Workmanship

This is a rant of sorts. I see lots of new books in my job. Some are very well made and reflect pride in the end product; most of the European publishers are in that category. Others, well, they could spend some money on proofreading, or cover design, or...you get the idea. Just this week, we had to edit the book description of a publisher before we added it to the website.

But, this book that came through today just reflects sloppiness. The book is designed to be a reference work, yet the gutters are so small that you can barely read the words close to the binding. Further, the book is perfect bound, so it will never lie flat without breaking the binding. And, the book is 10 inches by 7 inches, but the print inside leaves the bottom inch or so below the page number blank. It is almost as if they wanted to make a wide margin, but at the bottom. And the paper...it is just a step above newsprint in quality. And the print is blurry and unclear; it almost looks like a reprint of an older book, but it is a 2009 book. And this is a reference book! Yikes! No, I won't tell you the title of the book; I don't want to embarrass the publisher—not that they would probably be embarrassed if they are willing to produce such a shoddy book in the first place...