The expression "Don’t judge a book by its cover" is exactly what is judged when a textbook is produced. A lot of time and energy goes into creating a certain look for a particular title or series, especially in the area of education where certain images and concepts need to be utilized or completely avoided depending on the targeted market.

For special education in particular, a cover has to appeal to a variety of groups: to the sales force so they can promote the title to various districts for state adoption, to the school districts who will buy a particular product versus another competitor’s, and to the students, who want a book that does not look like it is created for special education, but rather, has the look and feel of the average textbook.

There is a lot of work that goes into creating the initial concept of a textbook cover. Generally, a new product takes anywhere from eight months to over a year to complete, a textbook revision may take six to eight months, but either way, all of the steps needing to be done to get to the final product do not change.

Creative meetings with Editorial, Art & Design, and Marketing are conducted so that the grade level and subject matter of a new product can be discussed. Potential colors and images are shown and generally it takes a few months of various ideas tossed around and design prototypes being reviewed before a design is approved. A project schedule is created by the production editor and a separate schedule is created for art and photos. The production editor also compiles manufacturing specifications based on product launch meetings and routes the "specs" for approval. This contains all of the information needed for the printer, manufacturing buyer, editor and designer so that there is no mistake on what materials are being used for the product.

The cover schedule consists of a few months for the creation and approval of the cover design, then another few weeks for the creation and review of the cover mechanical, and finally an approved cover that is flight-checked and sent to the printer. This entire process can take anywhere from three months to ten months for the creation of a cover and the covers of any components that go with a particular program.

Art & Design is responsible for creating the interior design in relation to the cover design. The production editor provides a cover template from the printer and forwards it to the designer to use when creating the mechanical. The template includes placement of a drill or perf if the book includes these features. The cover mechanical is routed for review by Production, Editorial, Manufacturing, and Marketing. It is checked for various things: that the text is error-free, the barcode is correct, the trim size is correct, the quality of the art images or photos used is checked, logos and series design are checked, a "shelf test" is done to review the spines for consistency on a book shelf, and finally, the designer confirms that all necessary approvals have been obtained and that it can be flight-checked. The designer will then produce an iris proof to send to the printer for color accuracy. The production editor sends the printer: a laser printout of the cover, a copy of the cover template, the iris proof that is used to match for color on the press check, and a disk that contains all the fonts and files used for the cover. The printer then will send back a cover proof (usually a Cromalin) for approval within two weeks.

Once the printer’s cover proof has been approved by the client, a press check is scheduled and the designer (and sometimes the production editor) will go to the printing plant to approve the cover for color after samples come off press. (see sample)

The sample you have was printed at Lehigh Press in Pennsauken, New Jersey. Lehigh is a component printer; they create inserts, end papers, soft and hard covers. They print 70% of the education industry’s book covers. They make $60 million in annual sales and have 750 employees at the New Jersey plant, however, they also have plants in Chicago and one in Puerto Rico (http://www.lehigh-press.com).

How the cover becomes an approved proof for a press check involves many departments at Lehigh. The cover process begins in Lehigh’s Customer Service department. The Customer Service rep performs order entry, schedules the press run and orders the materials needed for the cover based on the client’s purchase order. He or she also play a part in quality control — if they see a proof that they do not think the client will like, they will request new samples to be created from the pressroom or may suggest that the customer choose a different color palette. This is helpful for the outcome of the cover but also builds a good relationship and a sense of trust with the customer so they will continue to use Lehigh for future projects.

The Pre-Press department checks the files that are sent to them. They RIP the files and make a proof either by film or computer-to-plate (ctp being more common). This department also has a scanning station. Most publishers will do their own scanning, but for those who do not have the capabilities, photos are sent to so they can be scanned by Lehigh. After plating, the pressroom does a makeready; they prepare a press for the creation of the cover. Lehigh has ten six-color printing presses. This particular cover was a four-color laminated cover. A sheet-fed Heidelberg press was used for this cover. While watching each sheet come off the press,

I noticed a thin film of powder could be seen getting sprayed in between the sheets. I asked what this was and was told that this spray powder is put into a hopper on the side of the press which emits a thin coat of cornstarch which prevents the sheets of wet ink from sticking to each other. It may not sound interesting to the average person, but for me, it was pretty interesting to watch!

Once there was a sample created, it was placed in a light box and compared to the iris proof for color matching. For this particular press check, it only took three tries before we were satisfied with the color. Brown is a tough color to match, especially since it is a four-color cover. The pressman said it would have been easier to add a fifth PMS color for just the background so as not to worry about darkening up the Photoshop map image too much. However, since this is a standard series which is always four-color (no more, no less), every effort had to be made to make it as accurate as possible with four-color process and without darkening up the mosaic pattern in the water too much.

The first attempt turned out a little light, so it needed to have some red added for a slightly richer brown. The second attempt was better, but needed to have a bit more yellow so as not to get too much of a purple effect in the water. A densitometer was used on the color bar of the sheet so that the designer knew exactly how much more red and yellow was being added.

The pressman said using the densitometer helps to get a faster makeready, keeps the color more consistent, and for reprints, it provides a more accurate color match.

The third attempt turned out well and was approved by the designer. So for three attempts, it took about five hours from makeready to an approved cover, which is not bad compared to how long and intensive the entire procedure can be.

I was also shown how the laminating process is done. A sheet-fed press and a thermal film lamination is used. The sheets go through a heated cylinder and when the laminate meets up with the proof, it creates a heat-activated adhesive. Again, it was a pretty interesting process to watch in action. I was able to see some examples of other covers that were done with much more elaborate designs that really can raise the price of a cover — a textbook cover costs about 35 to 40 cents, but when foil or embossing is introduced, the price can go up 60 to 90 cents depending on the number of passes needed for more intricate designs. Some of the samples I saw had metallic embossing and images that had a halogram effect which would need to be passed through a press at least three or four times for each section to be printed separately. Also, if Lehigh needs to fix a problem that comes up during the cover process, there is an alteration rate of $65-$75 per hour so the more detailed a cover, the more costly it can become.

I was shown where the film and ctp storage was kept. It was a huge room filled up to the ceiling with film and plates. The printer said that Lehigh tries to keep files and plates stored up at least five years before sending a letter to the client asking permission to destroy any film/plates that have not been reprinted by that time. However, a lot of space is taken up and the storage room is constantly being expanded to fit all of the materials.

After the press check, the cover is sent to the printer who is printing the text so that they can be bound by the scheduled due date. Usually the printer of the cover and the text are two different companies, so that involves a lot of upfront scheduling by the manufacturing buyer.

The production editor receives f & g’s (a folded and gathered copy of the final version of the book) for approval and the books are shipped to the warehouse about a month later and samples are sent to manufacturing for circulating in-house for all to admire.

Unless one is involved in the creation and production of a published work, no one but the people involved really knows what a very lengthy and laborious process it is. But at the end, when I hold a shiny, new bound book in my hands, it seems that all of that work really is worthwhile and I have a few moments to feel a great sense of satisfaction and finality in the completed product before the whole thing starts all over again.

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