“During my years as a Production Manager I’ve had the pleasure of working on a great many exquisite books with publishers and designers.
There is nothing quite like placing a finished copy of a new book into a publisher’s hands knowing you pushed the boundaries of production and exceeded quality expectations!”
Karen Small has more than 20 years' experience in the publishing and printing industries, most recently holding the position of Production Manager at Murdoch Books. During this time, Karen has grown and developed very strong relationships with a vast network of suppliers in Asia, Europe and Australia, as well as becoming an expert in manufacturing illustrated books.
Karen spent six years at Japanese printer, Toppan
Printing (now Toppan-Leefung). She honed her technical skills and knowledge of operations through time on the factory floor and via work on cost estimation, paper sourcing and print scheduling.
For several years, Karen worked for Penguin Books UK managing children’s titles under the Puffin Books imprint.
She went on to establish the Sydney office of a UK book packager – Elwin Street Productions.
Her experience on both sides of the fence means you deal with someone who not only understands your product, deadline and budget, but who you can trust to get the very best results from both the printer and your books.
Behind the name...
‘I was troubleshooting a problem many years ago and I achieved a great result for the customer. A colleague was impressed and said "you may be small but that was a mighty effort".
It stuck in my mind over the years and it seemed like the best descriptor of what I'm about, as well as being a play on my surname.'