Gulp!

Yesterday I mailed a box to McNaughton & Gunn, my printer. It contained a paperback version of David Kokernot and rolled-up proofs of its dust jacket and endsheets, each with my approval signature across the front. In six weeks or so, finished books will arrive at Kullyspel Press's loading dock (aka my garage).

I have always been fascinated by the process of publishing books--their editing, design, manufacturing, marketing, and distribution. This is the manufacturing step. The book is being printed on an offset press, which has very high setup costs but also high quality in the final product. It is not practical to print proofs on an offset press, so the interior of the book was proofed on a digital press (like a large laser printer with binding capability) and the jacket and endsheets on a large inkjet printer tuned to mimic the colors of the offset press. My signature on the interior proof signified there were no formatting or assembly errors and on the inkjet prints that the colors were what I wanted.