Wonder if this would make a good tattoo?
I just sent the big, bad behemoth of a book off to press. The Ordinary Chaos of Being Human is…say it out loud with me now…FIVE HUNDRED AND SIXTY-EIGHT PAGES long. I can’t believe it. I’m still exhaling. And I’m so proud of this book that even this ugly barcode I made is looking sexy to me right now. Kind of punk rock though, no?
So, I’m back from the book bender to tell you more stories.
Meeting the Printer
I visited my Sri Lankan printer for the first time two weeks ago, on a small winding road in an unfamiliar part of Colombo. A fruit vendor pushed a wooden cart full of overripe bananas up the street alongside us as we slowed to stop at the entrance. As I paid the tuk tuk driver, he turned to me to say “this place boss very good madam.” A good omen. I walked in to find a sea of curious young eyes peering at me over the top of their computer screens. Was it rare for the team to get visitors? I should have brought cake.
It wasn’t a swanky place (most printing presses are not), the setting more akin to an auto parts factory compared to the quiet, polished bookstore where their products are sold. From what I know, printing is an expensive business but not usually a very lucrative one: paper is expensive, the press and binding machines are expensive, and mistakes are very expensive…that’s why, like in the movies, it really does warrant a major drama to “stop the presses!” If you’re in the business, you’re in it for the love of the work, for the beauty of print making. And when it’s a good place, there is a certain energy. This place had that. Leaving, I felt certain they’d be putting the love into the printing that Ordinary Chaos deserves.
Not Lost in Translation
Good Boss Madam Printer is clear-eyed, sharp, and efficient. So efficient that she's usually out the door or off the call before I realize I've forgotten a question or two. Wind in her hair, she actually just flew through my office to have me sign off on a paper color change five minutes ago. It’s a wonder I got her to sit down for this photo above. She's currently printing the interior pages. After that, they will fold, glue, stitch, press, then apply the covers… No time for tea, she said, as I quickly crammed in my last worries about trim size, duplex cover printing, binding and stitching, gutter margin…
The process here, and often the terminology, is different compared to where I first learned about printing. I find the climate-related differences fascinating. For example, in the tropics, they prefer to print on a white paper stock instead of the cream because the cream yellows and gets spotted in as little as six months due to the humidity. Also here, the glue that holds everything together just disintegrates after a while (the soles of your shoes can randomly fall off while walking, or your bra strap might give way at a party without warning, uh huh, yep...) So a big book like this one must be stitched or the pages can just fall right out. For all of my enthusiasm about going independent, I have to remember that these are the kinds of things my traditional publisher took care of for me last time. All of these details really do light me up though, and I’m so grateful now to have past experience with the process. Will save those stories for another time...
