Contact:             

Chaz Nichols

(952) 465-8807

Elizabethton, Tennessee, August 6, 2010 — STL Distribution, Dickinson Press, and Snowfall Press today announced an alliance that places an on-demand print facility within the world’s largest Christian book distribution center. Thousands of titles will now be digitally stored, virtually always in stock, and continuously ready for immediate printing—one at a time if desired. The alliance combines Dickinson’s 124 years of printing expertise with Snowfall Press’s next generation integrated print solution housed within STL’s distribution facility. “This ground-breaking alliance will change the landscape of Christian book publishing and distribution markets. The alliance enables us to provide same day turn-around of orders—even for out-of-print books—and will give authors and publishers access to a broader range of distribution channels than were previously available,” said Glenn Bailey, President of STL Distribution North America.

STL will build a dedicated print facility inside their distribution warehouse in Elizabethton, Tennessee, expected to be operational early in the first quarter of 2011. Dickinson Press will purchase and manage the fully-automated digital book printing and binding solution provided by Snowfall Press. Snowfall Press will oversee the build out and integration of the system, overlaying best of breed hardware with their software—enabling complete automation from the uploading of files, to pre-flighting the files, to printing, binding and shipping.  “Snowfall’s unique integrated digital book printing technology will allow us to cost-effectively print only what’s immediately needed—reducing overhead and inventory costs,” said Jim Pentecost, President/CEO of Dickinson Press. “We believe this technology will revolutionize the book publishing and printing industry by driving faster times to market at lower operational costs, resulting in greater profits for all parties involved.”

The alliance will provide significant benefits to publishers and retailers alike.  STL’s ability to virtually carry all inventory (not just better selling titles) will open up the opportunity for incremental revenue, end “out of stock”  books by immediately printing whatever is ordered, allow niche titles and out of print books to be readily available and enable same day turn-around of orders—even for very long-tail and previously out of print books. With Snowfall’s print solution, Dickinson Press can print orders that come in by 1 p.m. for same day distribution by STL.

STL Distribution North America has ministry, publishing and distribution roots that date back to the 1800’s. After a series of mergers now joined under the name Biblica, it is the largest non-profit Christian distributor in the world, serving 500 of the top Christian publishers. STL offers services that include sales and data management along with a growing third-party “Publisher Services” logistics group for distributing publisher titles in combination with other wholesale products for shipping.

Founded in 1884, Dickinson Press Inc. is an employee-owned book manufacturer that serves publishers and organizations nationwide and is one of the most respected and dependable names in Christian book printing. Based in Grand Rapids, Michigan, Dickinson Press specializes in trade hardcover and soft cover books, Bibles, new testaments, dictionaries, compact or mini books and educational workbooks. Dickinson Press has grown and expanded dramatically over the years and remains committed to excellence, fair dealing, innovation and customer satisfaction.

Founded in 2007, Snowfall Press is a technology company whose book printing solution combines a proprietary software operating system with printing and finishing hardware. Based in Monument, Colorado, Snowfall Press is building a cloud computing global network of digital book printing facilities. Their goal is to drive faster times-to-market, lower operational costs, and increase gross margin profits for publishers and authors around the world by automating and fully integrating each step of the book-making process to produce high-quality, low-cost books at incredible speed.

For more information please contact:

Chaz Nichols  +1-952-465-8807                                         

Worldwide Business Development Director             

Dave Sheets +1-952-905-0050

Director of Sales