MANUFACTURING OF BOOK PROCESS OF PRINTING AND BINDING

PRODUCTION OF BOOK  PROCESS OF PRINTING AND BINDING:

MANUFACTURING OF BOOK  PROCESS OF PRINTING AND BINDING:

After the book is written and appropriate design elements are agreed upon, book production can begin. The first stage is type-setting, in which the actual text is converted into the appropriate typeface style (known as font) and size (known as point size). After the typeset version of the book has been reviewed and any necessary changes made, it is ready for printing and binding, in which the actual pages are printed and bound together with the cover, resulting in a finished book. The typesetting and printing—"printing" consists of filming and all subsequent steps—are typically done not by the publisher but by specialized vendors.

Typesetting:

 First, the manuscript is converted into the desired font and point size. If the manuscript has not been completed on a computer, it must be typed into a computer by the type-setter. If it is already in electronic form, however, the typesetter simply has to make programming changes to convert the manuscript into the proper style. The result is generally (but not always; see step #3 below) a galley of the text. A galley form of manuscript consists of long pages of text in a single column. The galley includes the proper typeface, but the proper pagination still must be worked out.

Galleys are then proofread and edited for errors by the publisher. This stage is particularly important if the manuscript has been typeset (typed) from a hard copy of the text. If the manuscript was typeset from a computer disk, most of the errors should have already been corrected during a review of the manuscript. The single-column format of galleys facilitates the proofreading.

Pages and mechanical

After galleys are thoroughly proofed and edited, pages (or lasers) are produced. An exact layout of typeset pages but usually printed on standard typing paper, pages are also reviewed for accuracy by the publisher. Some books skip the galley stage and proceed directly to pages. Once any necessary changes have been made, the typesetter then produces a mechanical of the typeset pages. Also called camera copy, the mechanical is printed on high-quality paper that is suitable for filming, the first stage in the printing process. The work of the typesetting vendor—if different from the publisher—is now done.

Filming: 

The typeset mechanical now goes to the printing and binding vendor. First, each text page, including line drawings, is photographed (or shot) using a large camera to produce page negatives. These negatives are the opposite of what will actually print. In other words, the text and photos will appear backward in negative form. Negatives are then checked to make sure there are no blemishes present. While printed words and line drawings are all one shade of black, photographs have many shades from palest gray to deepest black and must be filmed using a special process to maintain these shades. The process converts the shades into black and white dots—very light areas have many dots, while darker areas have fewer dots. The converted photographs are known as halftones. If the book will have more than one color of ink, a separate negative for each color is made. For color photos, for instance, four negatives are generally used: cyan, magenta, yellow, and black. For this reason, books with color will have negative overlays (one negative overlay for each color). Because of the added overlays, a book printed in more than one color involves additional preparation and cost.

Stripping: 

The negatives are then taped or "stripped" into their proper place onto a large sheet called a goldenrod or a flat. Each flat holds 32 or 64 pages, and enough flats are used to equal the number of pages in the book. Strippers examine each finished flat on a lineup table to ensure that text and illustrations are properly lined up and in sequence. (The book pages are not lined up in consecutive order on the flat, and in fact some of the pages are placed upside down. Such placing is necessary because the finished paper version of each flat will be folded several times; once the flat is folded, the 32 or 64 pages will be in the proper order. This placement method is known as imposition.) To make this examination process easier, the lineup tables are equipped with a fluorescent light that shines up through the negatives, so it is easier for the stripper to read and align the text.

Blueprints:

To make sure the book is progressing properly, a proof of each flat is made by shining ultraviolet light through the negatives to expose their images onto a special light-sensitive paper. The resulting pages are called blueprints (or silverprints, bluelines, or dyluxes) because the paper and ink are blue or silver in appearance. The blueprints are then checked carefully by the publisher. If an editor or art director finds an error on a blueprint or decides to make a change, the page in question has to be rephotographed. The new negative will then be stripped onto the flat.

Plate making : 

After final approval, each flat is photographed, with the negatives being exposed onto (or "burned" onto) a thin sheet of aluminum called a plate. The sections of the plates that contain text and illustrations are then treated with a chemical that attracts ink, thereby ensuring that the text and illustrations will print when on press.

Printing :

The plates are then sent to press. If printing in only one color, each plate will require only one pass through the press. If printing more than one color, an additional pass will be required for each color. For example, if two colors are used, the paper is fed through the press twice.

There are three main printing processes used in book production: offset lithography, letter-press, and gravure. The process used depends less on quality differences than on economic factors such as availability of machines, number of books being printed (the print run), and the speed of delivery. Presses are either sheet-fed (single sheets of paper are fed through) or web-fed (huge rolls of paper are unwound and run through).

Binding:

After the sheets are printed and dry, they are delivered to the bindery. While many large printing companies have their own binderies, other smaller printers must send the printed sheets to a outside bindery. At the bindery, the flats are folded and collated into book signatures —properly folded 32- or 64-page sections—that are then bound in proper sequence. All of these functions are automated.

Book binding also involves sewing the signatures together, gluing the spine, and inserting lining and trimming the edges. The amount and type of binding depends on the type of book (paperback or hardback) and its size. In the final step, the book is "cased in," or enclosed in a cover.

FLOW CHART PRINTING PROCESS:

VIDEO: https://youtu.be/y5hI4Scd55s