Hit or Miss
We used them on several book projects with mixed results. In 2007, I was on vacation in Grand Teton and called in to check on a book in progress. I was told by one of the employees that they were going bankrupt. I'd already paid 50% down on a new title, in addition to the one at press. I found myself on the side of the road beneath Grand Teton, trying to convince Becky Pate to finish the book at press (she did) and then spoke to the billing office about getting a refund on the new title; they would not refund the payment, citing bankruptcy protection. Luckily, for some reason they had accepted American Express on the new printing instead of the usual check, so I called American Express and told them about the bankruptcy and that they wouldn't refund the down payment ($2500) on the new printing. The customer rep at American Express said, "Oh yeah. We'll see about that." American Express got the money back on the new book, and those books at press were also delivered, but other small publishers were not so lucky.
They had one of the worst binderies in North America. On at least two projects, they printed a beautiful book, then destroyed more than half of the printing with a dull blade in trimming, which ripped the prefect bindings along the entire outer edge. When I discovered it on one job, (the defective books were hidden within the 5000 book printing) and called to ask if they would pay another printer here locally to re-trim the binds, they refused even though it was their print job and lousy trim. We still are sitting on some of their books and in fact, I just got an email from a client who said four books are missing pages.
As to Sun Graphics, the printer that rose from Central Plains' ashes, the bindery problems continued with them and were never addressed. The last straw was the delivery of a new title. The trucking company they used to deliver the books, apparently dropped them off the truck, then tried to mask the accident by re-crating and burying the damaged books behind undamaged boxes. Sun blamed us for accepting the delivery. We have found new printers who stand behind their products, 100%. Sun Graphics and the old Central Plains did not stand behind their products. Their lack of quality control, made us look bad.
A word to small publishers...you get what you pay for. I do not recommend them and I have been a publisher for 25 years. read more
