Hey, it’s Pete! Say hi to Pete, everyone.
Pete’s the customer service rep at the printer where Bone Hollow is being produced.
He works in Castleton, New York, at IBT Hamilton. They’re my publisher’s preferred printer for some of the same reasons my publisher is my preferred publisher: They do a great job and they’re close to home. They also have every kind of printing machine in use from the mid-1800s until now—including the digital press and bindery that will produce Bone Hollow later this month.
It’s a cool place if you like clanky machines and conveyor belts and giant rolls of paper. (I do.)
I think "creating local" is a smart way to work. You draw your stories from where you are, and you get deep in there and find that where you are contains the whole universe. But also, if you're making something and you want to talk to someone who's helping you do that, you can do that. In person. In the place where they work.
A lot of authors probably don't get to chat with the printer. Me? If I feel like it I can say hi to Pete. And thank him for helping me get my first novel published.
Which I did.