Potter printing process began in Western NY
by JESSICA L. FINCH Associate Editor

Chakra Communications, Inc. employees, Doug Rose, left, and Douglas H. Kern of Amherst, were one of only a few employees who worked on the publication of the "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," book. The secret project was the beginning of 12 million copies printed.

Thousands waited in lines on July 21 for the release of "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows," not knowing the book had been in downtown Buffalo months before.

Chakra Communications, Inc. was recently given permission to talk about its involvement with the publishing of J.K. Rowling's seventh novel about the boy wizard.

Amherst resident Douglas H. Kern, supervisor in customer service for Chakra, was one of only a few employees involved in the secret project.

"The manuscript went from J.K. Rowling to Scholastic to us," Kern said.

Scholastic, based in New York City, was the publisher of the book.

The downtown Buffalo communications company prepared the printer-ready files for the cover, inside illustrations and print pages. The original artwork by Mary GrandPré was delivered to Chakra, who scanned it digitally for printing.

"We were able to confine our productions to a secured area. Most of what we did was done digitally," said Tim Lafferty, vice president of sales and marketing. "But Chakra's security measures were only a fraction of what the publisher had to implement with other vendors."

Chakra received the manuscript in March, and once they had the files ready, the road trip to the six printing companies began. Shipping was not allowed to protect the secrecy of the book.

Leaving the files and hardcopy unattended was not permitted, so Kern had to travel with another Chakra employee to ensure it was always guarded.

"We couldn't even go into a restaurant; it had to be drive-through," he said.

They hand-delivered copies to printing companies in Pennsylvania, West Virginia, Virginia, Kentucky and Indiana. The sixth printer near Boston was delivered by another employee.

All production materials connected with the book were destroyed immediately after being examined for accuracy.

"It was interesting to be part of printing history,"

Kern said. "It was the largest printing project; 12 million

copies of a single book."

This was the first Harry Potter book Chakra worked on. Douglas Rose, account executive, had developed a relationship with Scholastic and was responsible for creating the agreement.

"When the book came through it was a normal fashion of work, besides the secrecy," Kern said. "As the release became more prevalent, it became more exciting to know we had a hand in this."

He said he and his family are fans of the book series, and his mother-in-law finished the novel within 24 hours. His children are students in the Amherst Central School District.

Chakra has donated 100 copies of the seventh, and reportedly final, edition of the Harry Potter books to the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.