An Error on the Cover–Oh No, Really?
The uploading process usually goes pretty smoothly and I have learned to appreciate managing the hoops and hurdles to jump through (and over) in preparing a new book for publication. So it was a bit of a surprise to get a note from the printers advising me of a cover design error, especially as I had already had a prototype printed anyway, and my inspection copy looked pretty good.
“I’ll check it out anyway,” I told myself quietly as I opened the graphics program. I reviewed the check-marks and, sure enough, the main title was just a fraction too close to the edge of the page.
How thankful I am for quality checks, especially printing pre-flight checks. They may take us out of our comfort zone and seem to be a nuisance, but they make us review something that could otherwise be catastrophic. In this case the word “Hope” in the title string “Fading Lines, Unfading Hope” was just too near the edge of the page for safety.
In ten minutes I had the problem fixed, another file uploaded, and the show was back on the road.
Giving a Gift to My Bank. . .
And I am thankful to say that the book is now well and truly in print; I ordered some from the printer just to be sure. And already I have found homes for several copies. They make excellent gifts. A year ago, I shared the book “The Twelve Days of Christmas” with staff in my local bank. A couple of weeks ago, one of the tellers there said, “Mr. Holmes, are you going to be giving away more books again this year?”
“Of course,” I responded. “This time it will be a different cluster of books, all in the same series, all by the same author. And this time, you will get to choose which book you would like. There are four different titles, and there are nine of you, so you can fight over who takes which.” There was laughter.
But more than laughter, there was appreciation when I walked in this afternoon with a card to express my family’s thanks and best wishes to the nine staff-members there and with a handful of attractively produced books. I spent a few minutes with the manager and his assistants just to say how much I appreciate their work and to wish them well over the Christmas and New Year season. There were waves of appreciation and a chorus of thankyous as I walked out of the bank… off to give another few samples to someone else interested in the series.
I’m so confident that these gospel-centered daily devotional books may be consumed by anyone–Christian or non-Christian–that I am encouraging you to make a point of trying it out for yourself. It’s the right time of the year… we’re just days away from 2018. Buy one for yourself, and one to give away. You will be so glad you did!