Elizabethton, Tennessee, March 2, 2011 — STL Distribution, Dickinson Press, and Snowfall Press announced today the opening of a print-to-order book printing 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—orders placed by 1:00 p.m. can be printed and fulfilled by 7:00 p.m. the same day—one at a time if desired. The new print facility 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 printing solution will change the landscape of Christian book publishing and distribution markets,” said Glenn Bailey, President of STL Distribution North America. “Our ability to virtually carry backlist, slow selling, long-tail, and out-of-print inventory (not just better selling titles) will enable resellers to offer thousands of additional titles. Publishers will be able to grow their incremental revenue, end ‘out of stock’ books by immediately printing whatever is ordered, allow niche titles to be readily available and enable same day turn-around of orders. Our distribution channels will help micro, small, and medium sized publishers gain access to major outlets like Amazon, Ingram, and Barnes and Noble databases in addition to Christian retail stores.”
Commenting on the capabilities of this alliance, Jeff Gerke, President of Marcher Lord Press, remarked, “I have been looking for a seamless way to print books in very low numbers and get them to the broadest number of sales channels possible. The benefits offered by this alliance to small, growing publishers are exactly what my company needs.” The dedicated print facility is housed inside STL’s distribution warehouse in Elizabethton, Tennessee. Dickinson Press purchased and will manage the fully-automated digital book printing and binding solution engineered and delivered by Snowfall Press. Snowfall Press managed the build out and integration of the system, which overlays best of breed hardware with Snowfall’s software— enabling complete automation from uploading and automatically preparing print-ready digital files, to printing, binding and shipping of perfect bound books.
“As a technology company, we believe in building and deploying new but wise uses of technology that add value to the bottom line,” said Todd Tillinghast, Snowfall’s CEO and Chief Technologist. “Our expanding network of cloud-based, digital book printing facilities is meant to help publishers, authors and resellers achieve greater efficiencies and increase gross profit margins.” Jim Pentecost, President/CEO of Dickinson Press, expanded on Tillinghast’s comments, “Snowfall’s unique integrated digital book printing technology allows us to cost- effectively print only what’s immediately needed which reduces overhead and inventory costs. We can print just one book at a time, advanced reader copies, and small to large run printing jobs. We are so encouraged by what we are doing at STL Distribution we are branding the print facility dp digital.”
STL Distribution North America has ministry, publishing and distribution roots that date back to 1810. 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 called Advocate, 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.
Snowfall Press is a technology company whose book printing solution combines a proprietary software operating system with printing and finishing hardware. Founded in 2007 and based in Monument, Colorado, Snowfall Press is building a global cloud computing network of digital book printing facilities. Their goal is to drive faster times-to-market, lower operational costs, and increase gross profit margins 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 Snowfall Press Business Development Director
Dave Sheets +1-952-905-0050 Snowfall Press Director of Sales
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