The Mysterious Case of the Shuffling Pages

Last week I received the printer’s proof of Nyphron Rising. It looked great. I skimmed over it and gave my approval. Then just to be sure, I started reading. This is the fourth time in three weeks I’ve read it so I can’t really see it anymore, it’s like going snow-blind. This final reading was just for peace of mind.

I was very pleased. There is always the word or two I would change. A sentence that sounds suddenly awkward that didn’t before, but nothing awful. Then I came to page 187. There was nothing wrong with page 187, except that it wasn’t 187 it was supposed to be 188. Page 187 was now 189. For no reason I can figure, the pages were shuffled.

Crap. That’s a show stopper. I can’t let the book go out with pages out of order. I can recognize they are mixed because I can recite the novel by now and know what comes next. New readers will be flying along oblivious to the fact that they are being derailed.

I continued to read and the same shuffling of pages occurred in four separate points after that. The book was toast. It has to be reissued and that means delays. On top of this, I already ordered several cases. Not sure if I canceled the order in time. So I expect I will be receiving a hundred expensive doorstops soon.

Now, with just four days left, I am waiting on the next proof to arrive. No idea if it will make it in time for the Oct 1 release, so at this moment I can’t tell you exactly when the book will be available. The good news is everything else was fine. If the pages come in order with this new edition, then I should be able to push it live the next day. I am guessing it will only be a week delay at the most, but right now, all of us—me included—are waiting to see when the Green Book will be out.