Ingram Content Group has struck an agreement with O’Reilly Media for Ingram to manage most of the publisher’s print inventory. According to Ingram’s Phil Ollila, O’Reilly has been working with Ingram’s print-on-demand options during the five years Ingram has served as the publisher’s distributor and is now comfortable that moving more printing to pod to will free up cash to be used on the acquisition of content rather than on printing and print management.
Ollila explained that an Ingram management team will work with someone from O’Reilly to analyze the needs of individual titles. In the case of frontlist titles, a new book could be printed by traditional offset equipment, but replenishment editions would most likely be done through pod. In addition to cutting inventory costs the program Ingram and O’Reilly have developed will speed up time to market, Ollila said.
Approximately 200 O’Reilly titles are now in the program and more titles will be phased in over time. “Working with Ingram, we are one step closer to our vision of always available, always relevant, and always in stock,” said Laura Baldwin, president, O’Reilly Media. “With the enormous change we are experiencing in the industry, the traditional models of publishing no longer make financial sense. To be able to grow our publishing program while at the same time lowering our costs is a huge leap forward.”
