A little perspective on book production

Oregon at Work, a forthcoming release from Ooligan Press, is due to the printer tomorrow. As the designer, I've been scrambling to tie up the loose ends and get the interior and cover ready to meet the launch date.

I got the index back from the indexer, but it was too long for the pages I'd allotted. I had trouble finding the final, final back cover copy. I can't get the spine size from the printer. We still don't have the Library of Congress catalog information for the copyright page. 

I'm not sure if you're feeling my pain yet, but I'm trying.  There are many details to iron out even for the most straight-forward (not to be confused with foreword!) print production.

I took a break to write a blog and happened upon this video. I'm going to stop complaining now. All it takes is a little perspective.

This is a great video series on the Barnes and Noble website called Cover Story. It features interviews with various artists in the book trade. While I watched this video, my worries over Oregon at Work felt very small indeed. Can you imagine the mind-boggling production issues these fellas face?

I couldn't help but laugh when Robert Sabuda says, "When I was a boy, I had lots of pop-up books . . . So I taught myself how to make pop-ups." Oh really? It sounds so simple.

I hope you all enjoy the video.