book news

I just got word that my third copy of Water from a Skull is being sent my way. I have yet to receive the first and second copies, but they should be arriving any day now. The third copy probably won't reach me until next week, when I'm back to teaching again (it's been a bizarrely long break).

I ordered the first copy when I thought I had everything just right with the PDF and cover design. Then I saw that the cover design needed tweaking, so I altered the cover dimensions very slightly and ordered a second copy. Then I discovered and corrected a few more egregious mistakes inside the manuscript, figured out what I hope is the method for Mac-users to generate their own PDFs (i.e., without CafePress's help, which is what I had required earlier on), and ordered myself a third copy. That's over sixty dollars I've spent for you folks, so you'd better be freakin' happy.

When the books arrive, I'll be checking the first two copies to see (1) how the cover art turned out, (2) whether the binding seems solid (it should be all right, judging by the random novel I had ordered long ago), and (3) whether the manuscript text has printed cleanly and evenly onto the pages.

The third book, though, is what's got me tense. I'll be checking the same points mentioned above (1-3) when the third book arrives, but with this copy, I'm primarily interested in (4) whether the manuscript looks fine on the page. Having created and uploaded the PDF for this version myself, I'm afraid this third copy might turn out to be a freak baby, with the text having been mangled on every page. I've got my testicles crossed in the hopes that all will be well. More news on this as it happens, so stay tuned.


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