book: design, production, print management, print quoting, self-publishing

I love making books… especially the ones with great images. I love every part of the process, from getting the print quotes to opening the finished cartons and everything in between. Nothing is more satisfying than to help navigate an idea from drawing board to print. I guess I've designed, art directed, self-published, project managed, production managed, print managed, edited, sub edited and/or consulted on well over 60 books. 

Grajagan: Surfing the Tiger’s Lair published in 2023 by Cyclops Press, was a most satisfying project to be involved in requiring special techniques and embellishments including a leather covered Limited Edition, debossing, rounded corners, ribbon marker, gold stamping and laminated tip- in. Freedom in design approach was not only allowed, but encouraged.

The Ghan: Australia's Grand Rail Journey, a lavish coffee table book taking readers on a journey through the picturesque 'red heart' of Australia, was published in 2007 by Golden Gecko Press – a small boutique publisher of which I was a partner. The first edition has now sold out. As Publishing Director my role included design, production, image retouching, prepress, print management and press checking. The rights to The Ghan were sold to publisher New Holland in 2018, who produced a revised version.

In 2011, as Creative Director for Kevin Weldon's Australia's Heritage Publishing, I was given the job of reprinting the much-loved Neville W. Cayley title, What Bird Is That?  First published in 1931, the production required rescanning from the original book, resizing the pages, replacing covers, preliminaries and index sections, and designing new endpapers, nameplate and a set of bookmarks. 

China: The Long March is a large format, coffee table book published in 2012, utilising the photographs of 20 of the world's leading photographers. An epic production, the book was translated into Chinese and  published under the imprints of Weldon International, HarperCollins Australia, HarperCollins UK, and Earth Aware Editions in the USA. My role as Production Manager required coordinating the multiple imprint editions & language translations, print negotiations & management and press checking. I also helped to photo edit and photoshop some of the thousands of images and to coordinate the prepress for supply of final hires files and then colour correct the proofs before printing.

100: the History of The Dee Why Surf Life Saving Club, published 2012 by DWSLSC – an historical record of the club since inception. Embellished with an embroidered and debossed logo, the limited edition book is cased in linen. My role involved designing the book, managing the text, sub editing, indexing, image scanning and retouching, print negotiations, prepress, proof checking and printing.

Cyclops Press is a boutique publisher producing quality photographic and historical books. In 2012-13 I project managed the books Saltwater People: Sydney's Southern Beaches and Slightly Dangerous.  Saltwater People is a lavish 300+ page coffee table book and companion to the best selling Saltwater People: Sydney's Northern Beaches. A slipcase was produced to house both books. As production manager I negotiated the printing, retouched the images, prepared final prepress files for printing, corrected the colour proofs and arranged shipping and delivery. Slightly Dangerous involved all of the above as well as editing the text. The book was launched in 2013 with a photography exhibition of the same name at Manly Art Gallery, Sydney, for which I retouched and prepared the print files (see the photography page). I was privileged to be asked to design and negotiate the printing of Gamu: the Dreamtime Stories, Life & Feelings of Big Bill Neidjie for Cyclops Press client/author Sarah George in 2021. A remarkable self publishing venture. I designed and print managed Grajagan: Surfing in the Tiger’s Lair for Cyclops Press in 2023. An intriguing tale about the discovery of the legendary Indonesian surfing break named G-Land; we produced a leather bound and embossed Limited Edition along with a standard edition. A challenging yet gratifying project that I was delighted to be associated with.

The Australian Geographic book division commissioned and produced a large list during my time as creative director. We also co-produced titles like Penny Tweedie's Spirit of Arnhem Land and World Wide Fund for Nature's Living Planet . 

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