PW Studio: Lakeside Book Company
Lakeside Book Company is offering streamlined solutions to publishers who want a one-stop shop for books
With a history that spans more than 160 years, Lakeside Book Company is the largest book printing, fulfillment, and distribution platform in North America—and a go-to producer of high-quality books for publishers large and small. Led by CEO Dave McCree, the company manufactures hundreds of millions of books each year for customers across the U.S. and Canada, has expertise in traditional offset printing and digital printing formats, and is committed to advancing cutting-edge print technology and operational excellence.
Lakeside Book takes pride in fulfilling the unique visions of its customers and offers a comprehensive suite of publishing solutions for every need. In 2025, the company acquired Baker & Taylor Publisher Services, located in Ashland, OH. With the acquisition, Lakeside Book has grown its warehousing and distribution service offering to include sales and order-to-cash capabilities. This added service now provides publishers with unprecedented streamlined solutions to print, store, and sell their books.
The addition of Lakeside Book Company Distribution Services marks a transformative phase of growth for Lakeside Book. Michael Shea, President of Book Services, notes, “This investment stands to reshape how publishers think about manufacturing, distribution, and market reach.” Lakeside Book can now take care of the entire supply chain management process for a publisher, covering paper sourcing, freight, kitting and assembly, storage, and more. A one-stop shop, it offers an array of integrated 360-degree solutions that include logistics and fulfillment strategies and the use of an order and inventory management portal. Through the portal, customers can access all the necessary data and gain the insights they need to make business decisions about their products.
To help support the recent acquisition, the company hired Todd McGarity, Senior Vice President of Business Development, Book Services. Recently, Lakeside Book signed sales and distribution agreements with Fulcrum Publishing, Mythworks, and Oak Tree Comics, Navigator Books, Read With You, and Dren Comics.
In addition to expanding its services business, Lakeside Book continues to invest in its robust book printing ecosystem, involving POD, short-run digital, and offset production services that are fully tied to distribution, giving publishers flexibility and speed in the book production and sales process, and offering new revenue channels to tap into. In March, Lakeside Book announced an expansion of its digital print capabilities with the installation of the first HP T500 digital press in North America at its facility in Harrisonburg, Va. Lakeside Book notes that the HP T500 press enhances the company’s ability to help publishers respond to changing market demands, offering faster turnarounds and greater production flexibility.
The team at Lakeside Book serves a broad range of markets and product types, including K-12 and higher education, 1-color and 4-color trade, children's picture books, religious books including Bibles, hymnals, scriptures and missals, as well as healthcare, government, industrial catalogs, financial publications, and school yearbooks. The company also specializes in high-quality, special edition books featuring decorated edges, foil embossing, and hardcover binding.
Lakeside Book’s streamlined print services are designed to give publishers more tools to get the job done right. By combining offset, digital, and POD production within one network, publishers can better manage inventory, reduce risk, eliminate under and overstock, and respond quickly to market demand, which is invaluable in today’s dynamic publishing environment.
Lakeside Book understands that there’s no shortage of companies that can print a book. What sets it apart, says Shea, is their growing array of solutions and services—which they believe will open new doors of opportunity and growth for publishers for decades to come.