I will be brief and blunt. I am the publisher of a independent press. I am, perhaps more significantly, also a retired professor of history from an Ivy League university and author of a number of notable books, several of which have won prizes. My books were published by Yale University Press, Oxford University Press, the Johns Hopkins University Press, and the University of California Press. For what it's worth, I was a close friend of the legendary academic press director, Jack Goellner, and his wife, managing editor, Barbara Lamb, at the Johns Hopkins University Press.

My point is, I have had substantial experience with publishing books and, more significantly, dealing with book printers. Against this background, I wish to go on public record saying that the Union Printing Company(printedinchinaonline.com), is easily the finest book printer I have encountered in my 74 years of life.

This may sound extravagant. It's not. It may sound impertinent, though only to someone unfamiliar with the road to hell known as Book Printing. Over the past year our press had the extraordinary pleasure of working with Mr. Roger Wang, the American representative of Union Printing.

Here's the back story. We had a massive book to publish. In the past we used a pretentious printer in the mid Atlantic area (I won't name the outfit) which prints for several front-rank university presses. Initially, we arranged to have them print the book. They turned out to be a disaster in every way conceivable.

We then contacted numerous other domestic printers. They either didn't bother to respond or, if theyengaged in conversation, we realized their printing and shipping costs were away overpriced, and, the coup de grace, we were skeptical of their quality...

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We then contacted numerous other domestic printers. They either didn't bother to respond or, if theyengaged in conversation, we realized their printing and shipping costs were away overpriced, and, the coup de grace, we were skeptical of their quality. Oh yes, they had plenty of blather and self-promotion arm-waving, but, in the end, no substance. In a word: bullshit. Even belligerent bullshit.

After much heartache we came upon Mr. Wang and immediately — Praise the Lord (I am being facetious) — entered the pearly gates of Printing Paradise. This man was a phenomenon. Kind. Thoughtful. Amazing attention to detail. Never impatient, never annoyed with our frequent requests for revisions. More than happy to send advance copies with different cover and interior page iterations. Always happy to work with our designer, a celebrated Canadian book designer and stickler for accuracy and quality.

Union's cost of printing the books by offset, with smyth-sewn spine and extra heavy interior paper (to prevent transparency), and the cost for shipping — the combined cost was many thousands of dollars less than American competitors — who, I realized, were not in the least competitive.

The paperbound book that resulted is perfect in every way imaginable.

Union Printing arranged for all the shipping, including customs clearance and duty fees: we did none of this. Union uses a savvy broker for all this bureaucratic protocol and paperwork and fees. There was not a single misstep or hiccup.

The time from printing to the book's arrival at our warehouse was a matter of weeks. Consider that these 1-ton pallets — 5 of them — were on a container ship from China — sailing across the Pacific, through the Panama Canal, up the East Coast to Bayonne N.J., then loaded onto a common carrier and delivered to the howling wilderness of upstate New York — consider that there was no damage to the pallets or book cases. No gashes, smashups, or bashed-in cartons.

Consider that Roger Wang was 12 hours ahead of us. And yet he and I were able to communicate perfectly. He was always prompt, even when I realized he was responding at some god-awful time of the night in China. (I might add that his written English is flawless.)

You get the picture. Professional book printing doesn't get any better. The American printers I have dealt with, either as an author or publisher, are not in the same league with these people.

I recommend Roger and Union without reservation. None!

By the way, this letter is unsolicited. Being a modest man, I suspect Mr. Wang might be embarrassed by what I have said. I don't care; I am saying it, anyhow.

Calvin Luther Martin, PhD
Publisher, K-Selected Books

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