Computer to plate; Asia's printers are humming business

Not so long ago, I received a call from a printer based in Beirut. Yes, you heard correct, Beirut!
"Is that Mr Mbugua of Big Books Ltd?" He asked, and I answered in the affirmative. He went on to give the name of his company, which I have forgotten, and to explain that he would offer high quality printing services if I gave him the chance.
The call came as a surprise because for all the time I have heard the name Beirut mentioned, my mind always associates it with the staccato sound of automatic gunfire and shrapnel. Never, with the hum of printing presses. The only thing that made me reconsider that view was an article published in a recent edition of Newsweek, in which the writer praised the city as the place where she found her voice. Of course, a week later, a Newsweek reader promptly wrote back, arguing that  Beirut was a city where people - and especially women - disappeared and where immigrants were denied a voice. But that is besides the point.
Beirut, it appears, has been fishing around for business in the publishing industry and that has taken it to the waters of Africa.
Before the call came, I had received another offer from a company in China but I could not consider it largely because the reputation of Chinese companies is in tatters. The only good thing they appear to make is the iPad; if you don't dwell too much on the working conditions that have made some workers there commit suicide.
Of all the offshore printers, India's are the most aggressive. And they offer such bargains that I wonder why it is so expensive to print in Nairobi. Were it not for corruption at the port and the veiled extortion that is the stock in trade of clearing agents, printing in India makes more business sense than printing in Nairobi. What I have never come to terms with is that the cost of printing a book in India and delivering it to the Mombasa port is cheaper than printing in Nairobi. The big challenge, and the only reason we are not printing offshore, is because of the small challenge of getting the consignment once it gets to the port.
Once, I had this conversation with a local printer and all he could say was: "Why do you want to export jobs?" But why not?
The pricing of books is more than a value proposition. One has to also factor in the cost of production, since that is one of the guiding principles. Then of course, there are other overheads like the booksellers' discount, the author's royalty, corporate tax and profit for the publisher, all of which, together with staff and miscellaneous costs, have to be factored into the retail price of a book.
Some of India's printers' critics have opined that their books come unstuck too easily because the quality of binding is low but that is an argument that could as well be applied to printers in Kenya, for many of whom delivering quality work on deadline is alien. Often, one finds himself repeating instructions over and over even in writing, but the final work only approximates the needs of the client.
The long and short of it is that printers in Kenya will need to up their game, review their pricing and commitment to confidentiality if they are to continue winning business from local publishers who demand quality work. For, if Kenyan publishers are to compete fairly with foreign ones, they have no choice but to demand quality service from printers.