Robert Holland’s comment to my post, In Praise of Bookstores, made me think of how much I owe my career success to having spent a great deal of time in print shops.
I believe that to be a true communication/PR professional, you must have a thorough knowledge of and experience with the printing process. You have to get some printers’ ink into your bloodstream.
I began my career journey in a humble manner. In college, I cleaned the presses for each run of our student newspaper.
In my first job after graduation, I was editor of a U.S. Army publication in Germany while stationed there with the 32d Army Air Defense Command in Kaiserslautern. My newspaper was printed at a German print shop in the small town of Otterbach. I loved spending time there while the newspaper was prepared and printed. It was my first professional opportunity to work with a printer, and I learned so much from the staff there. I even learned all my type fonts and sizes in German to be able to communicate with the staff.
My second job after being discharged from the army was as managing editor of an award-winning weekly newspaper. The newspaper was printed in a print shop 60 miles north of the city it served. I loved going there each week to supervise the press run. I became good friends with the owner of the print shop, and he gave me the run of the place. His name was W. C. (“Dub”) Shoemaker, and he became a dear friend and mentor to me.
There is something magical and fulfilling about watching your hard work come off the press. I was allowed to work with Shoemaker’s staff in every department as my page proofs worked their way through the printing process. Then, standing at the end of the huge offset press, grabbing a finished publication as it came out of the folder, I could, as Robert described it, hold my work in my hands, and in so doing, feel a great sense of pride and accomplishment.
I left the weekly newspaper editor’s job to join my first corporate communication department. Among other duties, I was managing editor of a large monthly publication, that was, fortunately enough for me, printed at Shoemaker’s shop. I usually spent a couple of days there getting that publication out each month. I did that for years, and I never got tired of it. I leaned so much about the printing process and how to make the most of it. I think every communicator/PR professional should have such knowledge. It adds a wider dimension to your professional skills.
Plus, the printing process is quite interesting if you are a serious communication/PR professional. Every top communicator I ever looked up to had printers’ ink in the bloood. It completes your work and brings a satisfying conclusion to your projects. It is much more satisfying to be part of the printing process, too, in addition to all the development, writing, and design of any given project.
I left that organization, and sadly, Shoemaker’s beloved print shop, and moved on to other corporate communication management positions in different cities. I still dealt with printers on a regular basis, as is necessary to be successful in this business. I was thankful to have had such a good grounding in the printing process. It helped me tremendously.
Today’s communication/PR students may never need to enter a print shop. For a very long time now, it has been easy to send complete layouts to the print shop online and never set foot in the shop itself. That is remarkable progress and very efficient, but it also lacks soul. Like Robert said, the smell and feel of printers’ ink gets in your nose and on your hands, but it also gets into your heart/blood stream. I miss that experience.
Your post brings back some fond memories, Les. My first experience with the printing process was as a University of Missouri journalism student. i volunteered to work in the pressroom, and the printers there delighted in joshing the college students. But I picked up a valuable skill from them: how to read type slugs.
I, too, was an Army editor. I served in that capacity for about 18 months on the Ft. Benning Bayonet. Each Wednesday I visited the Columbus, Ga., Ledger-Enquirer, whose pressroom produced The Bayonet. Fortunately for me, they weren’t unionized, so I got to handle the slugs and move them about as necessary.
The Army then sent me to South Korea, where I edited the KORSCOM Charger. I was based in Daegu, but the publication was printed by a shop in Seoul. So I spent about half the week in Daegu and the other half in Seoul with the printers. Only one person at the shop actually spoke or read English. The linotypist just read the letters on the copy I handed him and produced error-free slugs even though he did not understand a word.
After discharge, I was hired by the Columbus Ledger-Enquirer to be its make-up editor, which meant I visited the pressroom daily to check the turtles and make sure that everything fit properly. Shortly after I started, the shop foreman came over to me and said, “You know how to read type.” I replied, “Doesn’t everyone?” He told me my immediate predecessor, a veteran of about 13 years, never figured out how to do it..
Thanks for sharing your experiences, Bill. We have similar backgrounds. Like Bob Dylan sang, “The times, they are a changin’…”
Take care, old friend.
Les
Uncle Les, I love that I continue to learn from you outside of the classroom!
You make an EXCELLENT point about how important it is for PR professionals to understand the printing process. As you know, working at a nonprofit comes with the understanding that one wears many hats! I am in the midst of familiarizing myself with the printing process for the very first time, and I was so excited to read this blog post.
I am finishing up one of our direct mail pieces—a biannual newsletter that will be sent to over 40,000 people. I asked several companies to bid out the job and quickly learned that I not only need to know the ins and outs of working with a printer, but with a designer, mail house and post office. Failing to consider something as miniscule as font, wafer seals, response vehicles or bindery can make or break a project.
I completely agree that although a lot of this can be done and learned online, I only truly began to understand this procedure when connecting with people who are well-versed in the process. I even received a phone call today from a good friend’s mother who is the VP of Sales for a mail service company. She invited me to take a tour of her company’s printing facility and told me about upcoming workshops to learn more about direct mail campaigns, which I will certainly take advantage of.
Thinking of you often and as always, appreciate you sharing your knowledge!
My dear Deepika, it is so good to hear from you here. I miss you terribly around the hallowed halls of Towson U. I am happy that you read my blog post, and I hope it was helpful to you.
I also remain proud of you for your accomplishments. It is thrilling to hear about your career exploits. Please keep sharing those with me.
Thank you for lending strength to this argument about the importance of working effectively and knowingly with printers. Your personal experience is invaluable.
Warnest and highest regards, dear Deepika.
Les