Unsung heroes in publishing

It occurred to me this morning that, although I had written thank-you emails to my editors and designers for the good work they did on my new book, I hadn't personally thanked the production staff. I had asked my editor to list them on the Acknowledgments page, so I looked them up and sent an email to Mark Griffin, production coordinator for the book. I wasn't sure exactly what he did, but I know it was a big job. So I asked him. Here's his reply:

"Matt Wagner (Production assistant) and I are part of the Production department. It's our job to arrange for having all the slides scanned (as well as obtaining images from the previous edition), QC of the final design and text, color proofing, getting any final corrections made, overseeing the books' printing/binding and all associated concerns, and managing the importation back from Asia so that books arrive in our warehouse according to schedule."

That's a big job. Once the writing, editing and design are good-to-go, everything else is done by this production department. Without it, there's no book. He mentions having the slides (and art) scanned and retrieving images from the previous edition. I haven't counted the individual images, but there are 105 artists in the book, including several with multiple images. Plus there are all the little activities and projects that are in slides or original art and need to be scanned. Plus keeping the art and text and captions together as they go through the production process. The detail is beyond imagining. My hat's off (where IS my hat?!) to my North Light Books Production Department.