Computer-to-Plate: Take Advantage Of Printer Incentives

Folio: The Magazine for Magazine Management, July 1, 1999

Although CTP technology is clearly the trend of the future, many magazine publishers haven't yet made the transition--mainly because their advertisers are reluctant to switch from film to digital. While there are several good reasons why advertisers are dragging their collective feet, the change is inevitable--and printing and publishing consultant Steve Frye advises publishers to encourage advertisers to make the change sooner, rather than later.

Printers, who have made a considerable investment in CTP technology and are eager to phase out film services, want publishers to covert to CTP--and they feel so strongly about this that they are offering some incentives, Frye says. Here's Frye's list of what printers are currently offering publishers: (1) Installation: Printers have been installing the hardware and software required for transmission at the publishers' offices. (2) Transmission: Sometimes printers will pay for all transmissions, but more often they will bill back to the publisher for the publisher-to -printer portion at lower rates. (3) Training and consulting: Printers are sending technicians to the publishers' offices to train staff on the conversion process. Printers also run training seminars at their plants and invite publishers to attend. (4)Proofing equipment: Frye says some printers are paying for or subsidizing the cost of having proofing equipment installed at publishers' offices to help eliminate the need to ship proofs. (5) Equal-to-or-better promises: To help publishers make the conversion with the confidence that it will not increase costs or production time, many printers are offering rates and schedules that do not cost $1 more or take one day longer than their current method. "Publishers need to investigate these incentives while they are being offered," says Frye, "because once the industry standard becomes all-electronic, these incentives will disappear and publishers will have to make the conversion at their own expense.