I never like to admit my inadequacies. Who does right? But three weeks into Dark Dawn Creations, and I have found the one and only thing that has thrown me for a loop. What is this thing? you ask. LIGHTNING SOURCE. Never in my life had I heard of it before. Probably because in the age of print on demand and a self pub being able to produce a book for free ( if your wise) I never ventured far into the Pay us to print your book world.
A few weeks ago I had a commission for a print cover package. Great I say, wonderful series. Absolutely a blast working on the cover. Then it comes time to do the print version, and I find out he's using Lightning source. Never heard of it before so I did some research. OH MY!! The guidelines for a cover are so strict it's insane! Now I'm not a total dip nor a stranger to composing print covers, done it three times now for my own in pdf for createspace. Down load template, Paste parts, align, export as pdf print ready, away into the printed world you go.
Lightning Source has created a nightmare. While no stranger to CMYK or all of the other color profiles, tif PDF blah blah, I have met my match. Just reading their guidelines and rules gives me a head ache. To top it off, every mistake I make costs my client money. Yep you heard me right, Lightning source charges you for every submission. Tonight I am giving it one more go at creating a lightning source approved cover. If all goes well, you will hear me cheering at my brilliance in a few days. If not, I will bemoan the day Lightning Source set up shop and refund my clients money.
One things for sure, I will never take another Lightning Source commission again.
A few weeks ago I had a commission for a print cover package. Great I say, wonderful series. Absolutely a blast working on the cover. Then it comes time to do the print version, and I find out he's using Lightning source. Never heard of it before so I did some research. OH MY!! The guidelines for a cover are so strict it's insane! Now I'm not a total dip nor a stranger to composing print covers, done it three times now for my own in pdf for createspace. Down load template, Paste parts, align, export as pdf print ready, away into the printed world you go.
Lightning Source has created a nightmare. While no stranger to CMYK or all of the other color profiles, tif PDF blah blah, I have met my match. Just reading their guidelines and rules gives me a head ache. To top it off, every mistake I make costs my client money. Yep you heard me right, Lightning source charges you for every submission. Tonight I am giving it one more go at creating a lightning source approved cover. If all goes well, you will hear me cheering at my brilliance in a few days. If not, I will bemoan the day Lightning Source set up shop and refund my clients money.
One things for sure, I will never take another Lightning Source commission again.
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