Reducing a standby period of time for printing includes: registering at least one item of network print information in a host computer; detecting the network printer information registered in the host computer if a command for printing has been selected; transmitting a command for requesting the network printers to transmit information concerning the amount of standby print operations using detected network printer information; evaluating the received information concerning the amount of the standby print operations; detecting a network printer having the least amount of standby print operations and transmitting print data to the detected network printer.