Low numbers - Do they really make a difference

[jhanic]

I can see it now. Interesting!

John

[Tito_Villa]

Again they don't make a difference to me, more so now that i won't be collecting signed limited King books

[Tommy]

With regards to the numbering and lettering of signed editions, who numbers and letters the signature pages?

[Brian James Freeman]

With regards to the numbering and lettering of signed editions, who numbers and letters the signature pages?

The warehouse staff 99% of the time. The authors are not supposed to do it because the bindery chews up 10% to 20% of the sheets during printing and binding, so we'd have to go through every book and figure out which numbers/letters were lost and which ones were not. We HAVE had to do that a few times. It isn't fun.

Brian

[Tommy]

The warehouse staff 99% of the time. The authors are not supposed to do it because the bindery chews up 10% to 20% of the sheets during printing and binding, so we'd have to go through every book and figure out which numbers/letters were lost and which ones were not. We HAVE had to do that a few times. It isn't fun.

Brian

Interesting, cool, thanks Brian

[Dan Hocker]

The warehouse staff 99% of the time. The authors are not supposed to do it because the bindery chews up 10% to 20% of the sheets during printing and binding, so we'd have to go through every book and figure out which numbers/letters were lost and which ones were not. We HAVE had to do that a few times. It isn't fun.

Brian

Also we'd have to hunt down the requested numbers, which is no fun.

[Tommy]

so are they written in sequence or maybe in the order that they are requested by collectors and shipped as such?

[Brian James Freeman]

Also we'd have to hunt down the requested numbers, which is no fun.

Ha, yes, that too!

[Dan Hocker]

so are they written in sequence or maybe in the order that they are requested by collectors and shipped as such?

Not really. There's usually no particular order that they are numbered in. Though we typically work from the end of the numbering list towards the front. Also they aren't really numbered one at a time per order. We'll take and number 50 or so then take 50 orders and pack them up. (50 is a random number it can be more or less)

The reason we typically work from the end of the numbering list, is because most of the requested numbers and numbers that belong to our "lifetime members" are towards the beginning of the list and it's much easier to work in the big blocks of unclaimed numbers at the end.

Edit: As to the requested numbers. Those are marked on the orders as they are requested. We pull those out and highlight the numbers on the list so as not to use them. Sometimes we will ship the requested numbers first as well. It all just depends on how things fall in the shipping process.

[Brian James Freeman]

so are they written in sequence or maybe in the order that they are requested by collectors and shipped as such?

Dan can answer more in depth about how he handles them these days, but we have numbering/lettering charts -- literally, a sheet or two or three with boxes labeled 1, 2, 3, etc, through 500 or 750 or 1000 or whatever and we cross off each number as it is numbered to prevent double-numbering.

Edited: Dan beat me to it!

[Tommy]

Cool stuff, thanks guys!

[Tommy]

so are the books numbered/lettered or the pages numbered/lettered and then put into the books? Sorry for so many questions, just curious about how it all works

[Dan Hocker]

so are the books numbered/lettered or the pages numbered/lettered and then put into the books? Sorry for so many questions, just curious about how it all works

The books. If the pages where numbered / lettered we'd run into the same problem as if the author numbered / lettered them.

[srboone]

We still don't feel sorry for you guys...

[Tommy]

The books. If the pages where numbered / lettered we'd run into the same problem as if the author numbered / lettered them.

I see, thanks for the info

[Brian James Freeman]

Yep, here's the process in a nutshell:

1) We print up the signature sheets, including extras for PCs to account for damage, the author's copies, the publisher's copies, etc
2) We send these sheets to the author (and anyone else such as the artist) to sign
3) Once the sheets are back to us and the printer is ready to roll, we send them all kinds of stuff like "spec sheets" (which tells them what materials to use, etc), along with the big boxes of signed signature sheets
4) The signature sheets are "tipped" into the book during the printing and binding process
4A) They can be "machine tipped" -- meaning the sheets are fed into the front of the book during the printing/binding process automatically
4B) They can also be done by hand, meaning someone is standing there and the whole printing/binding process comes to a complete stop for EVERY book so the person can put one sheet in place -- this is VERY SLOW and EXPENSIVE, so you don't do it this way unless you have to. LEGACIES was done this way due to the number of sheets.
5) The books are finished and shipped back to us
6) The warehouse numbers/letters the books accordingly

Brian

[Tommy]

Yep, here's the process in a nutshell:

1) We print up the signature sheets, including extras for PCs to account for damage, the author's copies, the publisher's copies, etc
2) We send these sheets to the author (and anyone else such as the artist) to sign
3) Once the sheets are back to us and the printer is ready to roll, we send them all kinds of stuff like "spec sheets" (which tells them what materials to use, etc), along with the big boxes of signed signature sheets
4) The signature sheets are "tipped" into the book during the printing and binding process
4A) They can be "machine tipped" -- meaning the sheets are fed into the front of the book during the printing/binding process automatically
4B) They can also be done by hand, meaning someone is standing there and the whole printing/binding process comes to a complete stop for EVERY book so the person can put one sheet in place -- this is VERY SLOW and EXPENSIVE, so you don't do it this way unless you have to. LEGACIES was done this way due to the number of sheets.
5) The books are finished and shipped back to us
6) The warehouse numbers/letters the books accordingly

Brian

Sweet, thanks for that breakdown,

[Theli]

Very interesting, thanks for filling us in. I was wondering about the numbering and signing process myself.

[Brian James Freeman]

I'll go into a little more detail (with photos!) on my blog next week if I ever get a few minutes of free time.

Brian

[Dan Hocker]

I was actually thinking of posting a picture of a number sheet, but when I took the picture it looked like crap so I said maybe later.