[Hitch]

I'm not sure if this has not actually happened before, or not; over 14+ years, my memory dims and all that rot.

But I finally told off someone, yesterday, in an email in which I was simply irate. A prospective client, but I couldn't take it any longer. And the ironic part is, the person at whom I was furious wasn't, in fact the client, it was her book designer.

Long story short, we'd asked this designer for the InDesign package files not less than 10x. Seriously. The last time we asked, so help me God, she comes back with this nonsense--that she's "concerned" about sending us the WIP INDD files, because--wait for it--she's afraid that we'll use the WRONG files come time for production.

That did it. After all the (utterly crappy) work I've seen from this allegedly-experienced designer, I lost it. Folks, she set a trim size for the book that isn't used at Amazon/KDP or Ingram. (6" x 9.25". That's not the right size for no-bleed or WITH bleed, either way.)

Or any other POD printer, in the USA. Wait, there's more. Her page numbers, after the front matter, start with page 1 on the LEFT (along with the first chapter) and continue on. Yup, even numbers on the right and so on. Her running headers say "Chapter 1" on the verso (left) and yup, the same on the recto (right). (Someone at least spelt "foreword" correctly, there's a gift...). Didn't even put the book title as the verso running head and then the Chapter number on the recto. NOPE.

Is the text justified? Nope, it is not. Yes, I know, some of you will like that. But on top of everything else? Sweet Moses on a Pony.

Oh, yes, the Foreword starts on the left-hand page, too. As does the Preface. Interestingly, the Roman numerals ARE on the correct sides--i (one) is a right-hand page. So, they're really on the wrong pages; it's not some other weird glitch.

The "About the Author" page, which has no heading like a Chapter, let's say--does have a running head that says, yup, "about the author."

So, after seeing all this, and keeping my mouth shut (after all, we're meant to simply do the ebooks, right and all these errors won't/shouldn't affect OUR work, and it's not my place to tell authors that their print designer is a bonehead), this woman has the nerve to say we're that incompetent?

I lost it and told them that this was intolerable. I'm sorry, but 8000 eBooks into this, they really think we've never considered this? That we don't take steps to ensure we get the final, ready-for-production file? I mean...

UNFLIPPINGBELIEVABLE.

(BTW, in case anybody cares at all, we pay over $3K/annum, for a system that is a file intake portal, in which customers sign the T&C, fill out other forms for the work, like the POD specifications, and warrant and represent that they've given us the final files [explicitly naming them], OR, upload the finals or have their print designers upload the finals. But, noooooooo, we've never thought about THAT possibility, natch.)

Yup, I lost it and I told them off. Told them clearly, through sarcasm, that I was beyond offended and that they needed to find someone else to do the work. We did work (eBook work) for this client in 2014, but 9 years doesn't get you a pass in callously and stupidly offending people.

Urgh.

(’益’)

Hitch