Sublimation Expert David Gross Releases Sublimation Book

David Gross, president of Condé Systems, releases a book titled “The Road to Sublimation Success: Harnessing the Power of Sublimation for Outstanding Profits.”

Gross worked with long-time industry friend Stephen Spence to write the book. Spence has been teaching, writing, and in the industry since 1997. 

The 290-page resource serves as a guide for sublimation newbies and those already in the business.

“My No. 1 reason for wanting to get this out was that I believe in our industry. I believe that it’s amazing, that you can make lots of money and you can be successful in it because of how easy it is to do, but also how valuable the product you produce can be,” Gross tells GRAPHICS PRO. “And so, for people that aren’t familiar with our industry, I wanted to do my best to introduce them. To the people in the industry, I wrote the book to help them do better but also wrote it so that I could push them out of their comfort zone. We all get in our comfort zone, and we may only do one or two products. I wrote the book to help people open their eyes to the larger world of sublimation.”

When it came to the topics to include, Gross says it all came from the matter of approaching sublimation, from both a product and business point of view, and how a “normal person can do sublimation.”

Gross and Spence split the project, each taking on the subjects they wanted to write to address many of the issues sublimators face when starting in the business.

According to Gross, many decorators end up “throwing in the towel” because of the challenges of the business.

“And you talk to these people that gave up, and they would tend to say, ‘Well, I guess I’m just not smart enough to do sublimation.’ Or they would say, ‘I guess sublimation’s just not ready for prime time yet.’ Or if they had an ego and they’d go, ‘Well, you know, I got more important things to do.’ But the bottom line is that I wrote the book as a guide to helping people be successful and make money with sublimation.”

He says people often enter sublimation without a plan.

“They’ll piecemeal a solution where nobody is really in charge, nobody is responsible, and it’s really up to a person buying in to sort of make it work,” he explains, “And so, to me, that’s just not a great approach. And so it (the book) really does fit under the title extremely well, that it is the Road to Sublimation Success.”

Gross adds that he and Spence have been in talks about the book for years, knowing there was a need for it in the industry and sublimation community.

“Essentially, he (Stephen) was pushing me, motivating me, coercing me in every way to get things moving,” Gross says. “and I said, ‘OK, Steve, we’re going to do it.’”

Due to COVID-19 and the lack of in-person events, like THE NBM SHOW (now called GRAPHICS PRO EXPO), the pair could focus on finishing the book.

The authors have been leaders in the sublimation industry for nearly 30 years and know the process from beginning to end, which helped them put all the puzzle pieces together.

When it comes to a favorite section of the book, Gross tells GRAPHICS PRO, it’s the glossary.

“One of the things that people have trouble with sometimes is the jargon in any industry. So, a section that I think is pretty good, and we will continue to improve because after all, it’s all digital, is the glossary,” he explains. “Sometimes people have trouble understanding the words and terms we use. Don’t you hate it when people are talking, or you read something, and you go, ‘I don’t know what that word is. I don’t know what it means.’”

“Road to Sublimation Success” addresses those questions while helping people be successful.

“Ultimately, what I want to do is be an advocate for my industry,” says Gross.

The book is available in a printed and digital Kindle edition on Amazon. Each purchase comes with access to a website with ready-to-print artwork from the “Designs 4 U” CDs that are no longer available to the public.

The book will also be available as a Condé product in the future.