KENMORE, WASHINGTON – Senator John McCain’s announcement on Friday that Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin would be his vice presidential running mate touched off an unexpected demand for her recent biography, published by Epicenter Press. To meet this sudden and significant volume of bookseller orders, Epicenter Press executives turned to the Ingram content companies for the capability to bring to market tens of thousands of new copies of SARAH – How a Hockey Mom turned Alaska’s Political Establishment Upside Down by the author Kaylene Johnson (ISBN 978-0-9800825-6-2), “The Palin biography was first released in April 2008, but the intense media attention following McCain’s announcement last week caused a dramatic spike in orders,” said Kent Sturgis, publisher. Through his distributor Graphic Arts Center Publishing Co., he quickly made arrangements with Ingram Publisher Services and Lightning Source Inc. for the immediate manufacture and shipment of books to retail booksellers.

“The professional guidance that Ingram has brought us at Epicenter Press was above and beyond my greatest expectations,” Mr. Sturgis explained. “Their support and solutions enabled us to operate with the responsiveness, strength, and reach of a much larger publisher.”

”The Ingram companies clearly exemplify what is right in the book industry.” Mr. Sturgis continued, “They made it easy for us to get this book to market in record time – and to do so economically.”

David “Skip” Prichard, CEO of Ingram Lightning Group, said: "When McCain picked relatively unknown Sarah Palin as his running mate, the demand for the only biography of her life soared within minutes after the announcement. A relatively obscure book became the ‘must read’ for everyone following the closely contested presidential race. Ingram Lightning Group has a unique combination of companies that help to meet this type of unexpected spike of book orders.

Consumers don't want to wait weeks for an important book,” Mr. Prichard said. “News organizations can't afford to miss crucial information. Ingram has the unique market reach, immediate manufacturing capability, and distribution network to solve this problem. Publishers all over the world should ensure that both front and backlist titles are listed with Lightning Source. That way, when demand hits unexpectedly, we can be printing and shipping the must have book within hours and fulfilling orders around the world.”

Ingram approached Epicenter Press on August 29, shortly after the announcement of Gov. Palin’s selection as Senator McCain’s running mate. The publisher’s on-hand inventory could not satisfy demand, and the time required for an offset run of the existing version would risk missing the sales opportunity. Epicenter Press, relying upon the expertise and experience of the Ingram companies, decided to re-launch SARAH as a trade paperback using print on demand technology.

Lightning Source was instrumental in assisting Epicenter Press with the conversion of the original hardcopy version of the title to a trade paperback edition. Within only a few hours of receiving the files from Epicenter Press on Friday evening,

Lightning Source was printing books, with over 30,000 copies printed to date. John R. Ingram, Chairman of the Ingram content companies, commended the Ingram team as “yet another example of how print on demand can minimize order loss and maximize sales for publishers.”

“The success of this groundbreaking collaboration with Epicenter Press clearly shows our capabilities for helping our publisher clients seize the opportunities that come their way,” Mr. Ingram said. “No other entity in the book industry could have delivered this book to market as we did, so fast and so broadly.”