Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Another Black Mark Against the Printer

Bright and early this morning I sat down with all the books and flipped through each and every one looking for the dreaded black streak. I was dismayed when 3 of the first 5 books I picked up had the marks. By the end of the stack I had a pile of 41 books with the streaks. That means that nearly half of the second printing of these books were damaged! Where was the quality control?

There are also 3 books where the printing on the binding wraps around to the front of the book. I believe these books were the printers try at convincing me that the wave problem was due to my selection of a 70 lb weight paper. I think they used 60 lb on those 3 and so my binding was too wide. Yeah, let's throw those in the box and make her pay for them as well. Needless to say 44 books are in a box to be returned. Or refunded. I haven't figured out what my next step will be. I placed a call to my production mis-manager yesterday to give him a head's up on the issue. We played phone tag today.

In the meantime, I called another local printer that my friend has used for all of her books. (Duh - why didn't I ask Edna who she used in the first place!) I gave him the specifications on the book and explained the issues I have been having with my current printer. He will get back to me with a price. I want someone else lined up before I need to reorder books. No way Black Mark Printers will ever get my business again.

Because I like things to end on a positive note, I'll report that the St. Louis County Library ordered a book today. I think they will order additional copies once they have an opportunity to see what the book offers. I also dropped off a book at the St. Louis Genealogical Society for their review. If they think it is a good fit, they'll carry it in their store. I told them to keep the copy for the on-site library once they are done with the review. My last stop was to my local library. I am donating a copy to them, and need to drop off 8 additional business cards Thursday morning. The Municipal Library Consortium, made up of 9 independent libraries in the county, is meeting in Webster Groves Thursday. Tom, our director, will pass out my business cards and show them my book at the meeting.

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