CHICAGO, IL—Independent Publishers Group (IPG) and its book manufacturing unit, IPG Ink, are pleased to announce the production of its two millionth book.
IPG Ink, which printed its first book in June 2018, processed the order that included the two millionth title and bestseller from BookBaby “The Flipping Blueprint” on December 1, 2021. “I never thought, back in 2018, that I would be hitting one million books by 2021,” said Clark Matthews, IPG Ink VP, General Manager. “To reach two million in the same period was truly unexpected, but it is testament to the power of local supply chain in the distribution market.”
The book manufacturing unit produced its one-millionth book in March of this year and has seen a year-over-year growth of 105% since 2020. In response to these successes, IPG’s manufacturing division was renamed and rebranded as “IPG Ink” in April 2021. In addition to the rebrand, IPG Ink created a Customer Experience Center where existing and prospective clients can experience the possibilities of the manufacturing process first-hand, get answers to their questions from IPG’s printing experts and see new possibilities for the supply chain of their titles.
The company has made a point of sharing its knowledge with its clients and through thought-leadership positions throughout the printing industry. Matthews was a panelist member at the BMIU webinar (April 2021), gave a one-hour case study to book manufacturers at the Ink Jet Summit in Austin, Texas (July 2021) and appeared at Canon thINK (October 2021), which discussed workflow solutions.
The unprecedented publicity and marketing throughout the year is due in large part to the leadership provided by Matthews, who was interviewed for a feature on supply chain issues in a November episode of WBEZ’s nationally recognized podcast, “Nerdette.” The story was later picked up and aired on NPR’s “Morning Edition” on Thanksgiving morning.
IPG Ink will continue to be heard in an upcoming IBPA feature on book publishing’s supply chain issues, in a case study from Standard-Horizon on cutting-edge adoption of a sophisticated conveyor system and barcode-driven variable-trim binding and trimming workflow and in a Canon case study on Conveyance, the digital workflow tool pioneered and mastered by IPG.
About Independent Publishers Group
In June of 2021, Independent Publishers Group (IPG, www.ipgbook.com) celebrated its 50th anniversary. As the original North American distributor, IPG was founded specifically to represent titles from independent publishers to the book trade. Today IPG remains committed to reimagining distribution and has grown to provide its publishers with services ranging from pre-publication consultation, global sales, marketing & publicity, supply chain, print and digital distribution, data and reporting, to print brokerage. With consistent growth year over year, IPG’s success has come from giving publishers broader reach into more markets, including general trade, academic, children’s, Spanish and special markets.
Media Contact: Sidney Thompson, Corporate Communication, 312.337.0747, sthompson@ipgbook.com
