Is there a difference
in appearance between a digitally produced book and one produced
by
standard offset printing?
Every time I listen
to the Reader’s Radio interview with Dan Poynter on “The New
Book Model.” I have to chuckle. Dan, of course, is the head guru
of the small press publishing world. There aren’t many small
publishers who have not heard of his name or been to one of his seminars.
While I agree with most of the things he says about publishing and
marketing, I take exception when it comes to his opinion on the difference
between digital and traditional offset printing. Dan states with authority,
when referring to digitally produced books, that, “They look
just like any other book… I challenge you to even tell the difference.”
If you believe that the full color printing in USA Today is equal
to the color printing in GQ Magazine (as many consumers do), you
will
probably not notice
any difference between a book produced in a digital plant and one that was
printed at an offset book manufacturer. Don’t get me wrong. I am not saying that
digital printing is bad. I am saying that it is different.
The modern digital color cover presses are very good. I threw away my “loop” (magnifying
glass used for checking registration and dot structure) years ago. Taking this
into consideration and the fact that my eyes aren’t what they were thirty
years ago when I got into the business, you can hardly tell the difference between
a process color cover printed on a digital press and one printed on an offset
press, as long as there is a film lamination on top of the printing. Without
the lamination, it is still pretty easy to tell the difference but no publisher
in their right mind would sell a book without a laminated cover. The main area
that still needs improvement in the color digital process is where solids or
gradated screens are involved. It is still fairly easy to see banding and other
inconsistencies in these areas. Still if I were to grade the overall cover appearance,
I would give it a B+ vs. an A for the offset cover (still on the honor role).
The digital text printing has also come a long way. There are a couple of different
processes in use but the most common is the Docutech, which is made by Xerox®.
In short, a Xerox® by any other name is still a Xerox®. For straight
type, it looks fine. It’s a much darker/denser black than offset because
it’s toner and not ink. It is almost an unnatural look after so many years
of seeing ink on paper, although it certainly passes the no loop, no glasses
test.
The problem comes into play when you try to mix even the simplest graphics
or halftones (images) into the text. There is no comparison between the appearance
of the graphics and halftones done on a digital press and those printed on
a
traditional offset press. We publish a book titled, Publishing Basics – A
Guide for the Small Press and Independent Self-Publisher where we have printed
the book on five different paper stocks, using three different digital presses
and two offset presses. The same images and graphics are reproduced in each of
these sections and you can see the difference yourself between the different
processes. (Yes, the baby pictures are me and my partner Dana, and the other
pictures are my son and Dana’s dogs). You can order a free copy of this
book by visiting www.booksjustbooks.com.
The Océ digital press does a better job of halftones because it fuses
the toner into the paper instead of laying it on top of the sheet. The only problem
that I have found with the Océ is that it is priced considerably higher
than the Docutech. The other digital press that we show is one made by Scitex.
It actually uses ink, which is good, especially for text, but the halftones are
the nastiest looking of all. All in all, the three digital presses get a B+ for
text and a C- for graphics compared to the A quality of offset. Up to this point
of the process, the difference between offset and digital is the difference between
an A and a B. Neither one a bad grade by most peoples standards. Now that we
have talked about some of the more obvious differences between digital and offset,
we’ll move onto some of the more subtle differences.
Have you ever unpacked a ream of copy paper, loaded it into a copier and run
off 500 copies? Does the pile of “copies” have the same physical
appearance of the pile of paper you loaded in the feeder tray? Ever try to put
the 500 “copies” back into the same package that the 500 blank sheets
of paper came from? Most digital processes utilize extreme temperatures to fuse
the toner to the paper. This heat takes the moisture out of the paper which tends
to make the “copies” fresh out of the copier, brittle. Natural humidity
puts the moisture back into the paper but not necessarily to the same degree
as when it came out of the pack. If you leave the pile of “copies” out
for a while, the pile will start to flatten but never get back to where it started
thus slightly changing the appearance of the paper. The offset presses that print
single color books do not use any heat. The sheet that goes into the press is
the same sheet that comes out of the press. If any of you have seen a digital
printing line in operation you’ll remember that the “book block” comes
out of the copier and goes right into the binder. Now try to picture this pile
of sheets (book block), with all the moisture out of the sheet being sealed on
the binding edge with adhesive to apply the cover. You now have a book block
picking up moisture on three sides and not the fourth. You can get a curl to
the whole book that will never flatten out. This problem by itself gives the
overall finished book a C-C+ look bringing the whole product down to a C+, which
is still “commercially acceptable” but bothersome to many customers.
Another typical problem lies in the strength of the binding. In perfect binding,
signatures (groups of pages) are gathered to make a book block. The binding
edge goes through a grinding unit which “roughs up” the edge so adhesive
will adhere better when the cover is applied to the binding edge of the book.
After the cover is applied and wrapped around the book, the book block gets trimmed
on the outside, top and bottom by either a 3 knife trimmer or via a flat bed
cutter making a finished book. A typical new perfect binding machine used by
offset book manufacturers can cost over 2 million dollars. The perfect binders
that are used in digital shops cost as little as $20,000 and rarely cost over
$100,000. The difference between the two types is a lot more than markup. Most
binders used by digital printer produce little more than a glorified pad. Ninety-five
percent of the complaints that I have run into with the digital product revolve
around the binding and seventy-five percent of them revolve around the pages
falling out as the book as it is flattened out to read.
As long as I have mentioned the problem of pages falling out, I might as well
talk about the main cause of this problem. Aside from the problem with the
inefficient grinding units and the problem with the cheaper binders applying
adhesives, the
main culprit is actually the grain of the paper. Paper is made primarily of
pulp and water (as well as chemicals to regulate brightness and opacity). As
the papermaking
process begins pulp is added to water to make a sort of pulp soup. As this
solution moves through the papermaking machine, the pulp fibers line up next
to each other
in parallel rows. Moisture is removed until the mixture becomes paper. (Any
paper people reading this, please excuse my simplistic description of this
process.)
The bottom line is the direction that these pulp fibers are facing is the “grain” of
the paper. All paper has a grain. If you take a piece of 8 1/2 x 11” copy
paper and fold it the 11” way, you get a nice smooth fold. Fold the same
sheet the 8 1/2” way and you get a ragged irregular fold. The heavier
the paper the more pronounced this effect. You always want the grain of the
paper
to run parallel to the binding edge of the book. Remember that smooth fold
when you folded with the grain? This allows the pages of the book to open naturally.
If the grain is going against the bind, the book does not lay open naturally.
The reader has a tendency to “flatten” the book to keep it from “snapping” shut.
As the book is flattened the spine ends up breaking. Once this happens, the
pages start falling out of the book.
Most digital presses run an 8 1/2 x 11” sheet of paper. Unless specially
ordered, the grain of the paper is 11”. That yields a wrong grain 5 1/2
X 8 1/2” book. Even if short grain is specially bought so the 5 1/2 X
8 1/2” product
is correct, it yields a wrong grain 8 1/2 X 11” book. Judging from the
sample books that I’ve received from various digital printers only a
small minority seems to worry about using correct grain paper.
When all is said and done, I get back to my original statement. Digital books
aren’t necessarily bad but they are different. Your best bet in buying
digital printing is to find an old line book printer who made a move into digital
printing rather one who has always been a digital printer. Chances are the old
line printer is used to running books with correct grain paper and binding books
that don’t fall apart. Chances are also good that he is running a real
perfect binder, not the bargain basement version run by most digital shops. Most
straight digital book printers lack the experience to know any better or the
money to do anything about it. As a buyer you need to be clear in your mind as
to what you are buying. The digital book printers used by www.BooksJustBook.com were all producing good books long before anyone ever heard the word POD (Print
on Demand). If a printer is quoting you under about 750 copies, he is probably
figuring to run on a digital press. Do yourself a favor when dealing with one
of these printers and confirm that at least the paper grain is going to be correct.
If he doesn’t know what you are talking about or tells you that it doesn’t
matter, hang up the phone and try someone else.
Finally, no matter how much you want it to happen, you are not going to achieve
A or even A- quality with digital printing. If that is what you need, you either
need to raise your quantity to run at an offset printing plant or put your
money back in your pocket for a few years or so and try again.
If you have a question pertaining to the publishing production process, please
feel free to contact me at ron@rjcom.com.
