The production of any one of our books starts with the most important part, the content itself. After a long process of reviewing submissions, selecting the content, editing, and laying it all out, we print out the actual pages of the book, five per sheet. The process involves cutting each page out in a strip, then cutting the excess off each strip.
Here, the strip has already been cut out, and the excess amount is trimmed off.
Once the excess paper has been cut off, the unfolded pages are placed in a pile, shown above. At this point, the folios will be folded, and placed into signatures with the other folios.
Here, the completed signatures are punched using an awl. This process produces the holes that will be used to sew the signatures together to form a book block. Completed book blocks of Lost: Reflections can be seen to the right as well.
In the above two pictures, the signatures are being sewn together, this time with the two endsheets, which will be used to attach the book block to the case. The book block is build from back to front, gradually building it up with each signature.
A significant amount of sewing later, and the book blocks are finished. From here, the spine will be consolidated, and prepared to be hung in the case.
The finished books are placed in a pile, ready to be shipped out to the authors.