Worzalla, an employee-owned book printer specializing in printing high-quality children’s books, cookbooks, and hardcover bestsellers, recently hosted 12 associates from some of the nation’s most prominent book publishers at its “Print University.” The program is a three-day long intensive workshop designed to educate those who work in the publishing industry about the book manufacturing process.
“Worzalla was pleased to welcome our publisher partners to Stevens Points and to our facilities. I enjoy sharing the book printing process and my team also learns a lot about what’s new in publishing from our participants,” says Richard Letchinger, VP of sales and marketing at Worzalla and the organizer of Print University. “Especially since book sales have grown in the last few years, it is invaluable to be able to exchange ideas with our partners about the future of our industries.”
This year’s graduates included Madison Oxx and James Neel of HarperCollins Publishers; Vincent Perez and Luke McCord of Penguin Random House; Emily Kleinburg, Chris Leonowicz, and Carolyn Telesca of MacMillan; Rosalie Khan and Jennette Cross of Hachette; Maggie Moore and Rachael Marks of Abrams; and Kenneth Burnett of Ramsey Solutions.
“[Print University] gave me a more visual and tactile understanding of concepts I had been dealing with on the job but didn’t have any concrete experience with as someone who is new to the industry,” says Oxx, production associate at HarperCollins Publishers. “The course was thorough, comprehensive, and well-rounded. I loved being able to see these machines and processes in person, as well as meet the people behind the scenes of these amazing books.”
The curriculum for Worzalla’s Print University covers all parts of the book printing process, starting with prepress, which includes file prep, pre-flight and color theory. The curriculum also reviews four-color web offset and sheetfed printing, which includes platemaking; the paper making process and an introduction to the most common paper used in book manufacturing; and book finish capabilities, which includes perfect and hard case binding, case making, and foil stamping.
“I came from a background where I had no prior print experience. Not only did Print U help me better understand the printing process, but it also gave me the legs to stand on when walking into meetings with people who have been doing this for years. It will be extremely helpful to know the right questions to ask of our designers to make sure I have all my ducks in a row when I go to quote out our next big title,” says Brunett, buyer at Ramsay Solutions.
The training also covered Worzalla’s commitment to environmental, health, and safety, and social compliance corporate social responsibility.
“Perhaps the most important thing is how much I learned about the effort and care that the employees of Worzalla put into their work, as well as their dedication to ensuring our company can put out products that we can 100% stand behind,” adds Oxx.
The first Worzalla Print University was organized in 2018. To date, 100 participants have graduated from the program.