Online service Peecho allows digital magazines to print hard copies

Most small- and medium-sized magazines publishers have at least explored services that turn pdf files of their print magazines into digital editions; and many of them already do so routinely. There are several well-known companies such as Texterity, Nxtbook Media and Issuu that provide such a service. Issuu, however, has announced that it is making it possible to reverse the flow, so to speak. 

Issuu has partnered with a free online service called Peecho that will arrange to create a print version of a digital publication. According to a story in MediaDailyNews, magazine publishers (not individual readers) using Peecho are connected to a global network of printers,finding the lowest price for producing a printed version. Peecho makes its money by taking a cut of sales of the printed copies.

Founded in Denmark, with offices in Copenhagen and New York City, Issuu claims that its 4 million original digital publications attract 52 million unique visitors and serve over 3.5 billion impressions per month. While still mostly a European platform, it is growing rapidly here, with 48% of its traffic coming from Europe and 24% from North America.

The Amsterdam-based Peecho isn’t limited to producing print versions of digital magazines. It can also be used by publishers and users of mobile apps, photo-sharing Web sites, social networks, or online games to produce photo books or canvas prints.

The Peecho service seems not to be that much different than such print-on-demand offerings as Lulu and CreateSpace, by which publishers can provide customers with hard copies of their digital books and, occasionally, magazines. The only drawback for magazines is the unit cost of a single copy POD, which can cost as much as $15 - $20.  It's not known whether Peecho's system is able to offer copies less expensively.On Issuu's website, Mik Stroyberg, director of consumer engagement says:

"Due to the diverse nature of Issuu's publications, transforming our pixels into high quality print is really complicated. Peecho does a great job by offering a service that used to be impossible. We are looking forward to generating a lot of revenue with their help".