Bluelines

[Brian James Freeman]

Hmm that's odd neither of those blue lines look quite like the blue lines I've seen. The ones that usually come through CD are all individual pages printed front and back, exactly like the book pages.

And the young Mr. Hocker shows his age!

Some information for the collectors:

We still call them bluelines because the stage of publication they represent is the same, but I don't know if any printer still actually makes them like the old days. Now they're just printed digitally, but there's still usually only ONE set for each book and sometimes they're actually a little different than the final book for reasons I'll mention in a moment.

The purpose is still the same: the printer sends them to the publisher BEFORE printing the book so the publisher can confirm the pages are set as intended. This is the very last step before the printer starts running the press.

Every now and then, you catch a mistake at this stage and you can fix it. But that also means the text of the "bluelines" is slightly different than the final book in that case.

By the way, once or twice I've seen something catastrophic get caught at this stage -- and the printer will run a new set of bluelines for final confirmation after resetting the pages, just so you can be sure everything has been put back together okay.

Brian

[Brian James Freeman]

Different printers and publishers sometimes use different terms for the same thing, or the same terms for different things, but a comment on something else that was mentioned:

F&Gs = Folded and Gathered.

This is an optional step that follows the bluelines stage. The printer runs one copy of the interior of the book, "gathered" into the signatures, but not actually bound.

This can be expensive and really is not needed if the bluelines looked good -- but sometimes, if we're really paranoid about a project, we do request them. There is one project this year where I've asked for F&Gs. You might be able to guess which one. (I hope to see them in about two weeks.)

Brian

[RJK1981]

I'm guessing that project would be the It anniversary edition that was recently sent to the printer

[jhanic]

Brian has posted a very informative item regarding bluelines and F&Gs:

http://brianjamesfreeman.wordpress.c...-stephen-king/

(Sorry to steal your thunder here, Brian!)

John

[Brian James Freeman]

Brian has posted a very informative item regarding bluelines and F&Gs:

http://brianjamesfreeman.wordpress.c...-stephen-king/

(Sorry to steal your thunder here, Brian!)

John

Ha, I knew I had been posting about bluelines and F&Gs somewhere recently!

Brian

[Ben Staad]

Good stuff, Brian! Thanks for sharing.

[jhanic]

Just got this today:





Lilja's Library blue lines from Cemetary Dance.


John

[Ben Staad]

Congrats on the blue lines, John!

[Grant Wootton]

Excellent coup (as always) John !!!!!

[jhanic]

Thanks. I found out a few days ago that the signature on the cover is, indeed, Lilja's, too.

John

[Grant Wootton]

Thanks. I found out a few days ago that the signature on the cover is, indeed, Lilja's, too.

John

Even better, then

[Martin]

I posted this in my collection thread. Since it is the only Blueline I own I thought I would add it here as well.

Ray Garton's Scissors:
Scissors - Blueline.jpg
My general opinion on Bluelines is that they are cool and I am glad I have one, however they are not something I go looking for. They are not very attractive on the shelf and are not possible to read as they are not bound. Glad I have one though, I got mine from a CD offer several years back.

[Ben Staad]

That is very cool, Martin! Congrats.

[jhanic]

I agree--they're not that attractive and are almost impossible to display, but I've always been attracted to the off-beat items, so I really like them.

John

[jhanic]

I just got the blue lines for the Stand art portfolio. They are the same size as the art prints, but are blue. Unfortunately, they're too big for my scanner.

John