leonard the rock star

Here is —

The coolest thing about the conversion people I am working with at Booknook.biz. I am working with this guy Leonard Lopp, he is coding the ePub and I have sent in LOTS of corrections and changes, he is working his ass off on this book. And we are just about to the end, it should be okay, right? But I’m staring at the quotes page thinking, This just looks wrong. Wrong wrong wrong. It is bugging me. So I go look at a quotes page from another book from Malcolm Gladwell that I think really did it right. And I email Leonard and I say, Leonard, this page just looks wrong (keep in mind I set up the page to begin with), here are all the things I want to change.

And it is a lot.

Does Leonard bitch or moan or resent more work? No way. Leonard, who should be getting an “it’s perfect we are a go” and instead has a big corrections sheet in front of him saying “change everything,” says, You are so right, I am on it!

The thing I don’t include in the notes for changes though is justify the names of people being quoted on the right. But I have sent him a photo of the quotes page I’m looking at and basing changes on. And on that page, the names are justified right. So Leonard emails me. Do you want the names right justified?

But after pulling an all nighter I have dropped about noon and will be out cold for the next four hours.

So Leonard doesn’t hear back from me.

But Leonard knows it looks better justified right.

He just doesn’t have it in writing to do it.

So here is what Leonard does.

Leonard creates two versions of the new ePub, one not right justified in case I come back with “absolutely not,” and one right justified because even though I didn’t put that in my notes he knows it is better so he does it in a whole separate version of the ePub so it is there to go if I say “yes.” And he sends them both to me.

And four hours later when I wake up and start working again, I say, Oh yes, justified right, you are a rock star Leonard and we are a go.