“Books are the treasured wealth of the world and the fit inheritance of generations and nations.”

Henry David Thoreau, Walden; or, Life in the Woods

contents1 Introduction

Katherine Melnyk’s First Steps

3 OneThe Pursuit of Education

7 TwoHeritage House Publishing

17 ThreeNeWest Press

35 FourPrintsmith Group & Friesens Book Division

39 ConclusionBook Tailor is Born

41 References

42 Author Biography

Samuel Morris Rich, Katherine’s great-grandfather, in his library in 1948.

3

onethe pursuit of educat ion

Katherine Melnyk attended the University of Victoria and participated in the Arts & Writing Co-operative Education Program. She graduated with a Bachelor of Arts, majoring in English, in June 2004. Her particular interest was Canadian literature, and after completing her first co-op work term as Collections Assistant at the White Rock Museum & Archives in the summer of 2001, Katherine was thrilled to be placed for her second work term with Heritage House Publishing (please see Chapter Two for further information).

After completing her degree, Katherine moved to Edmonton, Alberta, and took continuing education courses on QuarkXPress, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop, and Client/Designer Relations at the Nothern Alberta Institute of Technology in 2004, followed by Writing Effective Advertising Copy at Grant MacEwan University in 2006. In addition, Katherine travelled to the Friesens printing plant in Altona, Manitoba, in March 2006 on behalf

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of NeWest Press (please see Chapter Three) to participate in an intensive hands-on Book Manufacturing Seminar. This seminar only fuelled Katherine’s passion for books and ignited her interest in the world of printing.

Since moving back to Vancouver Island in 2007, Katherine has also taken an Introduction to the Basics of Bookkeeping course through Vancouver Island University. Katherine plans to continue taking courses of professional and per-sonal interest as she believes that one’s education is never truly complete.

Katherine’s University graduation in 2004.

17

threenewest press

In November 2004, Katherine Melnyk was hired by then General Manager Ruth Linka at NeWest Press in Edmonton. Katherine worked alongside the Marketing Coordinator, and took over the small marketing department when the Coordinator left in 2005. As the Marketer, Katherine communicated with Canadian media, organized author tours, wrote marketing copy, reported marketing activities to NeWest’s Board of Directors and government grant departments, and ran seasonal marketing meetings with the rest of the office team. Katherine also worked with the office team to answer public queries, fill book orders, mail review copies, and take inventories.

In April 2006, the General Manager created the position of Production Coordinator for Katherine. As the Production Coordinator, Katherine coor-dinated the production for each book project, including: liaising with authors, board members, copy editors, and printers; obtaining print quotes and CIP

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data; designing and laying out book covers and interiors; checking printer proofs; and receiving books (including checking for quality and communi-cating with the distributor). In addition to designing six complete books, Katherine also created all promotional materials during this time, including: three catalogues; and all advertisements, bookmarks, postcards, and press releases. In addition, Katherine prepared bibliographic data in Excel for the North American and UK distributors, and pitched books to the foreign rights specialist.

As Production Coordinator, Katherine also trained two new team mem-bers and assisted the Marketing Coordinator and the General Manager with all other office duties (NeWest Press is, after all, a small press). As mentioned in Chapter One, during this time Katherine also travelled to the Friesens book plant and completed the three-day intensive Book Manufacturing Seminar. After working for Heritage House Publishing, working for NeWest Press was further validation for Katherine that the book business was the right place for her. But what other facets of the book business could Katherine explore? Please read on to see how Katherine jumps the fence into the world of printing

Following are some book and marketing materials design samples. For more information about NeWest Press and its dynamic titles, please visit www.newestpress.com.

At the 2005 Alberta Book Awards: left, Marketers Rebecca McCauley (neé Whitney) and Katherine; right, Thomas Wharton,

author and former NeWest board member.