Tuesday 30 October 2012

A spooky Halloween offering...


This is my latest non-fiction title -- just in time for Halloween.  I decided to do it less than a month ago -- so I have really had my skates on with this one.  I didn't have to write it, since this is a revised and redesigned version of "Pembrokeshire Ghost Stories", published in 1996, reprinted once and long since out of print.  But because the original book was done on my first computer, the LC475, the text was unrecoverable, so I had to scan every one of the 96 pp, then put them through an OCR programme, and finally redesign the text and edit it in Pages, adding new photos as I went along.  Foolishly, I added about a dozen images imported from the web -- not realising at the time that most were at 72 dpi and quite unsuitable for top-quality reproduction.  The printers (Cambrian Printers in Aberystwyth) alerted me to this at proof stage -- so at the last minute I needed to find substitutes from my own photo collection, scan some of them from ols glossy prints, redesign the problem pages and send fresh PDFs to the printers.  So I have been on a steep learning curve here -- but the printers have been great.  They have produced the book within a week of receiving the original PDFS of text and covers -- including setting up, proofing, printing and binding.  I am impressed!!

Now then -- delivery today, and out to the shops tomorrow........  I just hope my faithful readers will like it!