#they printed and bound it but she wanted to keep the pdf file as well! so we ended up here.

[relto]

tried to help my mom rescue a personal file off her work laptop, and man the lengths her employer goes to stop anyone from doing exactly that. usb devices? get blocked. send as mail attachment? file gets removed. cloud service? is either blocked in the browser or the upload mysteriously fails (not actually sure what that was about, but ive never had that problem before). ssh/scp/curl? not installed or no network connection. in the end i connected my workplaces cloud storage as network drive and well if youre just moving files between folders its fine.. right?

[princip1914]

Hello! I hope you are well.

I was wondering- If I were to get your fic The False and the Fair printed and bound, how much would be an acceptable donation to you so I can I can compensate you since it is your story?

I understand if that’s not something you’d prefer be done with one of your stories, but I just wanted to ask as it’s a story I think about nearly every day, and I’d love a physical copy to sit and read. And you definitely deserve to be paid for your work.

Hi! I think I missed this ask when it was first sent--apologies to you anon!

It's so kind that you want to print and bind my fic and I'm honored that it means so much to you.

Unfortunately the logistics of binding a fic can be a bit complicated. Many commercial websites which offer typesetting and binding services have fine print in their contracts which essentially gives them the copyright to the work (I know it is often more of a gray area than this legally, but I have friends who have been burned by this in the past). Because it's important to me to retain the copyright for the work, I would prefer that readers do not use commercial typesetting/printing/binding services for any of my fics, but this fic in particular.

Luckily, there are other ways to get a physical copy made! When I finished writing the fic, I had it printed and bound at kinkos (a copy/print chain in the US), which does not make any layout changes or keep the files. This can be done with files of the fic downloaded off of AO3. I also have several wonderful friends who made a PDF version of the fic for me with a cover and in a layout optimized for printing. Please DM me if you would like a copy of this version.

Finally, @nieded has her own binding set up at home and I know that she has bound a version of the fic. Perhaps you could get in touch with her to see if she would make an extra for you?

In terms of financial compensation--I write fanfiction for fun and have absolutely no need or desire to be paid for it. If you do have extra funds to spare, I would recommend donating the amount you would have paid for the fic to a community organization that's in keeping with the themes of the fic. Here are a few ideas to get you started:

WV Rivers (water quality focused environmental action group in West Virginia)

West Virginia Climate Alliance (collective of many environmental advocacy groups in the state, advocates for employment opportunities for current/former coal employees as well as for environmental protections)

Appalachian Queer Youth Summit (yearly free summer leadership opportunity run by the ACLU)

Community Education Group (one of the very few Appalachian specific HIV/AIDS action groups, and an organization I don't know much about but which seems to be doing good work)

Womens Health WV (used to be the only abortion provider in the state prior to total abortion ban going into effect, provides STI diagnosis, treatment, and prevention in addition to reproductive health services)

[liberationzine]

What is the theme of this Zine?

Dark, Mysterious, or powerful, this is a zine looking to make the best out of the already incredibly cool Paranormal Liberation Front. We want to see our villains at their worst and by that, we mean in the limelight of their villainy. Whether it’s the full blast of Power that Dabi creates with his quirk or the sheer political power that Re-Destro holds, all forms of villainous propaganda are welcome here. Help us in our endeavor to gain more followers to become truly Liberated.

Please note that this means we focus on their success and power. While many villains have despair inducing history that lead to where they are now, that is not the focus of this zine.

Zine Specs

Physical Zine with Physical Merch For profit, with funds going to production first. → If you are under the legal age for your country, you agree that you have your parents permission or are choosing to opt out of monetary compensation. Final dimensions and specs to come.

Who is running this project?

Mod Lucy: 

In charge of Graphics, Social Media, Zine Layout https://twitter.com/cmykae || https://instagram.com/cmykae

Some Previous Zine Experience

BNHA Katsukitchen Graphics, Layout, Communications

BNHA Versed in Quirky Poetry Graphics

BNHA All You Can Eat Graphics & Layout

BNHA Girl Power! Graphics & Layout

BNHA Kiribaku Holiday Graphics & Layout

MYSME Undercover Graphics

MYSME Divinate Marketing Graphics, Layout Assistant

MYSME 707hearts606 Graphics

Participated in events and zines as an illustrator

Real Life Experience

Collaborated with classmates to produce student run events: created websites to advertise events with html/css collected student designs for said events to be printed and displayed

Freelance Illustrator & Graphic Designer created illustrations for postcards and pin buttons

Proficiency in HTML/CSS, Adobe Photoshop, Adobe Indesign

Designed, printed, and assembled — single handedly —  books during her BFA : Perfect Bound, Saddle Stitch, Hand Stitched, Coil Bound, Accordion, French fold

Mod ALWINS: 21, Any Pronouns

In charge of Art Direction, Communications https://twitter.com/TTAlwins || https://www.instagram.com/ttalwins/

Experience:

Urban Legend: A DRRR!!! Fanzine: Communication, Organization*, Art Direction Finances/Marketing, Layout/Graphics. *set up the discord server, schedule, email/File templates, wrote FAQ, etc.

Check Please! A Fairy Tail Career Zine: Communications, Organization,  Art Direction, Finances, Production, Shipping, Setup, Layout.

Real life experience as a stage manager and general theatre technician at an events center strong organizational and communication skills

Freelance illustrator/Graphic designer for logo’s and full illustrations Multiple Youtube clients for full illustrations, Series logo’s, thumbnails. Has done logo’s for 3 businesses.

Commissions: Tattoo design, Book cover illustration, Character art, Traditional painting

Proficient in InDesign, Photoshop, Adobe Illustrator.

Has participated in 15+ zines knows how they work and what needs to be done and at what pace. Seen multiple strategies to make a successful project

Managed and helped develop arts conservatory program in highschool

Worked as an Arts Gallery Coordinator for my high school

Mod HapSky: 22, Any Pronouns

In charge of Production and Shipping https://twitter.com/HapSkyScribbles

Previous Zine Experience

DRRR Urban Legend: Finances, Production, Shipping, Layout Assistant

BNHA Versed in Quirky Poetry: Layout/Format

BNHA Sunshine and Moonlight: Communication, Shipping

BNHA Bubble Tea: Layout/Format

Participated in 10+ zines and events as writer

Responsible for layout/format and production of my uni’s short story anthology series:

Experienced with creating a book’s layout for printing purposes

Experience with the printers/manufacturers, as well as budgeting

Worked with 3 companies on magazines, ebooks and websites

Freelance Author: created and formatted screenplays, picture books, gamebooks, cookbooks, short story collections, poem collections

Proficient in InDesign, Photoshop

Mod Muse 21, She/Her/Hers 

In charge of Writing and Beta https://twitter.com/museflight

Previous Zine Experience

Wonder Duo Rising: Beta Mod

One in a Million: General/Head Mod

Other Fandom Experience

Modded two ‘~ month’ events

Modded gift swap

Beta for 10+ fics

Real Life Experience

Writing for eleven years

English tutoring experience

English major

Mod Vash : 20

In charge of Finances and Store https://twitter.com/bitchWithAsthma

Experience:

Currently an intern webmaster at nonprofit organization, tasked with maintaining current website and evaluating new software

Box Office Manager for 3 years: performed transactions, maintained accounts of ticket sales, handled exchanges and returns, balanced cash box and prepared nightly front of house report

Summer Camp Coordinator: managed all finances and logistics at a month long student day camp, including tracking spending, reimbursing purchases, budgeting funds and handling complaints and concerns

Financial officer for various clubs, collected member dues, kept club accounts, sold t-shirts and coordinated fundraisers

Where will the funds go?

This is a for profit zine, with the funds going to manufacturing first. Ideally, we will be able to send all contributors a full bundle, but this depends on the sales. All contributors will definitely receive the PDF file for the zine free of charge! Merchandise will definitely be offered at production cost to contributors as well.

What are the restrictions on this zine?

This zine is SFW This mean no obsessive gore or nudity. Small amounts of blood are okay! This zine will NOT have shipping Romantic/fluffy pieces will not be allowed! Please stay on theme. This zine will not include theories I.e. [ Redacted ] is the missing Todoroki child.

What are the restrictions on contributors?

All Contributors must have or be willing to make a Discord account.

Contributors retain the right to their work and can redistribute AFTER zine sales close. We will send out a notice when it is okay for contributors to do so.

You may apply for merch, writing,  AND illustration, but you will likely only be chosen for one. Please keep that in mind!

Portfolios with BnHA art is nice, but NOT required.

Traditional art is accepted, but it must be scanned in high quality and at least 300 DPI.

Additionally you must be able to adjust value/color/etc in Photoshop or give permission/work with a mod to do this.

Contributors will be picked on skill alone.

Although bigots, racists, homophobes etc. will be automatically crossed off our list :^]

Contributors will be assigned a base character and will need to clear the inclusion of other characters with a mod to ensure we don’t have, Toga for example,  in everyone’s piece. It’s just to keep track of the character diversity in the zine.

Characters from the entire Paranormal Liberation Front will be included in the zine

Characters will be assigned based on the quality of pitch delivered to their respective mods (Art mod, or Writing mod for Illustration/Merch, or Writing respectively).

Contributor REQs Show us your best art/style that you plan to use for the zine. We have a preference to see good art and writing rather than BnHA pieces. We are judging strictly on your skills as an artist!

Illustrators

We’re looking for an understanding of anatomy and design principles. Things like composition, color, perspective, hierarchy, rhythm. The application itself will ask for a medium portfolio 7-15 pieces. This can be a google drive folder, or a personal website etc. (just not a cluttered social media). Literal backgrounds are not required; however, we are still looking at your backgrounds and compositions. We’re looking for how a piece works altogether. That being said, pieces with backgrounds have higher potential as it allows detail, setting, and perspective. Please note, we love a contributor who can follow directions on 7-15 pieces.

Merch

We’re looking for similar things to the illustrators, but obviously designed for merch. If you want to make charms show us what you can do as a charm. If you want to make buttons, show us your button designs. Ideally 10+ designs, but more is welcome in your portfolio.

Writers

We’re looking for contributors with solid characterization, grammar, wordflow, and know how to convey a mood. We will be asking for three writing examples of 1k-3k. You may also include a portfolio if you so desire. Portfolios may be a direct link to your Archive of our Own account or hosted on google drive, caard, wix, or another similar website. Please do not give us a link to a tumblr tag. Examples do not need to be BNHA, but they cannot be NSFW. Show us fics similar to what you want to write for the zine. Please remember that for the zine itself, we want your pieces to feel like a form of power propaganda!

[ameliathompson0]

How to Write a Customer Success Story

“Will I be glad I bought this product?” “Will this service or company get me the results I have in mind?”

I suspect you go through these mental gyrations nearly every time you’re about to part with your money. And I’m going to guess it’s been a long time since you made an important buying decision without doing some due diligence tapping into references, reviews, ratings and such.

For obvious reasons, you want to know how those that came and spent before you made out. You want to feel a little uptick on the confidence meter before reaching for your credit card.

In marketing today we file customer success stories, its clinical-sounding equivalent, “case studies,” testimonials and the references, reviews, and ratings I already mentioned as forms of social proof. They’re not the only forms of social proof, but they can be all-powerful pieces of your brand’s persuasion mosaic.

We’ll focus on customer success stories here and now. Why create them? How do you write them? How do you make them an effective weapon in your digital arsenal?

What’s even better than a happy customer?

You’re probably ahead of me now. You know the answer to my question is a happy customer willing to share his or her story is the bee’s knees.

In fact, according to Demand Gen Report’s 2017 Content Preferences Survey, buyers use case studies more than any other content to inform their purchasing decisions.

Note: We’re looking at B2B here. If yours is a B2B business you only need to know customer case studies have the potential to be the most persuasive content you can create.

Customer success stories are easy to write

Most things you write are far more open-ended than customer success stories. What goes in a white paper, ebook, report, webinar or brochure? These content formats have some common staples or standards but vary immensely.

Not so much with customer success stories. Readers will have some fairly specific expectations so success stories are generally formulaic. I’ve been writing them for 20-plus years and adhering to the same rules all the while.

Here’s what you need:

1. Headline

Write it last. After your story comes together, you’re likely to easily recognize your silver bullet. Chances are you’ll want to include:

The customer’s brand name or name

Your brand name

The most compelling benefit

And possibly, a data point

Headline examples and templates

How [Company] Used [Solution] to Build an Award-Winning App in Record

[Company] Saves [Amount] a Year After Switching to [Product]

A gallery of customer success stories on the Salesforce website serves up examples of the effective headline elements mentioned above.

2. Highlights

Assume a large portion of your readers will be skimmers. Satisfy their skimming needs with:

A brief “at a glance” synopsis of your entire story (which should go near the top)

Important facts that can be used as callouts

Infographic treatments of such facts

This success story by inPowered features infographic-style data points right after the headline. Effective stuff.

3. Company profile

If you’re creating a success story about an über popular company such as Google, Nike, Amazon, etc., you may jump into your challenge/solution sections a bit faster. That said, with gigantic brands, you may choose to set the stage with details about the specific department of the company.

With most customers you should assume readers would benefit from some basic background material, which may include:

Company name

Headquarters, locations

Industry

Size (sales, employees, market leadership, etc.)

When appropriate, you could also toss in some information about the featured spokesperson such as their name, title, accolades, credits, etc.

In any case, make your profile brief. Even if your customer is Facebook or Starbucks, this is not the most exciting part of the story. The goal of the profile is to make the customer feel relevant to the reader based on something: size, market, product category, etc.

I wrote the story above for Brightcove. Its company profile is on the long side but attempts to connect with other video marketers.

4. Challenge

In one form or another, the journalistic portion of your case study begins with the challenge the customer faced. As is the case with all great stories, you need to establish the obstacle the protagonist faces.

For B2B, such challenges are bound to be about:

Saving time

Saving money

Making money

And derivatives thereof: reducing risk, expanding, hiring, simplifying a process, etc.

In consumer markets, the potential challenges might be about anything, but should be emotional things:

Peace

Love

Happiness

This list, of course, can be long and more specific than my groovy hippie list above, but most benefits are bound to fall into one of these buckets.

There’s not much in the way of eye candy in this customer success story example, but I want to reiterate the simplicity and power of the challenge/solution/results format.

5. Solution (and buying process)

The middle act of your story is how the customer came to discover, buy and use your product. This information could be interesting or not, so make smart decisions about what to include.

It’s likely to be uninteresting to hear about nitty gritties like internal politics, RFPs, budget battles, etc. However, it might be interesting for readers to learn about:

A product/service they were replacing or bought and found disappointing

The trials and tribulations of making your product work (yes, transparency is a good thing)

What caused them to realize they needed a solution like yours

6. The result(s)

If we’re to stick with basic story construction, we’re in the third act now: the resolution—the happy ending. Happy endings have happy characters.

Dig into benefits here and be wary of getting too far into the weeds with features.

If you do get into features, keep ‘em simple and attach them to benefits.

Get specific whenever possible.

Capture emotions.

Potential bonus sections of Act III:

Future plans (e.g. The business is going to expand its use of the product. The consumer can’t stop telling her friends.)

Surprises (e.g. The customer knew X, but after purchasing, he discovered Y and Z.)

An invitation… Imagine your customer’s so satisfied she offers to show and tell others more about your solution.

Make the customer the star of your story

I’ve said it a thousand times: people like to read about people. And note I’ve yet to describe what you’re doing as a “sales success story.” It shouldn’t be.

Your brand is not the hero of your customer success story; your customer is.

Resist the temptation to make your story sound like a data sheet or press release about your offering. Write about how and why the customer uses your product. Aim to have readers see themselves in your story.

The best way to put your customer at the center of your story is to ask them to help tell it. Contact satisfied customers and ask for permission to feature them. Consider the following:

Is the customer realizing the benefits of your solution?

Does the customer have a strong grasp of the product?

Can you make the story come to be without a lot of red tape?

Is the customer likely to share the story?

GlobalWebIndex presents a tidy collection of case studies that do a good job of highlighting the voice of the customer with callout quotes.

You’ve identified the perfect customer. Now, try to make it easy on him or her.

Request a brief interview.

Do your homework.

Deliver a preview of the questions you’re likely to ask.

Offer to show the story to your customer prior to publication for approval.

And, finally, when the interview comes to be, ask open-ended questions intended to get your customer talking, such as:

What problem were you trying to solve?

What challenges were you having trying to address them?

What solutions did you consider?

What was your decision based on?

How is the solution to addressing your challenge?

How was the solution implemented?

Were there challenges/surprises along the way?

What results are you getting?

Colorize your story

I’ve been writing customer success stories a long while—including the pre-web years. In the print days, the goal was often to make them two-sided one-sheets. Many I’ve done since, for PDF distribution or web-based publication, have been similar in length, say 500 to 1,000 words.

Today, they’re often shorter. In any case, my point is though the case study is a relatively black and white journalistic exercise, the good ones feature some color, both figuratively and literally. Where space allows, colorize yours.

Gather short action-oriented and authentic customer quotes.

Grab and use images where possible: the product in use, screenshots, people.

Present data/stats that can be made into callouts or mini-infographics.

Offer video testimonials,

Include the customer’s logo.

This example from an impressive portfolio of customer success stories from Help Scout includes a great quote, authentic image, and logo. What you see sits atop their case study page, making for a compelling appetizer. I haven’t shown it here, but the Threadless story (and many others) also includes short videos.

Simplify and re-use your story

You can expand the value of the long-from customer stories you create by repurposing them into more succinct forms suitable for a variety of channels.

Create “shotgun” versions of your customer success stories for the short attention span clan. I’ve seen extremely brief versions applied well in many scenarios:

As sidebars in ebooks, whitepapers, and brochures

As slides in webinars and presentations

Web pages, online carousels, sliders, grids and tabs

Email

Ads

Proposals

And even posters…

The post How to Write a Customer Success Story appeared first on Orbit Media Studios.

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from https://sarahbarnett0.wordpress.com/2018/08/01/how-to-write-a-customer-success-story/ from https://ameliathompson0.blogspot.com/2018/08/how-to-write-customer-success-story.html

[doxampage]

Book Printing: A Few Tips for Approaching Book Design

I recently bid on a job for a local university publication: a collection of essays and fiction. Based on a standardized 6” x 9” format and a length of 100 pages plus covers, it looks like the pricing for the job was reasonable enough for the university administration to approve the print job.

The press run for the job is 40; not 400 or 4,000, but 40. Therefore, although the unit cost for the job will be high, digital custom printing on an HP Indigo will keep the overall cost low. Actually, it will cost less than $350.00 for the printing and shipping, which is meager when compared to any offset print job of any kind. That’s because the set-up for a digital print job is minimal when compared to make-ready for an offset print job.

That said, I consider this to be an especially good price since the book will be perfect bound. More than likely, the printer not only has perfect-binding capabilities in house (which is why the cost will be so low), but he probably also has a table-top perfect binding machine. This would be my assumption since most perfect binding runs far exceed 40 copies. In fact, 40 copies would be more like spoilage and samples for a long binding run rather than the bind run itself.

The Challenges in the Design and Printing of the Essay and Fiction Book

My client is a writer and a teacher, not a designer or a printer. Therefore, I plan to help her through the process of designing the print book, preparing the files, and uploading them to the digital printer. Fortunately she has access to a student who is a designer. Unfortunately, though, it is almost the end of the semester, and my client will only have five hours of the student assistant’s time.

So here are the challenges:

I will have to vet the designer and make sure she/he can design a print book (to make it an attractive product that will satisfy my client). She/he will need to produce a mock up of the cover, front matter, and text of the book, which will include essays and fiction from my client’s creative writing classes. All of this will need to hang together visually, giving a cohesive sense to all aspects of the print book design.

I will have to make sure the designer can also produce print-ready PDF files compliant with the book printer’s requirements. (Fortunately, I can request a specification sheet for PDF file preparation from the book printer.) The designer will also have to stitch together the front cover, spine, and back cover of the book into a file that will conform to the printer’s specifications (including accurate spine width and allowance for bleeds). The job will need to be done in InDesign, not Microsoft Word, to ensure consistency in fonts, spacing, and all the other typesetting nuances that separate a word processing file from an artistically typeset page of copy.

Here’s how I plan to proceed, based on what I know so far:

I have asked the printer to find a printed sample of a digitally produced perfect bound book similar to my client’s job. I want her to see how the final print book will look when produced by that specific printer on that specific digital press (an HP Indigo). I don’t want any surprises. (After all, not all digitally printed work is of as high a quality as offset printed work, depending on the digital equipment used.) I want to make sure my client is happy.

To make sure the designer produces a mock up that will please my client, I have asked my client to start looking for samples she likes. I’ve asked her to consider the cover treatment, the treatment of running headers and folios (page numbers) within the text pages, and any front matter, including the table of contents, copyright page, etc. If she can show the designer samples of what she likes, it will be more likely that the minimal time the student assistant can provide will be effective.

I will request a PDF specification sheet from the printer to help the designer create a trouble-free, print-ready file. In addition, I will ask for a ruled-out template for the cover, showing bleed and trim dimensions for the file that will include the back cover art, spine art, and front cover art stitched together. In particular, the spine width will need to be calculated exactly by the printer. Otherwise, the type on the spine will not be centered exactly between the front and back covers on the final printed product.

Implications of the University’s Decision to Fund the Print Book

I don’t take lightly the university’s decision to print this book. At first, the budget was so low that the administration was planning to publish the book online only as a WordPress document. My client wanted a physical book that the students could carry around and read, with all the tactile qualities only a physical print book can offer. Apparently the university’s administration understood this. Moreover, their decision to print implies that enough students feel the same way about the advantages of a print book to make this undertaking a prudent one. I find this gratifying. Not only am I a print broker; I also am a lover of beautifully designed print books.

What You Can Learn from This Process

If you are a designer, you can benefit from the fact that the market for books at the university level has not dried up. Based on my discussions with my client, students still prefer print books over digital-only textbooks on e-readers. This may change over the next decade or two, but for now you still have a market if you’re good at what you do and creative in finding the work.

If you’re a designer, make sure you understand the physical requirements of the book: all of the specifications from the type of binding to the paper color, surface, weight, and formation. Make sure you understand the book printer’s specifications for creating and uploading the PDF files, including and especially any requirements for producing the cover art. Think like a production artist as well as a designer.

If you’re a writer and you have little or no design experience, hire a professional. Review her/his samples and vet the designer’s knowledge base. Check references. That said, also be able to articulate what you like. Collect books that please you aesthetically. Consider the design, typography, layout grid, thickness of the paper, and even the coating on the book cover. Show the designer what you want. Nothing communicates your needs and desires like a physical, printed sample.

Book Printing: A Few Tips for Approaching Book Design published first on https://getyourprintingcompanies.tumblr.com/

[athome-businessideas]

7 Top Lessons to Help Every Small Business Reach Milestones

According to the Small Business Administration, small businesses make up 99.7% of U.S. employer firms. They also report that only around one-third of all businesses started survive to the 10-year mark. There is a lot that goes into making it to that milestone, so that one’s business can outlast any challenges that come their way. Knowing those top lessons can help others not only survive, but to thrive.

$100K+ Start-Up Cost Businesses – Visit the Home Business EXPO

“Being an entrepreneur certainly has its set of challenges,” explains Cher Murphy, owner of Cher Murphy PR. “But if you are able to grow and hold onto what is important, you can weather the storm. You have to focus on the positives and stick to a set of principles that guide you through your days and weeks, pushing year after year.”

Cher knows just what it takes to reach that milestone, as her public relations firm is celebrating its 10-year anniversary. While she knew public relations like the back of her hand when she opened her business, there are some lessons she knows have helped guide her toward long-term success. Here are those top 7 lessons that will help every small business reach milestones:

Support one another. Especially for women-owned businesses, it’s a good idea to support one another. Seek out other small businesses that are owned by females and collaborate in order to help both companies thrive.

Find people you can work well with. Small business owners will usually need others they can work with, even if it’s on a freelance basis. Find those people who you can trust and work well with, so you can rely on them when in need.

Know when to compromise. Many people have to make compromises in businesses, but they should never be made when it comes to your core values. Never sacrifice honesty or integrity. Being honest and treating people well will strengthen your business.

Be disciplined. When you are your own boss you don’t have someone reminding you of deadlines. There are many distractions in today’s world. Entrepreneurs have to be disciplined so that they meet the needs of their clients and help to grow their business.

Build relationships. Referrals are usually made as a result of the relationships that people build. Take the time to build good relationships with people in a variety of sectors and it will come back in the form of referrals.

Keep a good attitude. Having an attitude of gratitude is ideal. Leave the bad days behind, don’t let the challenges bring you down, and just keep being positive.

Be patient. Everyone wants success overnight, but as the saying goes, the journey of a 1,000 miles starts with a single step. It takes time, but when you plug away at it consistently and keep heading in the right direction it will happen.

“I’m proud to be celebrating 10 years and look forward to many more,” adds Murphy. “Along with being committed to helping my clients meet their needs, I also try to give back to others, even if it’s by offering advice. When you place a high priority on hard work you are bound to see good results.”

Cher Murphy PR has helped many clients over the last decade to garner media attention on national and local television, print publications, and online. They have represented such companies and organizations as Guardians of Rescue, Hound & Gatos Pet Food Corporation, The Doctor Yum Project, Alcatraz East Crime Museum, EOD Warrior Foundation, Paws of War and many more. For more information, visit the site at: www.chermurphypr.com.

About Cher Murphy PR

Cher Murphy PR is a full-service public relations agency which focuses on large-to-small business public and media relations management. The firm was started by public relations veteran Cher Murphy, a publicist with extensive experience in the industry and an impressive network of contacts. The company has helped a wide range of companies to benefit from media exposure in the way of broadcast, print, and online outlets. As experts in the field, they have extensive experience working in a vast majority of sectors. For more information, visit the site at: www.chermurphypr.com.

# # #

Source:

Small Business Administration. Frequently asked questions. http://ift.tt/2ebWEpbdefault/files/FAQ_Sept_2012.pdf

The post 7 Top Lessons to Help Every Small Business Reach Milestones appeared first on Home Business Magazine.

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[kevinthescoutblogger]

  Kevin V. Hunt

Scouting Historian, Author, Blogger , Speaker, Scouting Veteran, and Camp Director

Recently I had the unique opportunity to showcase some Scouting history at our stake’s Family History Discovery Day.  I thought that Scouting and family history actually fit well together.  But, a couple of people came to my display tables and acted a bit confused.  A couple of people said under their breath – not knowing that I was listening – “What does Scouting have to do with family history?”  Good question!

Months before this event I had been invited to be a part of the steering committee for this big stake and community event.  I joined the planning committee wearing two hats.  One was in my role as the Stake Historian.  The committee wanted to have the event well documented in our history for this year.  My other requested role (by the committee chairman) was to show some of the Scouting history of the stake.  Sure …  I could do that!

My display tables – and I had three of them – one for Scouting and two for general personal and family history were kind of unique.  And I admit, they did stand out a bit.

This was a major family history conference and displays were plenteous in the large gymnasium and conference room – in the historic Interstake Center in Mesa, Arizona.  Many local genealogical and family history groups or organizations had been invited to participate.  Most of their displays had a computer as their main feature.  And on these computers, volunteers or companies showed off their latest and greatest tools to do family history research. My Scouting table was full of “Scouting stuff” that I have collected through the years.  So, the tables did catch a few eyes – but I think a great many people enjoyed browsing it all.

First I’d like to take a moment to define “family history”.  When most folks think of family history, I believe they think of Grandma or Great Aunt Clara – who spent their lives researching the family lines and creating pedigree charts and family group records.  That is actually how I got started.  I was age twelve – when I took up most of my life hobbies and interests – many of them through Scouting leaders.  At twelve, I was put into a Sunday School genealogy class that went for six weeks.  That was kind of a short class but it was enough to get me hooked.  And so for most of my teen years – when I wasn’t doing Scouting – I was doing family history research and created many of those charts which I put into a “Book of Remembrance”.  (And Grandma Augusta Hunt and I were a team!)

Over the years, I have come to learn that family history goes way beyond all those charts and family trees.  I believe that family history really is creating a record of our lives and those of our ancestors.  The family history I have enjoyed the most is when I have been able to find photos and histories for the people on those charts.  That is when their lives have come alive for me (even if they have been dead for decades).   Also, I now believe that each one of us has the opportunity and even the responsibility to create records of our life and times here on earth.  And these records can be for ourselves as well as for our current and future posterity.  The Book of Revelation in the Bible says (Rev. 20:12), “… and the books were opened, And another book was opened, which is the book of life …”  Joseph Smith expanded on that theme when he taught that “the books spoken of must be the books which contained the record of their works, and refer to the records which are kept on earth.  And the book which was the book of life is the record which is kept in heaven …”  (D&C 128:7)  And then in the next verse, he says, “… Whatsoever you record on earth shall be recorded in heaven, and whatsoever you do not record on earth shall not be recorded in heaven.”

Wow!  That is pretty strong.  So, yes, records of our lives really are an opportunity and a responsibility.  And so, with that background, I believe that we should work hard to create records of our lives – all facets of our lives.  But, those records don’t need to be limited to paper and computer files.  I think that there are a myriad of ways that we can record our personal histories and those can be different for each individual and family.  I would suggest that each one of us figure out some way to use and show our talents in the preservation of our histories.

Our histories can include various chapters of our lives – such as our spouse and families, our education, our life’s work or vocation, our hobbies and interests, and much more.  As I look back at my own life, I realize that most of my life has included involvement in Scouting in one way or another.  That is probably true for most of us.  If we were Cub Scouts and Scouts in our youth, and then served for even a few years as a Scouting volunteer, we soon see that Scouting has been much of our lives – and so well worth documenting as a major chapter of our lives.  If it is worth doing, it is worth recording.  And that applies to Scouting.

So, how to do it?  What can we do to document our Scouting history and heritage?  There really is no set way to go about it.  Use your imagination and begin to create some interesting records of your Scouting lives.  It doesn’t matter what you do … just do something!  And begin to do it now.

I might be a bit overboard with history and records and Scouting heritage, but here are some ideas that I have done.  I am not saying that you should do them all.  Pick a few of them for yourself and begin to document your Scouting life and times.  Here are some items that were a part of my Scouting family history display that day:

Personal Journal:  I have blogged on this subject many times.  But, with a personal journal with daily entries for over forty years, I have much written about Scouting events and good times that I have been a part of through the years.  And it is such fun to go back and read those entries.  It is almost like doing it all over again.

This past summer my wife and I were on the staff at Camp Newfork – operated by the Trapper Trails Council.  I wrote extensive journal entries of the summer experience and added many photos to them.   I later blogged these journal entries on The Scouting Trail with the full series summarized in the blog It was Quite the Summer at Camp New Fork.

Walking Sticks:  This may sound unique, but I have a hobby of carving walking sticks.  I don’t just carve them to be carving but they actually contain a lot of history.  I try to carve a new stick at or for each camp that I go to – and each one has carved into it memories about the particular camp.  These are great conversation pieces with my children and grandchildren – and Scouts everywhere.

Framed Awards:  As I completed my youth phase of Scouting, my mother had me collect all of my badges and she put them into a nice frame for my future enjoyment.  She made one for my Cub Scout awards and another for my Boy Scouting years.

Neckerchief Blanket:   My wife did a great thing for me.  She got all of the neckerchiefs that I had earned or received through the years (including those from when I was a Cub Scout, Scout, camps, and for everything since).  She sewed these all together into a giant king-sized (at least) blanket.  And then she sewed the patches from the various events – onto the appropriate neckerchief.   So, there is a multitude of neckerchiefs and a couple of hundred patches.

Excel Spreadsheet:  I created a spreadsheet to document my years of Scouting service.  I have a line for each Scouting position and then columns for the positions, when I served, the unit number, the chartered institution, people involved in that role, and more.  When I wanted to provide documentation for a major service award, I went back through my journals and recorded information for each position through the years.

Slide Show:  I went through the house and collected my Scouting photographs from their various hiding places in closets, drawers, boxes, etc.  I then sorted these by date and experience.  I then created Word documents for the various Scouting events through my life.  I could have used PowerPoint to create these but didn’t.  On each page, I had a title, sometimes a brief description of the event, people, etc.  And I scanned and inserted into each page four or five photos.  And after I created these pages, I then saved each page as a PDF document.  This was a major feature of entertainment for a Jubilee Celebration which I recently staged for myself.  I showed the slide show at the event but also printed each page and had it bound into a nice book for me and for my posterity.

Scouting Book Collection:  Scouting has changed much through the years – yet it is so much the same as ever.  And through the years, a plethora of books and handbooks have been generated.  I have a major handbook collection.  It has my old “Lion” Cub Scout book, my own Scout Handbook, a 1928 “Rally Book” and more.  I even have a collection which includes every edition of the Scout Handbook.  My son, Rusty, and I created a beautiful red oak with glass doors display case to keep these in.  It is magnificent!

Kevin Hunt Scout Handbook Collection in Red Oak Frame

  Awards:  I am not one to tout or brag about awards that I have received, but I do have them collected in a single spot/box for my own enjoyment.

Uniforms:  I have kept my uniforms that I have worn through the years.  And some of these are really “vintage” now.    I have my old Cub Scout uniform, several of my Scout uniforms, and many uniforms, jackets, hats, etc. that I have worn through the years.  When our first daughter was born, my mom even took one of the old uniforms and created a little girl dress that Jackie wore in parades (when we marched with Scouts) and to other places.

        Photos:  Take photos at every event.  You never know when you will want these for a slide show or other special event.  Mark the photos with the name of the event, when it was, who is in the photo, etc.  And with today’s electronic technology, there are a multitude of great programs or ways to organize and store your photos.

Court of Honor Programs:  I created PowerPoint presentations with a lot of photos for each of my three sons on the occasion of their Eagle Scout court of honor programs.  These have become valued treasures for them and for me.

Books from Journals and Personal Experiences:  I go a bit beyond what most folks would, but I have compiled several books from my Scouting experiences as recorded in my journals and personal memories.  I am just now beginning to market and publish these.

Troop Reunions and Histories:  I have been the catalyst to stage several troop reunions through the years.  “155 … The Best Alive”.  At these reunions I take a lot of photos and have old Scout friends record a paragraph or two of their memories.  And then I have compiled all of these into a history of the troop through the years.   I have created a mini book or history and have shared this with those who came to the reunions – and any others that I’ve run into beyond the reunions.

Letters and Certificates:  I am only about half way through this project but I collected all of the certificates, thank you letters, correspondence, and anything paper about my Scouting times and am scanning these and putting them into a book for my own use – and for my own posterity.  I will create a printed book – or book of originals for myself – but after it is scanned, I can store it and share it with my posterity.

Traditions:  These are not always visible (though you can use the ideas presented here to make them such), but it is important to have strong family Scouting traditions.  Keep these alive and keep doing them.  For instance … in our family we have a long-standing tradition of becoming Eagle Scouts.  And in the case of me and my sons, we each have maintained the tradition of each receiving three or four palms beyond Eagle.  Have traditional events, outings, and programs with traditional family or Scouting friends.  Document you and your group doing these things.

Oral Histories:  Set yourself – or your Scouting parents, wife and children – down and have them tell stories of their Scouting experiences.  With today’s electronics there are so many options for recording your histories and memories.  FamilySearch.com has some great ways to permanently record your history and your photos.  Check it out!  You might want to interview and record your old Scoutmaster, Scouting Friends and troop-mates, and others who have been a big part of your Scouting experience.  (And don’t forget to do this for yourself!)

Well, again, you may not be able to do all of these things.  I have done them … but that it is me and who and what I am.  My challenge is to look at your own life of Scouting (and other) experiences and then find the best way(s) – that is so you – and which uses your abilities and talents (and the help of others) to record those great Scouting moments.  And when you start doing this, you’ll probably catch the spirit of the whole history thing and you’ll want to do more and more.

And so, back to our original question:  What does Scouting have to do with family history?  I think it has a lot to do with it …  Scouting is a big part of your life so it deserves to be a part of your personal, family and troop histories.  Find ways to get the two together … and you will have much joy and happiness through bringing them together.  You’ll be glad that you did it – and so will your posterity and Scouting friends.  Scouting with family history … what a novel and wonderful idea!

And I would love to help you personally to explore ways to do all of this.  Feel free to contact me!  I would also enjoy hearing or seeing what you come up with for yourself!

Best wishes along your Scouting Trails …  Kevin

See this link for an introduction to Kevin the Scouting Trails Blogger.  Blogging articles have excerpts taken from Kevin’s many personal journals and Scouting Trails books including “MR. Scoutmaster!”, “Keys to Scouting Leadership,” “Gnubie to Eagle Scout”,  and others at his Scoutingtrails website.  Connect with Kevin and read his articles on Scouting blogsites such as The Boy Scout, The Scouting Trail and the Voice of Scouting.  Feel free to comment on anything you read!  Find Kevin on Facebook at:  Scouting Trails Books and Blogs.

To explore or buy Kevin’s books on Amazon, go to: amazon.com/author/kevinhunt

Contact Kevin directly via email: kevin@scoutingtrails.com

@ 2017 Kevin V. Hunt

                What Does Scouting have to do with Family History? Kevin V. Hunt Scouting Historian, Author, Blogger , Speaker, Scouting Veteran, and Camp Director Recently I had the unique opportunity to showcase some Scouting history at our stake’s Family History Discovery Day. 

[doxampage]

Book Printing: Tips on Preparing Book Cover Art

A book printing client of mine is about to send a 5.5” x 8.5” perfect-bound book to press. She and her husband, a publishing team for literary books of prose and poetry, have circulated “galley-proofs” (lower production quality versions of the book for editors and reviewers to use for commentary), and the reader suggestions will have been introduced into the final-copy art files shortly.

What this means is that the page count is in flux. And that in turn affects the overall price of the book (and the dollar payment my clients will need to send before the production work begins), plus the width of the spine is also in flux, so the cover designer is in a wait-and-see mode at the moment.

Regarding the last comment above, here’s the rub. The designer will need to create a single file with the back cover on the left, then the spine, then the front cover, all side by side. For this particular print book, there will also be French flaps (3.5” extensions on either side of the back and front cover). When folded in, these French flaps will provide a little interior space to print an author bio, reviewers’ quotes, or marketing blurbs. They will also make the paper-bound book look more like it has a dust jacket (like a hardcover book).

So reading from left to right, the final art for the cover will include a 3.5” French flap followed by a 5.5” x 8.5” back cover followed by a spine (indeterminate size at the moment) followed by a 5.5” x 8.5” front cover followed by a 3.5” front cover French flap. To this the cover designer will add bleeds for this four-color printed product (the interior of the book is simpler: black text throughout, with no bleeds).

All of these components need to be stitched together, but more importantly they must be of the correct measurements, or the spine art will end up wrapping onto the front or back cover and looking just plain ugly.

Fortunately the caliper of the interior text paper is known: 400 ppi. For the ease of the math, that means that if my client’s book winds up being 400 pages, the spine will be one inch. In actuality it will probably be 256 pages (it has ranged from about 264 pages down to 250 pages—for the digitally printed “reader’s galleys”). So the spine will be more than half an inch and less than an inch (.64”), but the exact size cannot be finalized until the page count is firm. That means the Photoshop file (the cover designer likes to work in Photoshop rather than InDesign) will need to be fluid, and the final press-ready PDF cannot be distilled until the text pages have been finalized.

In your own print buying work, there are three take-aways from this case study to consider:

Understand the concept of paper thickness or caliper, and get this information from your book printer once you have chosen a paper stock. To be safe, after you have calculated the spine width, have him confirm your math. It’s better to be safe.

Learn how to stitch together the various pieces of a book cover, making sure the overall size is correct, with or without bleeds, and the pages are in the correct order (back cover, spine, front cover).

Send your book printer both the native Photoshop or InDesign file (to his specifications) and a press-ready PDF (to his specifications).

Don’t be surprised, or upset, if your book printer needs you to make some final technical adjustments and resubmit these files. This is complex work.

Further Thoughts

Here are a few more things that I do when I design a print book cover. You might find them useful.

The Color of the Paper

The clients noted above often print the text blocks of their books on a cream stock. That is, the color of the paper is tinted slightly yellow, in contrast to bright white sheets that are tinted slightly blue. (The blue-white is less noticeable. It just looks like a very bright white.)

When my clients add a 12pt C1S cover to this text block, it is usually blue-white rather than natural, cream, or warm white. Usually, my clients print the inside front and back covers as well as the outer front and back covers and spine. The difference between the bright blue-white of the interior covers and the cream white of the text is not visible to the reader at this point because of the ink on the interior covers (it distracts the reader). However, if my clients choose to print a book on cream stock and they have nothing printed on the interior covers, the difference in paper shade between the blue-white interior covers and the cream white text block will be visible.

In cases like these I have often encouraged them to choose a bright white shade for the text as well as the cover.

As an alternative, could my clients print the covers on a cream-white cover sheet? Presumably. However, printing four-color process imagery on a yellowish tinted paper will change the tone of the inks. Remember, process inks are transparent, so the substrate will affect the perceived color of ink printed on an off-white substrate.

So it’s a trade-off. Depending on the colors, my clients may actually either have a bright white cover and cream white text, and live with the difference, or they might print four-color imagery on cream cover stock—depending on the colors in the images. It’s usually not good to print flesh tones on a cream substrate, since facial coloration can look odd (i.e., jaundiced).

Coated One or Two Sides

On a related note, when my clients do print on the interior covers, I always specify a C2S paper (coated two sides). Many coated cover sheets are specified this way: as 80# cover, for instance, rather than 10pt C1S. It can be assumed that cover stock paper has coating on two sides, since this is not specified, whereas C1S paper specified in points (10pt., 12pt.) is coated on only one side because the notation says it is.

I encourage my clients to do this for the following reason. Ink behaves differently on a coated, vs. uncoated, surface. Ink sits up on the top of a coated surface, but it seeps into the paper fibers if there’s no coating. Because of this, four-color imagery printed on the front of a C1S (coated one side) sheet will have a completely different look than four-color imagery printed on the uncoated interior covers (front and back). Ink on the interior covers in this case would seem dull in comparison. If you want that look (a softer, crunchy granola look), it fine if it’s done throughout a book, but it looks odd if it’s done on the inside front and back covers only.

(On a related note, keep in mind that all of the text blocks of this particular client’s books are printed in black ink only on uncoated paper stock. Everything I’m saying would become far more complicated if my clients were to shift to four-color interior text blocks. In fact, at that point, I’d suggest that they either print both the cover and text on coated stock or print the cover and text on uncoated stock, depending on the effect they were seeking.)

Print Out a Hard Copy

One thing I always suggest for my clients’ book covers is that they print out a hard copy on paper with crop marks and printer’s bars. They may need to tile the pages and then tape them together. But the idea is for them to have a full-size physical representation of the cover, ruled out to show the bleeds. This will make it abundantly clear–in ways that often elude the viewer who only looks at the cover on-screen—as to whether everything is correct.

You can see where the type falls on the spine: whether it is centered vertically, or whether it is too high or low. You can see whether the front or back cover art is centered on the page (exclusive of the bleeds, which can be misleading, because once you draw pencil marks–“rule out the cover”–to connect the trim marks, you can see what the cover will look like after it has been printed and trimmed to size).

All of this is visible on a computer screen, granted. Maybe I’m just “old school.” But I do find it easier to see the flaws when the entire front and back cover and spine are before me in actual size (not enlarged or reduced– zoomed in or out). You can always catch the errors at the physical proof stage (and I would encourage you to request a hard-copy cover proof rather than depending on a virtual proof for a print book cover), but why pay to fix errors you can catch by just printing out and taping together a cover mock-up?

Book Printing: Tips on Preparing Book Cover Art published first on https://getyourprintingcompanies.tumblr.com/

[doxampage]

Book Printing: Color Shift Problems in the Book Proofs

Sometimes things go horribly wrong. I think there’s nothing worse than “hearing” the exasperation of a loyal client in her email, knowing that a multi-year working relationship is on the line.

I recently heard back from a client for whom I had been printing a small color swatch book for years. The swatch books pertained to make-up and clothing color choices appropriate for a woman based on her complexion.

The small color books, bound with a screw and post assembly, are essentially PMS books for the fashion industry. I have written many articles about this project, which my client reprints every few months. All 22 original print books had been produced without incident until just recently. They had been direct reprints of between one and ten copies of each of the 22 original master books. The books had been printed, laminated, round cornered, and drilled for the screw and post binding. The book printer produced the color books on an HP Indigo. The color was dead on. Reprints of the print books went like clockwork. Until they didn’t.

The Change in the Job Specs

The change in the job specifications that precipitated the problem was a small one. My client would print 100 copies of the 22 master books (various numbers of copies of each to equal 100 total color books) to fulfill orders for her clients. However, this time, in order to have more colors to bind into some of the print books, my client had created a single sheet containing an additional 30 colors. Some colors matched pages already included in the 22 master copies; many did not.

The goal was to print these at the tail end of the job, once the other books were complete, and then run them through the same finishing operations: lamination, round cornering, drilling, and such, but then to deliver them loosely packed in a carton (not bound on screw and post assemblies). This would cost an additional $200+ instead of the (almost) $3,000 price tag for producing the 15 copies of the single page as a stand-alone job. Why the difference? Because all of the makeready costs that would comprise the almost $3,000 would also cover all of the finishing work for the reprinted 100 copies of the older print books.

But there were problems with the color accuracy—for the first time in the history of the numerous direct reprints. Five of the colors in the 30 extra (master) color chips (the 30 loose chips of which 15 copies would be printed) were already included in the original 22 print books, and the proofs of these colors did not match the colors in the original books.

Fortunately, all the other colors (new ones and colors that had to match the original colors in the 22 master books) were ok.

What Caused the Problems?

Keep in mind that the clock was ticking. My client had clients who wanted books. Their shipments had to be back-ordered. My client also had a new financial backer who understandably also wanted accurate colors.

Fortunately, the sales rep at the printer had a complete set of printed and laminated copies of the original books plus a set of unlaminated proofs of the additional 30 loose color chips. So a list of the five problematic colors gave her a good starting point to resolve the color matching problem.

The sales rep had her plant manager check the HP Indigo color calibration. To be safe, he ran a second set of proofs on a higher-end HP Indigo digital press. He sent second proofs to my client’s financial backer (at my client’s request, assuming the problems had been resolved), but my client’s financial backer said the revised proofs were identical to the first set, with the same five problematic colors still off target (specifically too light). Ouch.

Where Do We Go Next?

Fortunately, since my client sees that the printer is taking this very seriously and trying to make things right, she has given us more time to correct matters. Here are some of the things we have learned and/or have considered relevant to resolving the problem:

The first digital press had been upgraded from a prior model. Apparently, this particular HP Indigo had been altered to improve it, but the color calibration was not yet accurate. This affected primarily the blues, reds, and purples in my client’s color book. That is, the color problems were localized. They did not affect all hues.

When the plant manager moved the job from the first HP Indigo to the larger, higher-end HP Indigo, the problem didn’t go away. Assuming the revised proof was correct (which to his eyes it was), the printer sent the second set of proofs to my client’s financial backer. My client herself didn’t see them. So I asked my client to have her financial backer cut each color swatch in half and send her a complete set of proofs (so both my client and her financial backer, who live in different cities, would each have her own complete set to facilitate communication). Why? Because two people will always see color differently (in this case three, or even more, since the printer also had a set of the same proofs).

I also asked both the book printer and the client (and her financial backer) to look at the colors in different lighting conditions. Why? Because color will look different in sunlight, incandescent light (the traditional light bulbs with filaments), and fluorescent light. Presumably color will also look different under LED light.

I asked everyone to cover each eye (one at a time, back and forth) and check the color. (For some people, including me, colors appear slightly different when they are seen by one eye and then the other.)

I asked the book printer whether any of these colors might be especially problematic when reproduced with cyan, magenta, yellow, and black toners. This is because my client’s financial backer had selected PMS colors, and the HP Indigo simulates PMS colors using process color builds. Granted, extra colors can be used on the HP Indigo (up to seven), and these will expand the overall color gamut, making it possible to match more PMS colors. But not all of them.

The book printer noted that the lamination would darken the colors (some more than others) and make them more intense. This might be perceived as a color shift by either my client or her financial backer. (Keep in mind that color has three properties: 1) hue, or the named color, like “blue”; 2) lightness/darkness, or value; and 3) intensity or purity. Laminating the color chips would affect two of these three variables.) That said, the reason this was a problem is that the proofs were not laminated, but the color pages in the original 22 master print books had been laminated. So if my client or her backer were matching the proofs of the 30 loose color chips (unlaminated proofs) to the master books (laminated pages), the colors would not look alike. In some cases the difference would be minimal, but in other cases—apparently—the color shift would be more dramatic.

The printer also noted that if the five problematic colors were adjusted (by the prepress department) to make them accurate, this would affect all other colors on the 30-color digital press sheet (my client could wind up with five correct colors and 25 colors that were “off,” the opposite of the current situation).

My client told me that she still had the proofs (unlaminated) from the first printing of all 22 master books. I asked her to send these immediately to the printer. He would be able to more easily adjust the colors of the 30 new, loose color chips to match the colors in the original books because he would be matching unlaminated color pages to unlaminated color pages.

This is where we are now. We’ll see what happens.

What You Can Learn from This Fiasco

I always say that when you buy commercial printing, you are not buying a commodity. You’re buying a process. At a time like this, it helps to have a long-term working relationship with the printer. Only a long-term partner will take the time to resolve a problem like this. Keep this in mind as you choose printers for your own work.

Color on laminated, digitally printed pages does not look the same as color on unlaminated pages.

If you make a color change in part of a job, this may adversely affect the color in another part of the job. This is true for offset printing as well as digital printing.

People see color differently, depending on their gender (women see color better than men) and on many other variables, and color can look different depending on the lighting conditions and the surrounding colors. (Red paint in a closed paint can is actually black, since color is a function of light and the physical action of the cones and rods in your eyes. That’s why red cars look gray under street lights at night.)

The time comes when “good enough” is good enough. Only you can make this call. In my case, only the client who devised the color chip product for selecting make-up and clothing can say whether the colors in the proofs are close enough to the original colors she chose for her fashion system.

When in doubt, start with the obvious, and start at the beginning. For instance, I asked my client to check the cyan, magenta, yellow, and black color builds in the InDesign art files to make sure the color builds in the original books and the 30 extra loose colors were identical. I may also ask the printer to make sure the printing paper for the proofs is the same as it was for the original 22 books (whiteness and brightness). I already asked whether there’s any chance that the PDF files or InDesign files for the same job could be “off” (damaged, inconsistent, etc.).

As you can see, this is not an exact science. A lot of people at the book printer have been working hard to make this right so my client will be happy. And she has been patient. We’ll see what happens.

Book Printing: Color Shift Problems in the Book Proofs published first on http://ift.tt/2vVn0YZ