This past month, I contemplated trying to get the title of our book printed on the spine for the sake of shelving, for example, in libraries. I've seen some very nicely bound 32-page picture paperbacks with this, but what I've discovered is that this can't be necessarily easily achieved by small printers. At least, not with the level of reliability that a big book publisher can achieve. If the alignment of the spine isn't perfect, it would reflect badly on the printer and look bad on the book, so I can understand a printer's reluctance to even talk about spines unless the book is of a significant size.
After working on finding a definitive answer to the spine question, I still didn't feel quite ready to submit our work for printing. I realized that I just wanted one more set of eyes to take a look at the final copy, but a set of eyes that was qualified. As luck would have it (and it took awhile for me to realize this), my friend, Allyson, with whom I had been part of a Christmas vocal quartet many years ago, had studied English Literature at university, and she had also written and edited a local food magazine (FoodMode Magazine)! She was more than happy to take a look at the book, and I'm grateful for her feedback. Of course, this is where my current disklike of commas comes in. You can never take for granted that you are properly placing commas even if you are fairly confident that your grasp of English writing is at a sufficient level.
Now, the work is back in Darren's capable hands for some minor edits, and then we'll be ready to print!
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