As we enter the new year, I want to take the time to introduce Brian Hong, the president and founder of Legacy Book Solutions. Brian has been in the printing industry for many years and taught me nearly everything I know about print. Brian’s passion for excellent customer service and high quality work are an inspiration to anyone who works with him. I am thrilled to bring you his vision for Legacy Book Solutions in his own words.
I’m not sure when the exact moment happened for me. I don’t know if it was when I was helping a local church women’s group put together their annual church cookbook for charity, or when I met a young entrepreneur named Sam, who had an idea to put complete original works of music together in the form of kits for K-12 music teachers. But certainly one of those two events gave me the passion to help people bring their ideas to life.
The church ladies were a hoot to work with. They all had collected 250 or so recipes from friends and members of the church. They all had different ideas for how the cookbook should look. Some wanted lots of full color pictures and measuring tables and graphs. Others wanted to keep it simple, neat and clean. We went round and round for a few weeks. I brought them several design concepts and suggestions for the final layout. Once they saw what could be done with their masterpiece, and the different levels of cost involved, they chose a simple, yet elegant layout for their final cookbook. When I delivered the final product to them, just before Thanksgiving in 1997, they all were delighted. Some even cried seeing their work finally put into something they could share with the world.
The other event that definitely shaped my passion for making books was when a young man, about twenty four years old, came into my office in Minnesota. He wanted to put his musical training to work in way that hadn’t been done before. He had this idea that he could write, compose and even create original musical plays that children in grades K-12 could perform all across the world. He already had three plays right off the bat. Sam and I worked together to create the right layout for the kits, the right sizes for the Teacher’s Guides and Student Musical Scores. We worked to develop artwork that would complete the look and feel he wanted each play to convey. We put this all together into three original class play kits that took the industry by storm. Today he has over 9 class play kits in circulation, and he has developed a business model that allows him to continually grow and update his works. I was so proud that Sam and I were able to accomplish something in a relatively short time that still has such a long reaching effect.
Those events led me to seek out writers and authors of all different genres that wanted to bring life to their ideas by creating books, manuals, magazines and other forms of the written word. There is nothing like seeing the joy in someone’s eyes when they hold their completed work in their hands for the first time. The emotions and sense of accomplishment are so overwhelming, you can’t help but be proud to be a part of the process that helped make it happen.
I have since worked with countless people on books, memoires, manuals, newsletters and yes, even a blog or two. With the way the world is changing ever so quickly, it’s great to be able to help each author in a very personalized way.
I know that the process of bringing a book to market, or even getting it printed, is a struggle. I also know that there are a lot of companies out there that say they can help get a book published. But most are only fronts for printing companies that want to print a book for pay, then dump off the final product with their customers.
That’s not publishing. It not helpful to the author to be left with a bunch of books to try to sell. In my opinion, they are just taking advantage of authors and writers that are eager to get published, but naïve about the entire process of true publishing. I always tell my customers what’s involved in the process, from start to finish, and what costs are associated with the process as well, so they’re not surprised at any level. I also work with them so they understand the timelines and expectations of the process. That way when they hold that final book in their hands, they get that same feeling the Church Ladies and Sam had when I delivered their final books to them.
If you’re looking to start writing a book or novel, or any work you’d like to have published, please give me a call or email at Brian@legacysn.com so we can discuss the process. Even if you chose another publisher or printing company, I’d love the opportunity to discuss your idea and how we might be able to contribute to it and make it happen for you.
H. Brian Hong
President, Legacy Book Solutions
