Barnes & Noble Booksellers Nominate 18 Books to Compete for the Barnes & Noble Children’s & Young Adult Book Awards

Amazon is set to significantly expand its digital and on-demand printing capabilities after reupping an existing agreement with Kornit, the Israeli manufacturer of high-speed inkjet printing equipment. Over the next five years, Amazon committed to buying $250 million in existing Kornit products, such as digital printers and inks, and $150 million in "future products." The deal totals $400 million. The move is a big one for Amazon, which has been steadily and methodically building its digital printing capacity over the last several years. Most of that capacity has gone toward its Merch by Amazon service, a print on-demand platform that enables sellers to create and sell custom apparel and other merchandise decorated and fulfilled by Amazon. We've covered Merch by Amazon and two related services—Amazon Custom and Amazon Merch Collab—at length, particularly where they stand in relation to the promotional products industry.

It seems businesses are finally bouncing back after the past two years of the pandemic. However, even though business is picking up, there is one glaring issue: The availability of paper stocks has become limited and unpredictable, and as a result the price of paper stock is inevitably increasing. Supply chain issues have been throwing curveballs at various manufacturing segments, and the printing industry is no exception. The availability of paper stocks has become slim as raw material costs rise, mills enact allocations and price increases, and labor shortages continue. So, are we doomed? Not even close. During an hour-long Printing Impressions and In-plant Impressions webinar, Marco Boer VP of I.T. Strategies and President of Midland Specialty Paper & Film Mike Ratcliff discussed the reasons for printing paper supply shortages, the steps printing companies can take to address the limitations head-on, and what print providers can expect in the future of the paper supply chain.

The postal price increases for marketing mail are driving down volume and, more importantly for the USPS, driving down profits. The postal price increases need to be rolled back. Basic economic principles apply to the pricing decisions for catalogs and direct mail: Catalogs (and direct mail) are very sensitive to the cost of mailing. Catalogers decide how much to mail based on their breakeven cost. Catalogers track their breakeven costs very closely and make circulation decisions based on their costs. Catalogers have been decreasing their mail volumes because of postage cost increases. Mailing volume correlates directly with costs for catalogs and direct mail.