• how you are intending to distribute your book

• what kind of financial resources you have available

• what kind of book you are printing.

Litho printing requires a large capital outlay whereas digital printing requires very little. But litho printing has the advantage of lower unit costs which makes the book suitable for a wider range of distribution methods. Since the unit costs of digital printing are higher, distribution options are limited.

In order to fully understand the benefits of both, let's look at each method more closely:

Litho printing

Litho printing is the primary printing method used by major publishing houses. It is particularly suited to larger print runs (750+ books) as the unit costs of production tend to decrease as the print quantity increases. This is because the intial set-up costs, which are a fixed cost, are 'carried' by a larger number of books. However, the initial cash outlay is high because of the 'high' minimum print run. This means that if you choose the litho printing route, you will need a larger amount of capital, usually in the region of about R20K+ for the average novel.

Another advantage of litho printing is that you have greater flexibility in terms of book size, paper choice and finishing options. It is also the printing method of choice when printing full colour books for the trade market.

Litho print runs are usually required when selling through bookstores as it is the only way to get the unit costs of the book low enough to still make a profit after the distribution chain has taken it's cut (usually a total of 70% of the retail price!).

Digital printing

Digital printing has very low set-up costs making it suitable for smaller print runs. With smaller print runs comes a lower cash outlay and therefore lower financial risk .

With digital printing the price of the book tends to be fixed and is worked out as a cost per impression. Many digital printing companies in South Africa also charge a fixed 'set-up' cost but this cost is relatively low (usually averaging at around R350 per run depending on the printer) and is divided between the number of copies printed. Sometimes it makes more financial sense to print just 100 or 200 books at a time and tie up less capital, than to try and save only a couple of rands per book by printing 500 books but tying up a substantially larger amount of capital that could be better used elsewhere.

Digital printing is especially suited to smaller runs intended for niche distribution, for instance, a motivational speaker who wants to sell books at his or her seminar; a company who wants to sell books containing expert information, to their customers; people who run courses; those wishing to produce family history books; authors writing on specialised topics aimed at very particular (and usually small) markets; authors wanting to test the market first before investing heavily in a large print run; and so on.

Digital printing in South Africa is still extremely expensive when it comes to colour, so from a publishing point of view, is only recommended for text-based books.

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