Paul Butzler

The 1998 Distinguished Service Award is presented to Paul Butzler. With his steady hand, common sense, and unfailing persistence, Paul has made invaluable contributions to Bookbuilders during the past fifteen years, from helping us navigate the political waters in Sacramento to balancing our checkbook.

Paul started his publishing career in 1970, managing the printing office at Michigan State University while earning his degree in advertising. He moved to the West Coast in 1976 and became production manager for World Publications in Mountain View, where he produced trade books and sports magazines, including Runners World. After a stint in textbooks at Addison-Wesley and some time as print buyer for Harrah's Hotels and Casinos (so that's why he does so well at BBW Casino Nights!), Paul landed at Osborne/McGraw-Hill in Berkeley, where he managed editorial, design, and production operations.

During the past ten years, Paul has directed the production and manufacturing of telephone books and four-color directories for Pacific Bell Directory and PacTel Publishing, worked as production supervisor at Apple Computer, and was general manager for a start-up division of the Banta Corporation in Mountain View. Paul is currently working at MiX media as project manager for the Hewlett-Packard Test and Measurement catalog and Web site.

Paul's involvement with Bookbuilders West began with his election to the Board of Directors in 1983. Paul became Treasurer of Bookbuilders for the first time in 1984, serving for three years, and he has been Treasurer again for the past three years. He has served three complete terms on the Board and was elected Vice President in 1987 and then President of Bookbuilders in 1988.

In 1983 Paul was a member of the Dwiggins Award Committee, which recommended the creation of the Bookbuilders Distinguished Service Award that has now been presented to Paul on the occasion of this year's Book Show. Paul has also lead the Crash Course committee, worked on BBW's PubForum, and served on the 1993 Book Show as a member of the committee and as a judge.

Among Paul's most notable achievements was his work from 1987 to 1990 on the Ad Hoc Sales Tax Committee, which extended BBW's reach into a new arena and pointed our organization toward clarifying an issue that had been messy for many of the publishers, designers, artists, compositors, and production-service consultants among the membership ranks of Bookbuilders. In 1987, Paul, Ken Burke, and Peter Martin recommended that Bookbuilders West hire a consultant to help revise Regulation 1540, the governing graphics-arts tax regulation in the state of California. After a first effort was rejected by the State Board of Equalization, the Committee spent 1988 and 1989 setting up meetings in Sacramento to plead the case and work directly with the State Board to establish definitions of such terms as preliminary art, dummy, and camera-ready copy.

By the end of 1989, the State Board had drafted the new Regulation 1543, Publishers, incorporating the definitions and most of the suggestions of the BBW Sales Tax Committee. In 1990, Regulation 1543 was passed by the State Board, meaning that finally California publishers had their own tax regulation instead of being governed by the same rules that govern advertising. This accomplishment at last clarified most points of tax liability and provided the basis for discussion with auditors when members have been audited.

Thanks, Paul, for your many contributions to our fiscal and legal health and for the style and humor you bring to Bookbuilders West.