This
book and cover were designed by Gary M. Smith of Chatgris Press in New Orleans.
The fonts used for the text are Times New Roman and Arial. The text was
reproduced on Hammermill 20 pound bond by Mele Printing at
139 South Broad Avenue, New Orleans, LA 70119. The
covers were printed on Sappi Opus 100 pound cover stock laminated with 1.8 mil
thermal gloss laminate by Garrison Digital Color, Inc. at 4921 Jefferson
Highway, Jefferson, LA 70121.
The
cover collage includes the following images clockwise, and are used with
permission:
DocuTech
6115 Production Publisher digital photocopier (Xerox)
InstaBook
Maker book production machine (InstaBook Corporation)
DocuTech
6155 Production Publisher digital photocopier (Xerox)
Infoprint
ID5/ID6 (IBM)
BookMachine
(On Demand Machine Corporation)
PerfectBook-080
(Marsh Technologies, Inc.)
TurboStream
digital offset six-color press (Indigo)
The
background watermark image is a 16th century screw-type press found
at www.tintas.com/tech_info/history_printing.html.
The article at this site is taken from the Microsoft’s Encarta and Grolier’s
encyclopedias.
Replaced references to the EveryBook Softbook Reader with EveryBook/Estari, Inc. DocAble Organizer and REB1100 and REB1200.
Replaced references to Peanut Press with Palm Digital Media Group.
Replaced references to “Bar Code” with “Barcode.”
Replaced references to “Fatbrain” with “Barnes & Noble.com Professional, Technical and Business Bookstore”
Removed references to the Glassbook eBook Reader or replaced with Adobe eBook Reader.
Removed references to netLibrary.
Removed references to NorthernLight.
Removed references to MightyWords.
Removed references to Sprout, Inc. Added text on products from Marsh Technologies, Inc. (MTI) to include the PerfectBook-040, PerfectBook-080, PerfectFinish, PerfectTrim, and PerfectBind machines. Also adding information on Automating Transmittal via Peter Zelchenko’s VolumeOne’s VolumeOne Book Dispatcher.
When Robert Pirsig wrote Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance, 121 commercial publishers initially rejected him. Finally, in 1974 William Morrow took a chance, and the chance paid off. The book soared to bestseller status, going through five printings. Then, Bantam picked up the next edition, and Zen saw 26 printings from 1975 to 1980. From 1981 to 1988, New Age published the book through an additional 36 printings. Although Pirsig could not find a publisher at first, the book was so well written that the final edition preserved the text as it was originally developed.
Theodor "Dr. Seuss" Geisel—author and illustrator of 44 children’s books—had his first book rejected by 43 publishers. And To Think That I Saw It On Mulberry Street eventually was published by a friend. Another source has it that this book later sold six million copies. Other successful titles that originally were rejected by commercial publishers include Jonathan Livingston Seagull (18 rejections), M*A*S*H (21 rejections), and Peyton Place (24 rejections).
Page 12
Many self-publishers also use sophisticated DTP packages, which, although they often have a considerable learning curve (which surely will improve in time), were at one time the preferred programs for book layout. Today, Adobe Acrobat Portable Document Format (PDF) "is the de facto standard file format for book-on-demand transmission" according to The Seybold Report on BookExpo America 2001.
Addition to Chapter 5
On January 15, 2003, Lufthansa airlines was the first to debut in-flight broadband Internet access on commercial flights through the Boeing Connexion service on its Frankfurt to Washington, D.C. route. The service offers passengers 3 Mbps downstream and 128 Kbps upstream connectivity. If the service proves to be popular, Lufthansa plans to equip around 80 Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A330/340 jets with access starting in mid-2004.
Revision to Chapter 7
Genealogy
With research resources at a writer’s fingertips—especially with such sites as FamilySearch.com, Genealogy.com, and RootsWeb.com (Genealogy.org/Ancestry.com)—accurate and timely information is readily available for those desiring to assemble family histories. And commercially, the popularity of genealogy books is growing beyond just the interest of the immediate family.
Additions to Chapter 14
After color is applied, the cover should be coated with some form of lamination—whether liquid (aqueous) varnish or “press wax” or film lamination—to protect the ink from being scratched or scuffed. The aqueous system requires that a liquid be sprayed on the cover after they have been printed. With this method, however, a drying or “curing” period is required before the covers can be handled.
Film lamination is perhaps the best media since it involves a durable adhesive plastic sheet being applied to the surface of the cover. Materials used with this method include anything from polyethylene or polypropylene to a more high-tech nylon media. Machines such as the GBC Orbit 2000 Production Laminator apply a patented nylon media to one side of a book cover or book jacket. Once laminated, the cover passes through a tight bend, breaking the fibers in order to additionally retard curl in the cover.
Nylon
lamination is less flexible and has moisture-absorbing properties that are
similar to paper. This quality, combined with the backbreaking process, results
in a flatter cover than standard polyethylene or polypropylene media, which are
far more subject to the effects of humidity. Product supply specialists have
discovered that even after the backbreaker, polyethylene will only stay flat
for 1 to 3 weeks.
Other laminators include those by USI, Seal, and Daige. Ask
your printer for prices for various types of lamination and look at samples of
laminated stock before making your decision. Aqueous coating takes time and cannot
be rushed since the varnish has a curing or drying period before it can be
handled.
An
aspect of book production often overlooked by beginning authors/publishers is that
of book trimming. Your book probably will need to be trimmed after it has been
printed and bound, depending on the size of your cover and the trim size of
your completed book. Some books produced in 8.5 x 11 with covers printed the
exact same size may not need to be trimmed, but this is rare. In most cases, a
newly bound book will need to be trimmed and you need to ensure that this is
done professionally.
Regular
paper cutters at print shops can damage the spine by breaking it, causing an
unsightly crease or bend. Also, dull or nicked blades can tear pieces off the
cover from the top or bottom of the book spine. Be sure your printer uses a
trimmer designed for trimming bound books. Brands of trimmers include Triumph,
Ideal, EBA, Challenger, and Martin Yale.
Additions to Chapter 15
Page 163 (prior edition)
Revised text to read, “During another pilot, Lightening Source, Inc.—a subsidiary of book wholesaler Ingram Books—had 130 titles submitted. . . .”
Marsh Technologies, Inc.
In 1984 Jeff Marsh—a mechanical engineer with
electrical and business degrees and 25 years in the auto industry—established
Marsh Technologies, Inc. (MTI) to develop software, and mechanical and electronic
products as well as to provide hands-on management consulting. Marsh was one of
the first engineers in the 1960s to work on antilock breaking systems for
automobiles.
Now, with his new system, books can be stored in secure locations on publishers’ Internet sites and travel (via VolumeOne’s “Book Dispatcher,” detailed later) to automated or manually operated book printing devices located near the customer. This latest innovation in point of purchase book manufacturing also includes a state-of-the-art binding system (patented by Marsh) that uses a quartz ultrasonic horn to subject the spine to high-frequency vibrations to heat and melt strips of glue, fusing the book block to the cover. This “dry ultrasonic binding” technique could be an important step in eliminating the “fluid dynamics” problem of hot glue systems in these book vending machines.
These machines from MTI, built by printing equipment
manufacturer Moore North America, include the following:
The
PerfectBook-040 measures 53" x 103". It will print books with trim
sizes of 8-1/4" x 10-3/4" maximum and 4-3/4" x 6-3/4"
minimum with a 1-1/2" maximum thickness. It will bind and trim a book in
30 seconds. Cost: $84,075
PerfectBook-080 measures 53" x 103". It
will print books with trim sizes of 8-1/4" x 10-3/4" maximum and
4-3/4" x 6-3/4" minimum with a 1-1/2" maximum thickness. Binding
and trimming a book in 30 seconds, it can produce 15 250-page books an hour.
Cost: $92,150
PerfectBook-090
measures 53" x 103". It will print books with trim sizes of
8-1/4" x 10-3/4" maximum and 4-3/4" x 6-3/4" minimum with a
1-1/2" maximum thickness. Binding and trimming a book in 30 seconds, it
can produce 20 250-page books an hour. Cost: $96,000
PerfectBook-120
measures 73" x 103". It will print books with trim sizes of
8-1/4" x 10-3/4" maximum and 4-3/4" x 6-3/4" minimum with a
1-1/2" maximum thickness. Binding and trimming a book in 30 seconds, it
can produce 25 250-page books an hour. Cost: $134,000
PerfectFinish
PerfectFinish
is a fully integrated, all-in-one book finishing system that jogs, binds, and
trims paperbacks in lot sizes as small as one. PerfectFinish will work with
both high-end printing systems and small, desktop publishing machines. Printed
documents can be turned into perfect-bound paperbacks within 1 minute.
PerfectTrim
Measuring
24" x 24" and 4' high, the PerfectTrim will trim books from a maximum
of 11-1/2" x 9" to a minimum of 6" x 4" at a rate of up to
120 books an hour. Setup for different sized books takes around 5 seconds, and
all operations use front panel dials.
PerfectBind
The
PerfectBind machine measures 24" X 24". It will print a maximum book
size of 2" thick and 11-1/2" tall. The ultrasonic binding system is
available as an option to the standard hot or cold glue binding.
Now
that books can be printed by a number of instant vending-type machines
developed by several inventors, the next step is to transmit book files to
these machines no matter their location. One concern, however, regards
automating this process to eliminate the need for highly trained operating
staff so these machines can be widely distributed for use by anyone from print
shop employees to bookstore clerks to individual shoppers.
VolumeOne
“Mr. Watson—come here—I want to see you.” These were the historic words spoken by Alexander Graham Bell to Thomas A. Watson on March 10, 1876, describing the first successful experiment with the telephone. At 11:26 p.m. on July 9, 2001 the historic words were “The book is out” as Jeff Marsh informed his colleague Peter Zelchenko that, for the first time in printing history, a book has just been transmitted by remote control over the Internet to a printing machine with no operator intervention, ushering in a new era of book production.
This system of transmission, called the Book Dispatcher, is the brainchild of Peter Zelchenko, a Chicago-based master typographer and lettering artist, and a respected commercial illustrator and graphic designer. In 1997, Zelchenko founded VolumeOne and developed a patent addressing the network needs of on-demand printing of books.
John Stempeck is the CEO of VolumeOne and former vice president of Xerox. While at Xerox, he conceived and directed the trademarked Book In Time project, which linked Xerox Docutech systems together in a large international book-on-demand printing network.
The VolumeOne Book Dispatcher is a fully automated Internet-based traffic management system tailored for printing books on demand. The idea is for books to be stored in secure locations on publishers’ Internet sites and then travel to automated or manually operated book printing machines located near the customer.
The VolumeOne system is based on two principles. The first is that the software be tailored specifically to automate the production of a certain product, such as the transmission and printing of books on demand. The second principle is that the software must support a variety of platforms such as HP equipment, T/R Systems cluster printing environments, and MTI’s PerfectBook systems.
Additions to Chapter
18
Added the last two paragraphs under “Addressing” as follows:
One more
obscure aspect of addressing includes the actual positioning of the addressee’s
address. It needs to be located on the envelope in the correct position—not too
low or too high. I once had an important, dated bill returned because the
preprinted envelopes provided by the addressee had been incorrectly printed.
The problems were a) the address was too low, and b) the barcode was even
lower, being positioned at the bottom of the address. As it happened, the post
office equipment—which has a 2-percent error rate—registered the return address
instead of the addressee’s address and the letter was promptly delivered back
to me.
The
Postal Service supervisor with whom I spoke informed me that the return address
should also be printed smaller than the mailing to address and always located
high in the upper left corner of the envelope to help ensure that this address
is not read and registered as the delivery point address. She also explained
that it is better to print barcodes on top of the mailing address if possible.
Additions to List of Contacts
Marsh Technologies, Inc.
761 Spirit of St. Louis Blvd.
Chesterfield, MO 63005
636-530-0100
636-530-1232 fax
VolumeOne
John
Stempeck
Peter
Zelchenko
1757
W. Augusta Blvd.
Chicago,
IL 60622
781-942-9253
Note: The print on demand world mourns the loss of one of its innovators—the adventurous and pioneering Harvey Ross, founder of the On Demand Machine Corporation and inventor of its line of point of purchase book manufacturing machines. Mr. Ross passed away January 27, 2002.