This website requires a minimum of Internet Explorer v9. Please upgrade your browser or use Chrome or Firefox.

Trade Books

Full-service print solutions every step of the way

Webcom is a strategic partner who understands your inventory model and customization needs and offers in-house expertise and technology to help you navigate the changing trade publishing landscape, print great titles, and maximize sales. Digital inkjet book printing and bookbinding technology allows you to reduce excess inventory and gives you the working capital you need to invest in new technology, bring on new talent, and acquire the next bestselling author.

We can support every stage of the life cycle of a book.

  • Changes to the technological landscape have enabled publishers to send ARC to reviewers faster than before. Our ARC program enables you to keep costs low when printing hundreds of copies, maintaining high production quality, and fast turnarounds.

  • In order to maximize profits during a title’s release, publishers often release a high-quality first edition hardcover. Webcom offers competitive pricing on short-run hardcover titles.

  • With digital inkjet printing, publishers are able to print smaller, cost-effective print runs and minimize inventory. Allowing publishers to meet market demands quickly and economically support customized or short print runs with offset-level quality.

  • Improve your inventory management and increase working capital by moving your backlists to our BookOnDemand program. By only producing books when you need it, you can reduce obsolescence and warehousing costs.

WE’RE IN THE GAME.

Hardcover books just got affordable.

Since 1975, Webcom has been known for our softcover book printing. However, 4 in every 10 books sold are in hardcover format. This number has been on the rise in recent years due to an increase in a hardcover book’s perceived value by the consumer.

With our recent investment in a full suite of hardcover products, we’re want to support you every step of the way, all under one roof. With our team of experts, high level of professionalism, and an ability to deliver high-end complex projects, you can count on us for high-quality hardcover books.

 

Find out what our new hardcover products are all about

DOWNLOAD OUR PRODUCT LIST        LEARN MORE

First time printing with Webcom?

Find out more about our products and how our smart solutions can help you.

Get Started

There's a shift happening in the industry.

Ebooks were once thought to be the end of printing, but now print and digital work in harmony.

  • of all book purchases are impulse buys

    of all book purchases are impulse buys

    With such precarious decision making accounting for over 1 in 4 book purchases, the importance of a good quality book means the difference between someone briefly glancing at a book and bringing it to the check-out line.
  • less ebooks were sold in 2017 than 2016.

    less ebooks were sold in 2017 than 2016.

    The spike in ebook sales in 2015 have been slowly declining as the market levels out. Paperbacks are the biggest competitors to ebooks with the similar price point driving competition for consumers.
  • more hardcover books were sold in 2017 than 2016.

    more hardcover books were sold in 2017 than 2016.

    The perceived value of a hardcover book has gone up in recent years, with over 194,000 units sold in 2017.

Distribute and Print with Webcom

We offer a proven distribute and print publishing solution that helps global publishers optimize and sustain their reach to North American markets. We provide access to new sales channels and significantly improve inventory management.

 Maximize your market opportunity and redeploy capital where it counts, such as acquiring the next big author or investing in new technology.

LEARN MORE

Trade book demand is price dependent

As one of the most cost-competitive branches of the book business, ebooks take a large chunk of the trade market share. This means controlling inventory and reducing obsolescence are important to keep margins high. Best-sellers must always be available at peak times as readers are able to get ebook versions at low prices.

Webcom’s Digital Inkjet suite keeps run sizes down and reduces the total cost of inventory.

LEARN MORE

There’s money in your backlist

A great amount of time and money went into producing the content that now sits in your backlist.  That doesn’t have to be the case with BookOnDemand, Webcom’s print-on-demand solution, you can harness the content in your backlist and bring it back to life.

Discover BookOnDemand

LEARN MORE

FAQs for trade publishers

What turnaround schedules do you offer?

Our turnaround schedules have been carefully designed to maximize efficiency and reflect realistic production schedules. For this reason, some products can take longer to produce than others. Most of our products are run on 10 and 15-day turnaround schedules, however shorter and longer turnaround schedules can be arranged on a case-by-case basis. We would be happy to accommodate your schedules needs, please speak with your Account Executive for further details.

What print technology do you use?

HP Indigo 10000 digital press provides high-quality printing (2400 dpi) for covers and premium colour text printing.

Two high-speed digital inkjet HP T300/HP T360 web presses deliver cost efficiency while printing on a wide range of paper grades.

Two heat-set web offset presses for both 1 and 2-colour printing.

One cold-set web offset press for 4-colour printing and a sheetfed offset press that can produce up to 6 colours.

What methods of quality control do you employ for book production?

Our production managers ensure that the team leaders, lead operators and the support crew understand the requirement of the job. Checkpoints include, set up, make ready and sampling through the run in each phase of the production cycle – printing, coating and bindery. A final sign-off is obtained to confirm requirements are met prior to acceptance into the next production phase.

Digital book blocks are confirmed for first and last page integrity prior to ingestion into the bindery equipment. To allow for traditional book block compilation of signatures, bar codes and human readable signature sequence numbers are printed at the spine. These provide additional confirmation of pocket placement by the optical recognition system within the equipment, which will automatically discard a book block if all components are not read correctly or in sequence. Sampling is conducted throughout the run, to confirm final output quality.

What premium coating options do I have for my book cover?

Choose from a large selection of UV coatings and laminations, including glossy spot UV, raised spot UV and glitter spot UV, all available from our in-house coating facility. You also have the option of adding visual punches and tactile appeal with foil stamping, embossing or cover flaps that help pull readers to your titles.

What kind of tax rebates can I get?

Did you know, as an Ontario-based publisher, if you print your books with Webcom, an Ontario-based book manufacturer, you could be entitled to a $30,000 tax credit per title? Qualifying expenditures may include prepress, printing, and marketing activities related to the literary work.

If you partner with Webcom for you book production needs, 50% of the expenditures incurred in the taxation year for the printing, assembling and binding of the literary work could be eligible for the tax credit.

To learn more about the OBPTC and the eligibility criteria, please visit Ontario Media Development Corporation (OMDC) or contact your Webcom Account Executive to learn more.