It seems I spoke too soon yesterday regarding the proof copy. We ran into some nightmare problems. The binding was too small in diameter, which made it hard to turn the pages, and after multiple handlings, the book looked like a complete mess. The images were pixelated because of a problem with the conversion from Pagemaker to Adobe pdf, but it's something they should have caught. I was up until 1 a.m. last night fixing the files, recoverting them, and then recompiling them into a Master file. I burned it onto a CD and brought it back to the printer this morning.

Jesus H. Christ on melba toast, why is it so fucking difficult dealing with printers? Huh? Why?

I called and left a message last night telling them to stop the presses (first time I've ever uttered that phrase), and also sent an email as well. This morning, I called after dropping Janet off at work, and the guy said that 75% of the copies had already been done. I got over there around 9:30 and strongly expressed my displeasure (it took everything I had not to jump over the counter and start throttling the guy), and after some back and forth, he agreed to eat the copies already done (not literally) and start the new ones off the recompiled pdf I provided. He did a test print just to make sure the graphics came out, and, thank whatever deity you believe in, they did.

The biggest hurdle though was the binding. Like I said, the previous kind was too small, and he agreed. But, he said that he'd have to order them again, and that this might push the completion date until next week. After I pointed out to him how unacceptable this was, he said he'd start contacting local bindery companies, as well as seeing how much it would cost to overnight the correct size from the company he'd previously used (with the cost to be assumed by him, not us). He said give him a couple hours.

So I went to the coffeeshop around the corner, drank a chai, tried to calm myself down, and read the USA Today lying on the table. Janet called at one point with the number of a local bindery that either the printer might use, or that we might have to go to ourselves. The bindery said they'd be able to do what we wanted, though we'd have to get the completed copies to them by 7:30 a.m. tomorrow.

I walked back over to the printers and asked about the situation. He told me that they'd made a deal with a local bindery, and that all the books would be completed -- copied, collated, bound, and delivered -- by Friday afternoon. I mentioned the other bindery I'd called, but he said the copies wouldn't even be done until tomorrow afternoon, so that option was out.

So it's back in their hands now, and I have been reassured multiple times that the books will be finished, as promised, on time. What gets me is that I've had to go through this crap at all. It should be their job implicitly to look through the proof and compare it against the printed out prototype that I provided to see if there are any major differences. They should, as a matter of usual practice, contact me if something looks hinky, or the binding doesn't quite fit. But most of all, they should have a better work ethic than this.

If we sell out of this first printing and have to go back to press, I'm seriously going to hunt around for a better printer. I'm not going to take this kind of shit again. This has been extremely upsetting for me and for Janet, who was so distraught last night that she barely got any sleep, and spent the night on the sofa in tears. Nobody makes my wife cry.

So now, I wait. I have to hope and pray for the best, that everything else goes as planned, that there aren't any more screwups, that they'll deliver the copies to my door on Friday afternoon.

I'll be crossing all my fingers and toes. If you have the time, please do the same.

Now Reading:
The Whirligig no. 9

Stories Out to Publishers:
7

Books Read This Year:
65

Zines/Graphic Novels/Fiction Mags Read This Year:
32