After a mere 57 weeks of writing, editing and layout, “The Stick Chair Book” is off to Tennessee to be printed. While our books normally take six to eight weeks to get printed, this one will take 12-14 weeks because of the book’s special paper (more on that in a moment).
Look for the book to start selling in late September or early October. The book is a monster: 632 pages, full-color interior, printed heavy-duty end sheets and all the normal manufacturing touches that are typical for our books. Stiff 98-point cover boards, 100-percent cotton cover cloth and the best binding we can find (sewn, glued and taped to last).
The price will be $49. That’s steep, I know. In fairness, we set the price a little lower than we should have for the book’s manufacturing specs. It should be about $54 to be in line with our other books, but I’m the author, so I am allowed to sell myself a little short.
About the paper: I have been experimenting with using uncoated papers with color printing for a while now. The uncoated stock makes the text easier to read. But it isn’t typical for a book such as this because it makes the photos tricky.
On coated paper, photos reproduce crisply. That’s why museums and coffee-table books use coated paper – it’s all about the images. On uncoated stock, photos can get mushy if they aren’t sharp and have good contrast.
So this book was built from the start with the paper stock I had in mind. But, as a result of all this thinking and experimenting, the paper has to be ordered from the mill. Hence the long wait for the book.
In the coming weeks I’ll share details on the scope of the book plus a couple excerpts.
I am relieved that “The Stick Chair Book” is in someone else’s hands so I can get back to designing Nancy Hiller’s “Shop Tails” book, which is a ton of fun to read. Plus, I get to crop photos of cute animals.
But first, a beer. A very large one.
— Christopher Schwarz
