The field of print on demand publishing has been hot for quite some time now. And for good reason … you stand to save a substantial amount of money by printing only the number of pieces you need at a given time. With print on demand, you only pay to print what you need when you need it, which can cut down on shipping, storage, and disposal fees.

Depending on your needs, everything from complete books and manuals through multi-page brochures and single page ad slicks can be printed on demand. And not just in boring old black and white … if you have the budget, full-color print on demand can be a powerful tool.

But print on demand is not a cure all. It’s not always the best answer to every print problem. You will lose money by printing a job with the wrong technology. Depending on the situation, you can easily spend more printing on demand than you can printing conventionally.

It all comes down to a numbers game …

Lets say it right up front: print on demand technologies are best for short run print jobs.

It’s usually more cost-effective to put longer runs on conventional printing presses. The cost breakdowns depend on the exact technologies you’re using and the specific jobs you’re running. Generally speaking, runs under 1000 pieces are the best candidates for on demand digital printing. And if you’re running 10,000 pieces or more, you’re likely to be best off on a conventional printing press. There’s that fuzzy area in-between where you’ll have to compare digital vs. conventional on a per project basis.

It’s important to note that today’s conventional presses can hardly be considered conventional. It was a different picture in days past when comparing toner (digital) to ink (conventional). These days, conventional presses may run ink similar to their ancestors, but the preparation process may be completely digital–all the way to plate.

No matter how you print, Adobe Acrobat PDF files are the best bet for delivering files to your print house. When you create an Acrobat file for print, you’ll include everything that your print house needs to get your job on press. When prepared properly, PDF files include all of the graphics and fonts in one tidy bundle. This beats the old-fashioned method of sending an archive that includes all of the application files, graphics files, and fonts. With a fully pre-flighted file, you’ll know that your job is ready to run just as soon as it hits your print house’s FTP server. (There’s nothing worse than holding up the press while they wait around for a stray font or graphic file.)

So the next time you only need 500 copies of a document, ask your printer: why should I pay to have 5000 printed? Would print on demand help reduce my total cost?