Yesterday the Atom Books crew (and me) took a school trip to Clay's Printer to see THE FALLEN CHILDREN being printed.
The idea was that I would learn a lot about the printed process, and I kind of did, except that I spent most of the time gawping in at awe at all the machinery and my own book emerging from it. So I'm afraid this post won't be terribly educational, but there are some nice photos (almost exclusively of my own book).
The idea was that I would learn a lot about the printed process, and I kind of did, except that I spent most of the time gawping in at awe at all the machinery and my own book emerging from it. So I'm afraid this post won't be terribly educational, but there are some nice photos (almost exclusively of my own book).
It's a little hard to describe what it's like being there while 2,500 copies of your book are printed. The uncollated pages are all loaded ready in the machines. As soon as everything is turned on the pages are collated, the covers glued on, the books cut and pages trimmed, all in about 10 minutes. Although of course more is done before that point, I still had no idea that everything would print so quickly.
It was also special to actually see all the different colour covers, and to see the spines! They were all printed in random order to make sure bookshops don't end up with multiple of the same colour, and seeing the different colours all over the factory was slightly mindblowing.
In the photos above you can also see the Golden Egg special cover. These are going out to a random selection of book shops, and whoever finds one (and buys it) will win a prize!
Visiting the printer was comfortably one of the best days of my writing career. The only thing now is for The Fallen Children to actually come out. May 4th!
It was also special to actually see all the different colour covers, and to see the spines! They were all printed in random order to make sure bookshops don't end up with multiple of the same colour, and seeing the different colours all over the factory was slightly mindblowing.
In the photos above you can also see the Golden Egg special cover. These are going out to a random selection of book shops, and whoever finds one (and buys it) will win a prize!
Visiting the printer was comfortably one of the best days of my writing career. The only thing now is for The Fallen Children to actually come out. May 4th!
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