We’re offering readers a behind the scenes glimpse into the bookmaking process—the people behind the books and the products we create! Through our “Behind the Book” blog series, discover who plays a role in creating a book, what daily life looks like at Norton, and what being part of an independent and employee-owned company means. 

Stephen Sajdak joined W. W. Norton in 2016 as custom production supervisor, helping launch the Norton Custom Library and manage the production of college custom textbooks. After that, he managed the production of front list college titles and Norton Critical Editions in his roles as production manager and senior production manager. In 2023, he was promoted to associate director of College Production, where he helps implement new initiatives in the College Production Department while managing high profile college textbooks. 

What is your current role, and what part do you play in the book publishing process? 

My current role is associate director of College Production, where I work with Ben Reynolds and under Jane Searle to help to manage the day-to-day of the College Production team. I also manage a diverse list of about 10–12 college textbooks, while keeping an eye on future projects with various book teams to make sure they come in on time and on budget.  

For your current role, what does an average day look like?  

My average day consists of checking in with members of various book teams to make sure that materials are flowing to the compositors and/or printer in a timely fashion, while keeping those outside vendors abreast of any scheduling or specification changes that pop up in the long process of taking a book from manuscript to press, ensuring that we have the proper materials and time allotted to produce a gorgeous textbook worthy of W. W. Norton.  

Working on books comes in multiple stages. During the first stage of estimating and scheduling, I’m submitting numbers and information to the business team to help them figure out what format the book will be, quantities, and the like. I’m also working with the design and editorial teams to create a workable schedule that we can all adhere to. During the actual production process, I’m chairing team meetings to make sure that the manuscript flows according to that schedule and working with editorial, permissions, and design to make sure our compositor (team that sets type) has the materials they need in a timely fashion. From there it’s routing proofs back and forth until we have a final pass we’re all happy with. All the while I’m in touch with the printer, making sure our materials (paper being chief among them) are ready for when we start printing. 

In terms of format, I work on workbooks, textbooks, and high school materials. Of course all books are not made equally, and each one presents its own unique challenges. For instance, I’ve just wrapped up Intermediate Microeconomics, Tenth Edition, which needed to be set in LaTex—a math equation–friendly layout system that works very differently than InDesign (which is how we make most of our books).  

What skills do you need to succeed in your job? Did any previous work or life experience help you in your role?  

I like to think of the production process as a service job. I want to make sure the various stakeholders in the project I’m working on (editors, designers, sales force) have their voices heard and their goals met by creating a textbook that comes in on time, on budget, as well as looking fantastic. There’s a lot of problem-solving needed if materials miss deadlines, or my manufacturers need more time or don’t have the agreed upon materials due to an ever-changing global supply chain. I think growing up in a large family and, honestly, doing improv comedy prepared me for this fast-paced role that requires listening carefully and reacting quickly.  

What have been some of your favorite projects?  

I’ll always have a soft spot for the Norton Critical Editions. I stayed with that group longer than anywhere else in my career at Norton and, as a voracious reader, I found it very cool to help put out classic novels, plays, and the like on a regular basis. Also, I’m just finishing up quite possibly my most complicated project at W. W. Norton, The Human Story, First Edition, an anthropology textbook. It was fantastic to be part of a book team on the ground floor, collaborating on brand-new material. 

What advice would you give someone just starting out in publishing?  

You have to love it to do it. I’m sure you could do this job effectively enough if you weren’t particularly jazzed about creating books, but in my experience it’s so helpful to be passionate. You need to love that your job is to help get a book (or an ebook) into the hands of a student or a customer and that that book could potentially mean a lot to that person in the course of their life. It’s a romantic idea, sure, but as a reader and someone who loves books, I feel responsible to that potential customer to get them a book that will, let’s hope, wow them. Without that motivation, this job might be just another 9-to-5 and you can likely find an easier one than this. 

What does Norton being independent and employee-owned mean to you and your work? 

It’s nice to know that you’re working for good people, and the people here are good people. There’s no large, ominous conglomerate in the shadows. Every day you go to work for the people you work with. It’s a refreshing feeling.  

Lastly, what do you like to do outside of work? Any fun hobbies or recent reads you would recommend? 

I cohost a weekly podcast, We Hate Movies, wherein three buddies and I goof on movies for about 90 minutes or so. I’ve done some variety of performative comedy for most of my adult life, so it’s great to have that outlet on a weekly basis and even better that some people actually listen to it!

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