Inside Independent Publishing (with IBPA)

Printing in Asia, Pros and Cons, with guest George Dick

Episode Summary

George Dick, president of Four-Colour Print Group, talks about all the reasons you might want to print your next book in Asia, especially if it’s in color or for kids

Episode Notes

George Dick, president of Four-Colour Print Group, talks about all the reasons you might want to print your next book in Asia, especially if it’s in color or for kids

Many publishers of full-color books—coffee-table books, art books, cookbooks, children’s books – choose to print in Asia because printing costs less there. But cost may not be the only consideration.

Topics include

• the future of printing in Asia (hint: pretty good)
• the shrinking of the Asian cost advantage vs North American printers
• is it freight from China that’s getting more expensive? how about other factors, like new equipment, higher wages, and environmental regulations
• is Chinese printing less “green”?
• will Chinese printers accept material that is “objectionable” in terms of politics or sex? how about Korean printers?
• how much longer will it take to get your book from Asia than if your print in North America?
• printing in Asia is cheaper, but if you use a print broker do you lose some of that savings?
• what are the advantages of working with a print broker?
• what about port delays for customs inspections?
• floating books is still cheap, it’s the trucking costs that are getting expensive
  even as labor costs are going up, automation is keeping prices in line
• will President Trump’s trade war impact book printing in Asia and imports? (maybe not on books, but what about all those digital presses that US printers are buying these days?)
• how paper availability makes it less likely that printing opportunities will emerge in other countries to provide an alternative to Asia

To reach Four-Colour Print Group, go to https://fourcolour.com/.

Participants

George Dick is the President and CEO of Four-Colour Print Group in Louisville, KY, a print broker and the exclusive USA representative of Everbest Printing Co. in China. George began his printing career in 1980, and has since visited printing plants in a dozen different countries in Asia, Europe, Central and South America. He's always searching for new business partners, new technology, and new ideas to help manage the relationships between customers, sales/service personnel, and manufacturers. He's had articles published in trade magazines, and spoken at industry conferences.

Peter Goodman (host) is publisher of Stone Bridge Press in Berkeley, California. He began his publishing career in Tokyo, Japan, in 1976. A longtime member of IBPA, he has served on the IBPA board and as IBPA board chair.