My proof copy of A Christmas Carol arrived today, accompanied by a few problems:
Problem #1: Lulu doesn’t like InDesign’s transparency, as you can see from the back cover (it should be roughly the same red as the front cover). The solution: I opened the back cover image in Photoshop and overlaid it on the same background color as I’d had in InDesign, flattened the whole thing, and reimported it. It should turn out fine.
Problem #2: The red box on the spine is my fault; I hadn’t realized that the text box had a fill. The solution: Changed the fill to transparent.
Problem #3: There’s some slight banding on the front cover. The solution: Opened the cover image in Photoshop and added some subtle noise and dust & speckles.
Problem #4: Spine text too small, and “display” causes the serifs to start disappearing. The solution: Bumped the text size up by six or eight points, and changed the type from “display” to “regular.”
I’ve just ordered a new proof copy, so in about a week I’ll hopefully have this book finished and available.
Phew. :)
[tags]A Christmas Carol, Lulu, InDesign, Photoshop, bookmaking[/tags]