Book production: why you need to know how it works

The "sent to press" stage is often seen as a two to four-week window, at the end of which a perfectly printed and bound book appears as if by magic. In reality, however, there is a lot that goes on behind the scenes to make that happen, and understanding some of these processes can be key to ensuring that the book you have spent so much time and effort working on appears exactly the way you want it, where you want it and when you want it.