It has been a few weeks since I had the wonderful experience of seeing my book being printed, so I thought I’d share it on here (now that I’ve calmed down and can collect some of my thoughts into a post!)
I had been looking forward to the day for MONTHS. It felt like such a privilege to be able to see the printing process and I’m incredibly grateful to my editor and agent for organising it.
The day finally arrived and it was a perfect, sunny day. After catching the 6am coach into London, I met my editor and agent and we set off for the printers together. I didn’t really know what to expect and I was a bundle of nerves and excitement, just like going to Disney Land when I was a child!
We were welcomed into the factory by our guide for the day, who was kind enough to show us how the books were made. He was lovely and friendly and it was easy to see that he loved his job and was happy to show a clueless soon-to-be author how it all worked. I couldn’t believe how efficient and automated the whole process was (the printers are running 24 hours a day, 6 days a week!) That’s a whole lot of books 📚
Here’s the printing press in action!
After the grand tour (where I saw lots of top secret books, yet to be released 😲) I was told that THE SWITCHING HOUR was about to start printing! After a long day and a frenzy of information, it was all starting to feel very surreal.
In complete awe, I watched as they started up the printers that were going to make my real-life book.
And here it is! THE SWITCHING HOUR was born.
It’s hard to express how strange it felt, seeing my 
story getting turned into a book. It was such a mixture of joy and also loss, as I watched the books being packed up and ready to be shipped off to bookstores across the country. In a way, I was saying goodbye to Amaya, Kaleb, and Tau, who had occupied my every waking thoughts for so long.
But there was also so much happiness in that final goodbye. I was letting THE SWITCHING HOUR find it’s readers, wherever they might be. It was no longer my story, but theirs too.
Thank you to CPI Printers, my editor at Scholastic and my agent for making my dream of seeing my book being made real come true ❤️
If you fancy pre-ordering, you can by clicking the links below!
Damaris Young 