Monday, November 30, 2009

Third Time Was Not a Charm!

Last Wednesday I placed a call to the new printer to check on my book's status. After all, I had been told 7-10 days start to finish, and it was the 8th day and I hadn't seen a proof yet. My salesman was out to lunch (at 2:00 in the afternoon), so I left a message. Since that was the day before Thanksgiving, I really wasn't surprised when my call wasn't returned. At 11:00 today I called him again. He said that a proof was ready to be picked up, and seemed surprised that I did not know this. His notes indicated that I had been called and informed about the proof.

When I arrived there after lunch, the first thing I noticed was that his proof was much thinner than any of the three books I had taken along for comparison. Definitely not a good sign... We went back to his office, flipped to the back of the book and I saw that the second half of the article that ends the book was missing. A more in depth look revealed that all of the odd pages had not been printed. That certainly explains the thickness, or lack thereof, of the proof. He opened up the pdf file I had sent him and saw that all the pages were intact. However, they had been sent in a two page spread and not as individual sheets. Now, I have never worked for a printer, but wouldn't it seem logical that someone would have called as soon as the file arrived to tell me that it was incorrectly formatted? Why would you go ahead and print it that way?

He admitted that he had not personally looked at the file. He was trying to decide if there was a way to make it work, and I told him I would just have my designer contact him directly to see exactly what was needed so she could send him a new file. He said if he gets it this afternoon, then he will courier a proof to me today. I reminded him that I have two book signings this weekend, and he said there will be no problem getting the books to me on time. Why do I have this sickening feeling of deja vu?

1 comment:

Mrs. Wryly said...

Oh, that is grim..... Didn't even look at the file. Not unusual for a salesman, but not a good omen. Not at all.....

Uhhgggg.....