By GENE KEMMETER
of The Gazette
Worzalla Publishing has scored a coup in the children's publishing business.
On Tuesday, Nov. 14, Worzalla completed publication and binding of the first two volumes of the Harry Potter series of books by J.K. Rowling. The series has generated considerable publicity this year following the publication of volume four, which shot to the top of the best-seller list and caused long lines at book stores as people rushed to buy the latest installment.
Chuck Nason, president and CEO of Worzalla Publishing Co., expressed his pride in having the company involved in printing two of the books in the series.
Worzalla had been asked in the summer by Scholastic Press, publisher of the Potter books, to do some printing, he said, but the company was too busy. When Worzalla workers finished projects ahead of schedule, Nason said the company had a little bit of a hole in scheduling to fill and offered to help Scholastic Press, checking to see if the job was still available.
Worzalla wound up printing 100,000 of each of the first two volumes, "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" and "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." Those volumes will become part of four-volume sets for the Christmas season.
Printing was actually the easiest part, Nason said, because the hardcover portion of the book was more involved. The cover was particularly difficult, he said, because it was foil and embossed, with three pieces. That meant the covers had to be stamped, and the work was intricate, he said.
Although Worzalla wasn't involved in initial printings of the Harry Potter books, Nason said other book publishers like Worzalla benefited. "Harry Potter has been good for our business. While people were waiting in line to buy the book, they were buying other books," he said. "More books have been sold."
Another benefit from the Potter books, he said, was the fact that the fourth volume was 795 pages and children were reading the book despite the length, he said.
Although the Potter books have been on the best-seller lists, they're not the first Worzalla printed book that made the list. The first was an expensive book about the movie "Titanic" that made it onto the best-seller list.
When Worzalla prints a book for another publisher, its contribution to the process often goes unnoted.
Not so with the Potter volumes, Nason pointed out. At the end of the book, it says "This book was printed and bound at Worzalla in Stevens Point, Wisconsin."
"That's one of the nice things that Scholastic does," Nason said.