Behind the scenes of the production of The Pagoda Tree - Claire Scobie
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Behind the scenes of the production of The Pagoda Tree

Behind the scenes of the production of The Pagoda Tree

Thrilled to be able to share the first photo of the Unbound edition of The Pagoda Tree. It exists, it’s real, it’s gorgeous and the rich red-wine cover invites you in.

I wish I could say that it’s been plain sailing but despite my oh-so-jolly Facebook posts and newsletters, there have been sleepless nights and fraught emails.

In a nutshell, when Unbound sent me the ‘final files’ back at the end of February, with a few minor corrections that I had made to the text, there was a font corruption issue throughout the entire manuscript. Somehow this hadn’t been picked up. It affected many of the italicised words and there were A LOT of italics (remind me never to write any italics in a book EVER again.)

Weeks passed and they tried to fix the font issue but it was clear that it was more than that. There was actually something wrong with the file itself. When I mean ‘file’, it’s like a glorified PDF that has been laid out and typeset.

Again, they sent me the ‘final files’ back and again I went through them, line by line, co-opting my husband when I couldn’t see the words themselves because they were jumping around on the page as I’d already been through it several times already. One Friday night, ruler in hand, a stack of manuscript still to go through, we spent most of the evening in a nearby cafe. We were both blurry-eyed for the next 24 hours ๐Ÿ™‚

Back and forth I went with the hardworking production team at Unbound. Mistakes that had been fixed in the manuscript seemed to come back again like some scary malware. I had visions that even after we’d fixed them, they’d appear in the print version.

Time ticked by. I was due to receive the final copies in mid-April โ€“ meanwhile Unbound were still valiantly trying to fix the issue. In the end they had to get the whole book re-typeset.

For a while I wondered if they’d even arrive in time for the launch. I’ve got reassurance that there will be books at my book launch โ€“ which is lucky because I’d feel a bit silly otherwise.

Luckily, the special edition going to my generous Unbound supporters who pledged, has now arrived in the office.ย  For those that have requested a signed copy, you’ll have to be a little more patient as I will sign them as soon as I land in the UK. But at least I know they are on their way.

A big happy dance coming right now.

2 responses to “Behind the scenes of the production of The Pagoda Tree”

  1. annaxue yang says:

    Oh Claire! it must have seemed like a recurring nightmare! Thank goodness for the great effort by the Unbound team and a supportive husband – congratulations to you all on this hard-won victory! I’m sure the beauty and success of this edition will soften the painful edits..

    I’m eagerly awaiting my signed copy… so excited..

    thank you for sharing those difficult days and nights and what happens behind the scenes… in a way it’s reassuring to all who struggle with writing to know the journey is not smooth sailing… so we are not alone.. I guess it’s not only the writing world either..

    • claire says:

      Thanks Anna for stopping by. It was a nightmare. It kept me awake on more than one occasion. Experiences like this make you realise how you need a community around you — loved ones, friends, techhy people. They all help. A book is never written by one person alone, although there is only one author’s name on the cover.

      I will be signing copies on 05 June and they should be sent out that week. I have been told that the special supporters copy arrives on 18 May. I will enjoy signing your copy ๐Ÿ™‚

      Thanks for your excitement. That also makes it all worth it! Yes, you are definitely not alone…