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Dexter's Thomson-Shore rides high on bestselling Mark Twain autobiography

Wednesday, December 15, 2010

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The book publishing industry is far from dead, and printers like Thomson-Shore are leading the revival. The Dexter-based company is turning a short-run of Mark Twain's autobiography into a multi-million contract, among other business.

Excerpt:

The runaway success of Autobiography of Mark Twain, Vol. 1 was something of a surprise.

Dexter-based printer Thomson-Shore Inc.'s first bid on a job to produce the autobiography of the long-dead American literary icon was for 1,500 volumes. Then the University of California Press, publisher of the book, upped the number to 4,500 ... then to 7,500.

Now, Thomson-Shore has printed more than 250,000 Mark Twain books, said President Kevin Spall, and likely will produce about 500,000 before the multimillion-dollar contract runs its course.

A few weeks before Christmas, the book is on back-order at online and bricks-and-mortar stores alike. It's No. 3 on both The New York Times Bestsellers List and at online bookseller www.Amazon.com.

And the folks at Thomson-Shore are working overtime.

Read the rest of the story here.