Today's job was to sign off the proofs for the new Volume 4 of the Gwulo books. The proofs were delivered yesterday, but we found a couple of pages that could be improved. After some quick edits and a new set of proofs, all was well.
Seeing the proofs is always an exciting moment. Until now all the work has been done on the computer screen, first in MS Word as I write the text and make a draft layout, then in Adobe Acrobat as I review the PDFs that the designer, Lilly, creates. That works well for getting the layout right, but the printed photos always look different from the onscreen versions, so we need to see the proofs to get a close idea of how the finished book will look. There were a few adjustments needed, but only five pages were affected so they were soon sorted.
Signing the proofs is the signal for the printer to begin work, preparing the printing plates and cutting the paper to size. There's one last check when I see the blueprint on Monday, then after signing off on that the project is out of my hands until the boxes of books are delivered.