There’s a printing revolution happening in Bedfordshire which is finally getting the recognition it deserves.
Every day, in an unassuming building just off the M1, thousands of paperback books are printed. When I first visited Amazon’s print-on-demand facility, I thought it was fascinating to watch books, from bestsellers to debut novels, come off the production line. As each is printed individually when they are completed it’s like looking at a shelf of library books – full of different genres, sizes and colours.
Print-on-demand is changing the way books are published. Instead of printing thousands of copies of a title in advance and then storing them in warehouses, books can be printed only when someone orders them. It reduces waste and storage costs as every book that is printed already has a waiting reader. Plus it is democratising publishing giving more writers the chance to see their work in print.
But despite the scale of the operation I witnessed, few people I spoke to knew this was happening – and even fewer knew that Dunstable was at the heart of the operation.
Inside each book, it just proclaimed “Printed in Great Britain”.
That struck me as a missed opportunity. Instead I thought everyone ought to know about Dunstable’s role in book publishing.
Amazon told me they were proud to be a part of the town so I said – why not put that in print?
But how could I persuade them? I hit upon the idea to pen my own tale and get it printed on demand. “The Book who Searched” is about a little book with an identity crisis.
He’s been made and sent out into the world, but with no clues on his pages, he has no idea where he comes from. So he searches right across the country. Then, luckily, the local MP gets involved, and finally he discovers he was in fact “Made in Dunstable!”
We know all good stories have a happy ending and I challenged Amazon to make my story come true. I’m delighted they have!
Now, thanks to this small but significant change, every paperback that rolls off the printers proudly states its origin. Millions of books will carry the words “Printed in Dunstable”.
When the Mayor and I visited last week, we watched as hundreds of books, all mentioning Dunstable, churned through the production line. It’s a real boost for civic pride. It gives visibility to the people and place working behind the scenes to bring books into the world. And it puts the town on the publishing map in a way it never has been before.
So as you pick up a summer read, do have a flick through and check out where it was made – you never know – maybe it was printed in Dunstable.
Why I Fought to Put Dunstable on the Publishing Map
