About Us
Yes, we wrote all of those books
Ritchie Unlimited Publications was created from a growing dissatisfaction with so-called professional publishing companies. The final blow was a company that neglected to register the copyright with the Library of Congress on one of our books. Their contract said they would. We could do better than that ourselves. Our original publications were monographs under the Studios West logo, which was part of Ritchie Unlimited.
At that point we used a local print shop to print and bind our books. Originally, they were typeset on an IBM Selectric typewriter, composed with scissors and paste.
We decided we could do better and we acquired an offset press, an early electrostatic plate maker , and a large paper cutter. Ralph had worked in print shops as a youth and knew the processes. All drawings were done by hand; later the drawing became a computer process. Title pages and cover typesetting, before computer graphics, was done with wax transfer type fonts, putting each letter in place, one at a time. Or, you sent them to a typesetter and got back a finished page proof.
Then came the personal computer. The early ones came as kits and Ralph built their first computer. It was so limited with a 4K memory and the need to translate into machine language that its primary use was to learn from it what was needed for a productive machine.
Radio Shack made the breakthrough with the TRS-80. Its two floppy drives allowed a program disk in one and a data disk in the other drive. The 16K memory provided minimum word processing. We graduated from the Radio Shack word processor to Electric Pencil and added a very expensive, 8- pin, dot-matrix printer with no lower case capability. Later, we changed to Wordstar and finally went to WordPerfect 3.1. WordPerfect had the flexibility required to typeset a book. Book composition and assembly was still being done with scissors and paste. The real advantage to computerized self-publishing was the decrease in time from written manuscript to publishing from one or even two years to as little as 90 days. We average writing and publishing two new books a year, with five books being the record year.
An electrostatic copier gave us more flexibility and a much more salable product. Our main book size limitation was the punch limits of the stapler. We finally upgraded to plastic comb binding. Our next copier was a commercial model with auto document feed and a collator. The upgraded copier gave us limited color through additional color cartridges, finally graduating to a commercial grade, color laser printer. We have found that an independent maintenance company gives better service at lower cost that does the manufacturer's maintenance technicians. There was a time when I would not buy a machine that I couldn't maintain myself.
We upgraded the Radio Shack computer to a Kaypro model with a 1 MB hard drive and a CPM operating system. Programs were free with the CPM language: Your entry was submission of your own program to the CPM Library.
With the Kaypro, we also gained a flexible font capability. Next, the IBM PS-1, with early Windows operating system, gave us serious computing power and we added a laser printer with multiple font capability built in. Publishing was becoming a serious part of our livelihood and we established a publishing house under the umbrella logo, Ritchie Unlimited. It also covered our agricultural enterprises, the Art Studio, Consulting, and the machine shop at various times. The art foundry was part of the Art Studio.
As well as the Library of Congress registration, we are well represented in Books In Print and the Amazon.com book catalog, which also serves as a master catalog reference in many places. We applied for an ISBN number when that program was established and finally added bar coding as more companies required it.
We have gone through dot matrix, IBM Selectric, ink-jet, and laser printers and we are into our third generation of laser color printers. Our books, some of which have over a thousand color photographs, has required increased photographic color capabilities and scanners for flat copy, negatives, and prints. Ink jet printers, while flexible, cost more per copy and did not offer sufficient permanency for use with books.
Along with many small presses, we switched to Just In Time production so we do not require a large inventory storage area. We dropped the commercial book distributors; they tend to engage in practices not tolerant of small publishers, such as six months payment delays, etc.
Always behind, we have increased the computing power and capability as the business could afford it. We have added the Corel Graphics Suite, several Adobe programs, and various other programs to increase the product quality. We do not go through computers and software upgrades like Kleenex, but often enough to make learning yet another machine or software a great time waster.
We add products as a new book is finished or an older one is upgraded to a new edition, but we do not strive to grow larger at this point in life. Just as we have proclaimed with our books, we have been there, done that with publishing, too.