The Genesis of a Book at
Gregath Company, Inc.
(Please be patient as the photos load)

Glossary

• Back to Introduction

• Back to Pre-Press

• Back to Production
  (Printing)
  (Digital)
  (Binding)

• Forward to Shipping

Small book saddle stitching machine.

Once books are collated, if they are hardbound, or softbound (perfect bound, coil bound, fastback, etc.) the books are boxed and sent to their respective specialty binderies or routed in house for select softbinding processes.

If the book is saddle-stitched, the pages are loaded into a machine that collates, folds and staples the pages and cover into completed books.

Collator at work

Some larger publishing projects will send partial orders of unbound text blocks to different binderies, such as 75 hardbound and 125 perfect bound for economy, while accommodating demand.  At this point, the front office staff is in charge of all shipping paperwork.  However, they don't always monitor where the book is in the production process. After reading this, one can see why the office staff can't give exact reports on book production time once the book leaves pre-press. At this time, the final billing goes to the author/submitter.