"Publication Services" What does that mean?
Posted by Peter Blaiwas on Tue, Dec 21, 2010
Most people who have committed themselves to a career in book publishing have done so out of love for creating books, and so it is for us. Let's face it, there aren't many other perks to the job.
Since we began, more than 16 years ago, my partner and I have continued to hone a concise explanation of just what it is that we do. Our elevator speech is a neverending work in progress that often feels more like an elevator zen koan. Here is my most recent version:
Vern Associates helps our clients develop, produce, and publish quality illustrated, or picture-driven, books. Most of our clients are not involved with the publishing industry, but still need to create their own book-length publications, such as organizational histories or illustrated catalogs.
It still has a way to go to achieve an elegant simplicity.
The most general description of our work is "publication services." I Googled publication services and found a few references to what we actually offer, but most referred to things that have nothing to do with our work. Focusing my research on companies describing themselves as "publication-service providers," I visited several websites and found that—logically—they devote most of their site to the ways they provide fast, reliable, accurate, and cost-effective service using the most up-to-date equipment. By comparison, however, they display very little in the way of product. In some cases, it was difficult to find any samples of their work. Once I found it, the work was solidly produced and completely generic. Most of these examples were organized by discipline or genre, but from a design standpoint such differentiation seems superfluous.
By design, Vern Associates has always been—and will remain—a small company. We are known for the quality of both our service and our product. Within the broad range of our clients, requirements and tastes vary widely. We put every effort into surpassing their expectations, creating books that reflect their uniqueness and, by extension, the consistent level of quality that is the hallmark of our business.
When meeting with potential clients, we present work that most closely relates to their needs. But we are confident that if, for example, a museum curator is not all that interested in perusing an insurance company's corporate history, she still recognizes that the book is a Vern Associates project.