. On page 22 I provide an approximation of printing on the Ricoh Pro C901s Graphic Arts Edition using current paper price and power tariff in Khartoum, Sudan, though I have been informed by Ricoh International that owing to certain sensitive components of the machine the company has decided not to supply its flagship to Sudan. Significantly, Systems Technologies Ltd. which represents Ricoh in Sudan is not interested in importing production machines which they believe will not be able to compete successfully with computer to plate offset printers. Competing with offset is indeed a challenge for any commercial digital printer, digital media center or publisher to consider before investing in an expensive digital press. At the Khartoum approximated printing cost on the Ricoh Pro C901s Graphic Arts Edition, printing a 350 page (90gsm) book would cost $16.45, compared to $15.00 I pay to produce 1,000 copies of Pan Africa & World Review, on 100gsm coated paper, complete with vinyl hardcover and 17.4, 350gsm book jacket on a Lagos offset press. In Khartoum this job would cost well over $20.00 a book. Then, what about an Oc JetStream for my job? First of all the cover factor is ambiguous; it can meet my size requirement but paper weight on Oc JetStreams is Oc JetStream limited to a range of 64 to 157gsm. I could overcome this problem by wrapping and pasting the designed cover onto the cards instead of having a book jacket. This option would probably be better for publications that will be handled by numerous people, such a library users, but requires excellent craftsmanship which is available in Nigeria. Oc marketing personnel on the ground in Nigeria, Sudan, South Sudan, Kenya, Ethiopia, Rwanda, Burundi, Congo Kinshasa and Zambia desirous of making a sale could no doubt provide production cost for the Oc JetStream but my educated guess is that I could produce my 350 page hardcover book on the Oc JetStream stream for more or less what it cost me on offset, while maintaining complete control of the production process from writing to finished product. At 2,200ppm on the Oc JetStream 3000 I could print 100 books (350 pages each) in 12 minutes and 350 books in 45 minutes. Since Pan Africa & World Review is mainly distributed to advertising and public relations clients my target is 500 pages, 1,000 copies, which could be printed in 3 hours and 5 minutes. One thousand copies of a 350 page book could be printed in just under 2.5 hours. Optimally reducing my web printer purchase cost and incorporating the monochrome simplex mode configuration alternative for printing mundane jobs such as invoice books, I could buy an Oc ColorStream 3200 model which would deliver 648 A4ppm and offer me a monthly duty cycle of 21 million pages. On this machine I could print 1,000/500 page books in 12.9 hours; or 100 x 350 pages in 54 minutes. For printing my Pan Africa & World Review, either way, the Oc web presses seem to have advantages over the single sheet digital presses, none of which can compete with the lowest level Oc web press in speed and duty capacity. Digital Publishing in Africa 28

Configuring a Digital Publishing System With an Oc web press the biggest part of the book production job would be hardcover binding, which might have to be done manually if the design paper cover pasted on card board is the chosen option. I dont intend giving the impression that the web press should stand alone without a single sheet production printer, because that would eliminate the possibility of doing short runs on demand which is one of main attractions of digital production printers. However, if for reason of financing deficit the publisher has to choose between a digital inkjet web press and single sheet press, it should be borne in mind that while the single sheet production printer is preferable in a situation where the publisher is not sure of optimum machine utilization, where optimum utilization is assured the web press can incorporate short runs into its continuous lineup of jobs. In conclusion we return to our assessment that if one has several million dollars to invest in this great business the optimum opportunity for all around success, financially and creatively, is afforded by an integrated Xerox configuration, consisting of the new Xerox iGen 150, the 2800 Inkjet Continuous Feed System, Xeroxs $13,000 DocuMate 4799 VRS Pro scanner supported by Xerox FreeFlow Makeready Advanced prepress and Xeroxs variety of inline finishing solutions, including Bourg Booklet Maker and Xerox Book Factory. Also, there is the new Xerox Espresso Book Machine that enables end to end soft-cover book production within a retail bookstore location. This offers the publisher prospects of expanding into book retailing with titles produced on demand at point of purchase. Canon Oc is nonetheless a strong competitor not to be ruled out; offering comprehensive integrated publishing solutions at moderate cost it is well represented in Africa by MFI Office Solutions Ltd., which has dedicated Oc Business Managers.

Xeroxs hefty automatic feed 40,000 pages a day DocuMate 4799 VRS Pro Scanner cost $13,000 and is compatible with Xerox FreeFlow Makeready Advanced prepress and the companys iGen Digital Press line. It weighs 55.1lbs, can hold 20lbs of paper at a time and scans up to A3 size with 600dpi optical resolution.

Kyocera TaskAlfa 500ci

A Kyocera TaskAlfa 500ci, though a multifunction office machine, is widely marketed in Africa by MFI, for just $15, 000 prints 19 color A3 pages per minute. This is an excellent, but very fast office printer for media executives, capable of quickly producing color promotional material such as brochures as well office work.

Digital Publishing in Africa 29

Design Services

Personnel

esigning goes had in hand with color digital printing, as well as with publishing. All 20 items listed under Digital (short run) Color Printing Market are apt to require design services. In Nigeria, corporate publishing is the most demanding market for graphic design performance, though this markets customers are increasingly relying on downloads from their websites for annual reports and brochures, printing less on paper. Hence, todays publisher is challenged to prioritize graphic services and provide website designing and hosting arrangement services, giving clients assurance that whether graphics and publishing are for the internet or on paper, you accommodate their vision and requirements. Digital photography, expert photo editing and excellent artistic taste come into play when satisfying corporate clients. As much as possible a publisher should be prepared to provide all the graphics, as well as texts, that go into a publication. In the text domain this could mean ghost writing or developing a clients corporate message and promotional prose. In serving the corporate community there is a thin line between advertising and publishing, although Nigeria places the advertising industry under a separate regulatory regime. Nonetheless, a publisher with strong graphics and writing talent teams is positioned to take subcontracts from the advertising industry and other quarters requiring language and artistic messaging skills.

he basic personnel lineup for the Digital Print Production and Design services aspect of the publishing business would be composed of: 1. Graphic Arts Production Manager 2. Graphics Designers/Digital Printing Press Operators 3. Copy Editors 4. Book binders (possibly for construction of hard-covers with design sheet pasted on)

In this personnel scenario the graphic artists operate the printing machines. They have been doing that with desktop printers, hence we move them up to digital production printer operation giving them the opportunity to broaden their skills and increase their professional value. The number of editors and graphic designers required would increase with publishing volume, but lining up associate editors working on contractual basis is workable an option.

Digital Publishing in Africa 30

Monochrome Printing

German made Oc Vario Print 6320 Ultra comes in MICR and LED models

large percentage of books printed in Africa consist of text only. This raises the question for digital publishers of whether to use a dual mode monochrome/color digital press, such as an Oc ColorStream web press to print monochrome books or invest in a separate press. Assuming one can initially only afford a single machine and chooses the versatile ColorStream, should one consider expanding with an optimum value delivering Oc VarioPrint 6320 monochrome digital press or opt for a second ColorStream, or possibly the faster JetStream 3000? These are questions that should be answered and decisions made in consultation with Oc since the options are between Oc products. The Oc VarioPrint profile: Imaging Technology: Magnetic Ink Character Recognition (MICR) Duty Cycle: 1 million to 10 million prints monthly Print Speed: 314ppm duplex A4; 168ppm A3 duplex Maximum Image Size: 320 x 488mm Paper Weight: 60 to 300gsm on Oc approved media Designed for a variety of printing jobs, including blank cheques, insurance policies,

and other transactional documents, books, booklets, students projects, dissertations and theses, as well as manuals and invoices, the Oc Vario Print 6320 has no monochrome digital peer and is widely available and serviceable in the African market. Its optimum environment would be a commercial metropolis with a large higher education student population, like Lagos, Abuja, Kano or Khartoum. A digital publishing company contemplating investment in an Oc VarioPrint 6320 Ultra in addition to its Oc JetStream should have need for a big on demand academic publishing capacity. A publishing company with an Oc VarioPrint 6320 Ultra would be positioned to outdo, in terms of low cost and speed, digital media centers printing student and lecturer jobs. A 300 page thesis could be printed in a minute for a direct cost of about $6.00 and delivered across the counter with a 50% markup, at $9.00, compared to about $110 at a digital media center using a Ricoh or Rex Rotary monochrome laser printer. Double sided printing would shave the cost down to $3.96, which with a 50% margin would carry a cross the counter charge of $5.95. With card cover and binding the price could be $7.00.

Oc VarioPrint Consumables Usage

Description OPC Master Toner F3/F11 Fuser Belt Roller Cleaner Pin Array Total Cost per Copy $ Yield 3,000 25,000 2,000,000 580,000 7,000,000 End-user Price $3,049 $105 $729 $161 $251 Cost per A4 Page 0.00102 0.00419 0.00036 0.00028 0.00004 0.006

Monochrome Printers

Ricoh Pro 1357EX

Country of Origin: Japan Imaging Technology: Laser Duty Cycle: 1 million prints monthly Print Speed: 135ppm duplex A4 Paper Size Supported: 5.5 x 8.5 to 13 x 18 OCR Scanning at 600dpi; TWAIN Resolution up to 1200dpi and double sided simultaneous scanning Square edge book binding 160GB x 2 (320GB) hard disc Memory: 1.5GB Paper Storage Capacity: 3,000 to 8,000 sheets The Ricoh Pro 1357EX cost about $62,000

Digital Publishing in Africa 32

Financing Digital Production Printers

rom the $50,000 Konica Minolta BizHub Pro C6501 up to the two million dollarplus Xerox 2800 Inkjet Continuous Feed Printing System financing needs to be provided for proliferation of digital production printers in Africa, whether reconditioned machines imported from Europe or brand new ones. The bigger the company the more ambitious the investment outlook; in most cases financing will be necessary. This point once again highlights the importance of easy and accurate assessment of machine operation costs and potential payback period. Nigeria has long had major printing houses floated on the stock exchange and performing well in both share price and trading volume. In a country where printing and publishing is big business the stock exchange will no doubt continue to be the most convenient market based vehicle for financing, either through new issues or major shareholders increasing their investment. Printing and publishing houses attaining public liability company status is very good for the industry because it places them in the realm of optimum management standards, affords them high public profiles and makes them centers for human resource development in the publishing field. Inevitably there will be smaller printing and publishing operations, including family run establishments, small scale partnerships and individual proprietorships. I would like to see investment banks in Africa make redeemable preferential shareholdings a major financial instrument to promote promising start ups and expansions of small scale businesses; and with the new generation digital production printers and committed manufacturermachine customer partnership that is emerging, digital print production could be a lucrative market for investment banks buying redeemable preferential stock. Going a step further, digital printing machine

manufacturers, most of which are based in leading industrial countries, could expand their businesses in Africa by encouraging and collaborating with investment banks to set up redeemable preferential windows for the digital production printing industry. Such companies could thus place high return deposits in African investment banks and encourage short and medium term investment in the machines they are selling. An idea of this kind might not have been good in the past when printing operations were essentially industrial and attended by a host of risky variables. Now we are looking at neat operations with quite predictable outcomes, given proper feasibility studies and advanced management tools. Publishers that integrate digital production printing into their operations are particularly well suited to benefit from any new systematized financing opportunities because publishing is a creative, artistic and intellectual business that vies for public attention through its titles and authors. This does not merely afford leading publishers a higher public profile than ordinary printers; it places them in the celebrity realm along with their authors. Global experience has shown that publishing companies occasionally end up merging with film and television studios, and also music companies. Big companies like Xerox and Oc have experience in leasing machines. Prof. Malcolm G. Keif explains that Xerox in such arrangements works on basis of a click charge which essentially means that a licensing fee is paid for each page printed or a monthly minimum charge, whichever is greater. In addition Xerox earns service agreement fees. This arrangement is ideal because it positions a successful publisher to conveniently get the next generation machines. Xerox has been doing this with its copiers in Nigeria and Canon Oc representative in Africa MFI with production printers in East Africa. Good luck! Digital Publishing in Africa 33

Digital Book Readers

Best-selling Kindle Books in Featured Categories

Kindle Singles

Literary Fiction

Biographies & Memoirs

Mystery & Thrillers

Nonfiction

Science Fiction & Fantasy

Religion & Spirituality

Children's & Young Adult

Digital book readers are a present threat to book printing and it would be risky for publishers not to get involved in marketing these gadgets. Be wise, profit from marketing them so that as they eventually infringe on the book printing market in Africa you earn on them as you lose on printing. You invested $5 million in digital printing, Kindle sales of 50,000 can cover it, not to mention prospects for online digital book sales.
Politics & Current

Digital Publishing in Africa 34

Digital Book Readers

f you have invested several hundred thousand or several million dollars in digital production printing operations it is important to constantly seek and also develop new markets while getting involved in those businesses like internet publishing and hand held reading devices that will continue to infringe on the paper printing market. A hand held Kindle that is carried around in a neat and elegant leather case can contain a small library. A friend recently brought one from England and told me he had no less than 300 books inside with plenty memory left. I can see the Kindle and other brands of the digital book reader, perhaps some eventually developed in Africa, penetrating elite secondary schools and African university campuses. Parents will be happy to buy them to spare their children the burden of carrying heavy book bags. I can see them lobbying at the Parents & Teachers Association meetings of the elite schools where they pay heaps of money

to given their children optimum foundation education; and the administrations of those private schools cannot resist when their paymasters say we want our children to stop going up and down like primitive 20th century backpackers and be ahead in the digital age with Kindle. At the universities it will be easier; anyone who can afford one simply buys and loads Kindle. Here its advertised by Amazon for $109, but some models are sold for $85. What is to stop it spreading as rapidly as mobile phones did? Every smart entrepreneur should have the vision and proactive inclination to get hold of whatever digital age gadget threatens his business and at least sell it, if not import or produce it. Dont be like IBM when they dragged their feet getting into the PC business and before they good catch up Compaq, Hewlett Packard and Dell were already racing miles ahead of them.

Digital Publishing in Africa 35

Opportunities and Issues

September 2012

Muhammed Kamil, Author Publisher Publishing Consultant www.scrib.com/MuhammedKamil/shelf mkspheres@gmail.com 00249 9 15173820 00234 80 23358777