At the Printer with A Pirate's Quest

Ever wondered what happens when a book is printed?  I just got back from Friesens printing company, where I watched A Pirate's Quest come hot off the press.  My job was to look at the proofs, to make sure the color in the book was absolutely perfect.

This was my first time to a printing company, and it was amazing!  When I first arrived, they took me to a small room, where I looked at the first section of the book under calibrated lights.  I was looking to make sure the paintings were vivid, the text looked good, etc.  Once I gave my approval, they printed a huge stack of the first section of pages from A Pirate's Quest.  It was so exciting to see our year's work coming off the press.

Throughout the day, I looked at 7 different proofs -- four large proofs of pages from the book, the cover, the dustjacket and the endsheets (which are glued to the insides of the hard cover).  The printing company was huge, with lots of books in various stages of being made.  There were large stacks of paper, some blank, some full of image.  There were signs everywhere reminding people to watch out for fork lifts.  There were huge machines, all with their own specialty -- from printing to stitching to glueing to preparing boxes of books for shipments.  Amazing.  And the place was so clean.

I really had a great time.  And I was lucky to have some tasty pizza in the local town of Altona, Canada, including a slice of Mennonite Delight.  Yummm. -- Laura