Know your enemy (II)

There are several things I learned when I published "Das Leben ist gut" that have now helped me with "The Factory of Gods". For the paper editions, Amazon gives you the option to buy a print-proof copy before publishing. In the past, I didn't do it and it was a mistake. This time I did, and it has avoid me more than one headache. In the first test copy I discovered that the cover was completely off-center. Although the KDP preview looked good, in the printed version the title was too close to the edges and not properly centered. Another problem not detected by the preview was that when I uploaded the PDF from the book and let KDP adapt it to comply with the margin rules, the footer appeared on some pages in an incorrect position. Once those problems were solved, I uploaded everything again and asked for another print-proof copy. When I received it a few days later, even though the result wasn't perfect, it was good enough to put it on sale, only minor retouches were needed. At that moment, when you have the printed copy in your hands, you realize that it is worth paying for those tests, because now you know that will receive exactly whoever buys your book, there will be no unexpected surprises.