June 2, 2016
Printing Process – Trip to Bethany
June 2, 2016
Bethan Press International

                 Bethany Press International

On May 17th, I had the extreme pleasure and honor of visiting my new publishing home, Bethany House Publishers, in Minneapolis. Putting faces to names and voices proved invaluable and wonderful. I knew from my experiences with BHP that there were a solid team, but after sales, marketing, and editorial meetings over the course of two days, I came away more convinced than ever that I made the right move. In fact, I wrote my agent, Steve Laube, while standing in the BHP foyer: “I love love love my Bethany family!”

Bethany Press International, independently owned and just around the corner from BHP, is where the book printing is done–but not only for Bethany/Baker Publishing. Many of the publishers use BPI, and one surprise while we toured the facility was discovering the cover for Operation Zulu: Redemption, the print version of the digital series I did with Barbour Publishing!

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Operation Zulu: Redemption covers awaiting lamination

Here are a few photos from the BPI tour. Later this week – I’ll share alternate covers that were considered for Conspiracy of Silence (December 2016).

 

Printed signature plate

                                                    The book starts here – the signature plate printer

 

A signature plate

                          A signature plate in a metal frame, which will be used for printing on paper

 

That's one giant ink cartridge!

                                                                           That’s one giant ink cartridge!

 

My fabulous editor, Jessica Barnes, holding a signature - which is about 16 pages of text!

           My fabulous Bethany editor, Jessica Barnes, holding a stitched signature – which is about 16 pages of text!

 

Signatures stacked and reading to be assembled

                                                          Signatures stacked and reading to be assembled

 

Sigs on the belt for binding (the tops have very tiny bar codes to verify they're the right book and in the right order)

    Sigs on the belt for binding (the tops have very tiny bar codes to verify they’re the right book and in the right order)

Belt feeds sigs into the red binder, fanning as they enter so the barcode can be scanned. They feed down the smaller red vestibule and into the larger, where they are glued.

Belt feeds sigs into the red binder, fanning as they enter so the barcode can be scanned. They feed down the smaller red vestibule and into the larger, where they are glued.

View from the end. Closest to right is where they're glued. They come out and cool off on the belt to the chopper, which trims it to book size.

View from the end. Closest to right is where they’re glued. They come out and cool off on the belt to the chopper, which trims it to book size. Notice the large ducting overhead? Those are actually massive fans that suck up the trimmed paper and fragments to a blocked-off room, where they are bound and shipped for recycling. 

Birds-eye view of the bindery

Birds-eye view of the bindery – note the recycling ducting traipsing overhead.

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