Where the Growth Is

Changing Printersin Midstreamby Walt “Stryke” ClaytonAfter I decided to self-publish my parodyof nature field guides, the secondcritical decision I made was that productionvalues would be the highestattainable. Stryke’s Buns Guide: A FieldGuide to Buns of the World had to becomparable in every way to the superbvinyl-covered guides used by millionsof naturalists worldwide. And in caseyou’re asking yourself, Does he meanthe kind of buns I’m thinking he means?Yes, I do. I got the idea for my clean,fun guide when I was leading a groupof birdwatchers and wildlife photographersthrough Patagonia, but it doesn’tfeature birds or plants or snakes; itfocuses solely on female behinds.I no longer feltconfident that I’dget the beautifulbook I knew waspossible, and I lost alot of sleep.Back in 2002, I queried several domesticprinters and quickly determined thatthe one best suited to deliver the specialcolor printing and vinyl cover I absolutelyhad to have was the companyalready producing the most popularbirding guides. This was a huge globalJapanese firm, and, in addition to specialexpertise in printing field guides,it offered a price amazingly lower thanany U.S. quote. So, even though I hadhoped to keep production in the UnitedStates, its offer was too good to refuse.Trouble in ParadiseThen, a series of events graduallychipped away at my confidence in thisprinter and the technical expertise ofits U.S. reps.The first major problem occurred overtime and centered on simple communication.My first reps understoodclearly what I was trying to achieve andsaid they could deliver. But frequentturnover of reps within the U.S. divisionmeant that once I had a good relationshipgoing with one and we hadsolved language-barrier problems, thatperson would leave the company or betransferred elsewhere. So it was backto square one, often with a rep whosefirst language was neither English norJapanese. Inevitably, things got lost intranslation. Confusion reigned.It was critical for me to get preciseanswers to technical questions fromthe rep and plant. I was using QuarkXpress,and I needed exact specs to becertain that no major last-minuteglitches would shut down the projector require a total redo. That wouldhave been catastrophic.One set of problems involved colorprofiles. It took several inquiries tonail down the specs, and I still had mydoubts. Then color proofs of photoswere slow in coming, and not free; theprinter’s accounting department hassledme repeatedly for a resale number thatwasn’t really necessary; and when thecolor proofs did come, they weren’t spoton, which meant they had to be redoneat extra expense and with another delay.I was diverting far too much time,money, and mental energy away fromwhat I should have been doing—polishingtext and imagery. I no longerfelt confident that I’d get the beautifulbook I knew was possible. I dreaded amajor error, and I lost a lot of sleep.What saved me was pure serendipity.Acting on a New CueI was in my local Barnes & Noble lookingat nature guide covers for ideas to24 | IBPA Independent | February 2013