Houchen Bindery Plant Tour
Plant tour 11.30.11 with Joel Klaasen from Hillsboro Free Press
I enjoy giving a bindery tour, especially to an experienced, seasoned print buyer like Joel is. He took time at each station to get familiar with our capabilities and to meet several of our staff.
After he got back home Joel emailed: “Thanks for your great hospitality yesterday and I was very impressed with everyone in your plant.”
We thank you for taking the time to come to Utica and visit with us!
Opportunities abound at Graph Expo 2011
Graph Expo 2011
Sunday Sept 11, 2011 kicked off Graph Expo “Embracing Technology”
As I had never had the opportunity to personally attend this event, it is one that I was always interested in seeing. Major manufacturers from all aspects of the printing and binding world converge to exhibit their wares and launch new products. You get to meet the owners and management of these companies and hear directly what is happpening in their industry. Lots of seminars and discussion groups take place regarding every aspect of the graphic arts industry. I plan on attending a few of those. Lastly- a possible trip to Wrigley Field.
I was going in support of an alliance we have with Convertible Solutions, and our new service for this through our newly launched website portal Bindsource.
Seeing the newest machines for PUR perfect binding operating at the show made me proud to be part of Houchen Bindery Ltd. where we have already invested in the Standard Horizon BQ 470 with PUR and the Standard Horizon BQ 270 with EVA. We are leading the way in the Midwest for the short run book binding needs of printers and publishers of hard cover and soft cover editions.
I walked a hundred miles, shook many hands, heard many sales pitches, saw some great new equipment in action and collected much information on things specific to our company. Going to a trade show doesn’t usually lead to immediate cash register rings. But the opportunity to meet face to face and hear first hand the experiences from both peers and suppliers in our industry has been tremendously valuable. I would endorse this trade show for anyone running a printing or binding company, considering purchasing any equipment or learning more about the pro’s and con’s of various machine suppliers. They are all mostly here! All you have to do is walk from booth to booth and examine the differences in a matter of minutes.
For me, I connected the face with many of my long distance phone calls, emails, Twitter and LinkedIn contacts. Staying abreast of our industry today is vitally important as I found out several pieces of important information I could not have possibly gained had I not attended Graph Expo. After all, information is power. Will I go to Graph Expo next year? I certainly hope so!
Copyright 2011 Martin Pugh All Rights Reserved.
Teamwork is the Key at Houchen Bindery Ltd.!
Houchen Team Spirit
[/caption
I should explain a bit about this image. You see, every year in the summer, for over thirty years, the Houchen Bindery Ltd. team ( averaging 55 full time year round staff) ramps up to perhaps double its’ size. Everyone at the bindery wears a company T-shirt. The theme this year was “A Book is the Original Laptop”.
For years, (before I worked for Houchen Bindery Ltd.)- I always admired those T shirts. Once in Breckenridge. CO- I accosted a team member and even offered to buy his T shirt off his back! He refused. He told me there is no way I get a T shirt unless I joined their company. So a couple years later….I joined the company!! Now I have several of the T-shirts…tie dyed, green, grey, red, black, white and more…I am proud to be a member of the finest bindery in the midwest and part of that picture on the back there…continuing the tradition of modern bookbinding in the USA!
Have questions? Lets talk about binding! Call me at 1-800-869-0420 or email me at mpugh@houchenbindery.com Copyright 2011, Martin Pugh All Rights reserved.
Facts on Glue Binding
At Houchen Bindery, there are 3 main types of glues used in our binding processes. We also employ other methods which use thread, such as reinforced Library Side sewn, Smyth Sewn and Oversewn. Those methods will be described in other articles.
1) PVA (Polyvinyl Acetate) – a flexible, white glue, used for double fan adhesive binding and for case making. PVA is approved by the Library Binding Institute (LBI) as a certified Library Binding adhesive. Works best with uncoated papers or publication grade lighter weight coated magazine stock.
2) PUR (Poly Urethane Reactive) - the most agressive adhesive used in commercial binding applications, providing superior page pull strength. Works great with uncoated or coated stocks, even cover stock with coatings or synthetic materials such as book cloth, plastic or UV coating. PUR has a lower freeze point and a higher melting point than all other adhesives used in book binding.
3) EVA ( Ethyl Vinyl Acetate) - is the standard hot melt adhesive used in regular perfect binding. This works well on regular trade paper backs or textbooks, catalogs, and other perfect bound products. Not as permanent of a solution as PUR, but works well in many commercial applications.
Have questions? Lets talk about binding! Call me at 1-800-869-0420 or email me at mpugh@houchenbindery.com Copyright 2011, Martin Pugh All Rights reserved.
How to increase your book sales through smart use of Advance Reader Copies
As a marketing tool, publishers provide free copies of new titles to booksellers, journalists and even celebrities.
Such books are variously referred to as readers editions, an advance copy, an advance reading copy or ARC. It’s the book privately released by its publisher before the book is printed for mass distribution.
Readers editions generally lack the final dust jacket, formatting or (possibly) binding of the finished product; the text of an advance edition may also differ slightly from the market book, after comments are received from the reading group, or late errors are found in the manuscript. When a celebrity reader or journalist gives an endorsement, that’s added to the dustcover and other promotional items.
Reader books are normally distributed three and six months before the book is officially released to reviewers, bookstores, magazines, and (in some cases) libraries.
Like coins or stamps with errors, book collectors seek readers editions as being the “real” book, possibly containing text, errors or typos that add value.
On rare occasions (for instance, the publication of an eagerly-awaited or controversial book), a publisher may require the recipients of advance copies to sign a confidentiality of content agreement. However, in most cases the sheer number of ARCs produced and distributed makes that impractical. A typical genre publisher may create 5,000 ARCs for a new book by a moderately popular writer.
Publishers also produce uncorrected bound proofs, also known as galley proofs, in advance of publication. Galley proofs were historically only used in the editing and proof-reading process, but publishers have recently begun to use them as ARCs. These galley proofs may have bindings and illustrations similar to that of the final copy, unlike old-style galley proofs which were usually bound in plain paper covers and without illustrations.
Galley proofs differ from ARCs in that ARCs are printed in full color and in the same format as the published book, while galley proofs are generally printed in black and white and are significantly larger in size than the market book. Publishers who produce their galley proofs in electronic form do not use them as ARCs.
Beyond an Advance Reader copy, the next step is a final copy (in smaller quantity) that is used for marketing and sales staff to go out to the buyers, chains, book clubs, etc and place the advance order so that a larger size print run can be locked in. Houchen Bindery Ltd. can definitely help you with this area of your publishing needs.
Houchen Bindery Ltd. can offer the services of Advance Reader Copy manufacturing for small quantities. Many of the publishers we work with roll out ARC’s in about 30 to 100 copies at a time. At Houchen Bindery Ltd.- we can produce the ARC with it’s final binding. We produce ARC’s in both black and white text and full color, hard bound or soft bound with a laminated cover. If you have the need for Advance Reader Copies, please feel free to call me at 1-800-869-0420 or email me at mpugh@houchenbindery.com.
Ten Practical Tips for Your Book Binding Project
Are you an author, self publisher, artist, or photographer producing
your first book? Here’s a few tips to help obtain a desirable result.
1. Consult your bindery contact person early in the process.
You may have spent years writing, drawing, painting or taking pictures.
Don’t wait until the very end to find out how your book will be finished.
If the process allows for it, have a bound proof sample sent before producing
the entire job. This helps avoid any surprises.
2. Discuss what requirements will be needed for gutter margins.
Different methods of binding will have different margin requirements.
Smyth sewn books allow for more openability vs a perfect bound or side sewn book.
Make sure the supplied page size you are sending will work for the bindery.
3. Consider the paper choice carefully. Coated papers come in gloss or matte
(also sometimes referred to as dull or silk). Each paper will reproduce photos
differently and may have implications on how they will be bound. Glossy paper
will bulk differently than matte or uncoated papers.
4. Grain direction of the paper should always run parallel to the spine edge. Make sure
your printer plans this accordingly.
5. If you are providing the bindery with collated book blocks, make sure there is a
brightlly colored slip sheet divider between each set of books. A plain white
divider, or no divider at all really makes the bindery’s job more confusing than
it should be.
6. Establish a reasonable schedule. Book signings, trade shows, Open House events, etc.
should all be planned to happen AFTER you recieve the books. Asking a bindery to
rush a job can lead to possible problems.
7. Consider special features for your book such as cover cloth choices, Head and Tail Bands,
rounding and backing, foil stamping, or a dust jacket. Make sure the artwork you supply
for a stamping die is in the proper format your bindery needs.
8. If you are producing a soft cover book, determine if you should have the cover laminated.
If you are selling the book, you should have the cover laminated. Houchen Bindery offers
film lamination in gloss, matte and also a linen finish.
9. What about packaging options? Such as individual shrinkwrapping or interior slip sheeting,
(any book that has foil stamping should either have a jacket around it or be slip sheeted
so that the foil stamping will not rub off onto the other books during shipping). How about
individual mailing boxes?
10. Call me at Houchen Bindery Ltd! 1-800-869-0420. We produce a wide array of editons in short run lengths
and utilize many methods of binding including Smyth Sewn, Side Sewn, Perfect Bound, Double
Fan adhesive bound, Oversewn, PUR adhesive perfect binding and more. Email me at mpugh@houchenbindery.com
