Chapter 57: Crooked Seventh Line
The printer had swallowed the seventh line, and with it the only clever thing left on my cover.
On Wednesday morning, the faulty bound proof stood upright in North Quay's production review.
Four millimetres of the diagonal mark vanished into the hinge.
At shelf distance, the seventh line looked merely shorter rather than deliberately crossed out.
The production manager first asked whether my locked artwork had exceeded the safe area.
The asset archive overlaid its approved coordinates on the physical measurements. The locked cover hash matched the file I had signed.
My file remained inside the documented boundary.
North Quay's paperback template had applied an outdated spine allowance after binding thickness changed.
The template, not my designer's locked position, created the shift.
The printer estimated £1,150 for corrected plates, setup and a new physical proof. Its quotation separated fault correction from optional finish.
Charging that sum to me would reduce the material budget attached to shop presentation.
Leaving the line crooked would damage the independent identity the buyer test had validated.
I requested written responsibility before approving another production change.
The manager produced the template version, thickness input and automated placement log. No author edit had touched those values.
All three placed the fault inside North Quay's production process.
At 09:26, the publisher accepted TEMPLATE RESPONSIBILITY — £1,150.
The charge entered its production correction account, not my PageTurn order or personal costs. The ledger named North Quay as responsible payer.
No equivalent money or exposure moved to the opposing project.
Responsibility paid for correction; it did not purchase me an upgraded edition.
The provisional production specification still included one planned silver-foil pass.
North Quay had added it after the plain-cover test as a possible shelf finish. It remained provisional and had not appeared on buyer proofs.
Correcting the plate and retaining foil would push the new proof into Thursday.
The six-day sign-off buffer had already lost half a day to the page signature.
A standard ink treatment could be replated and sampled before close of business.
Silver would catch light around my name and the crossed line.
It would also make the book feel more like a gift edition than the restrained cover I chose.
I deleted SILVER FOIL from the provisional specification.
The title, seventh line and my name would print in dense charcoal ink instead.
The change reduced finish, not paper quality, page count or locked design geometry. All factual and author fields stayed untouched.
North Quay recorded my waiver separately from its acceptance of the £1,150 fault. One record could not cancel the other.
Giving up foil did not excuse the publisher's template error.
It exchanged a luxury process for same-day delivery of a corrected sample.
At 11:04, the printer generated new plates with the current spine allowance.
The production archive stored measurements, photographs, responsibility notice and plate order.
I watched the first corrected cover emerge under the inspection camera at 14:38.
The seventh line stopped safely before the hinge.
Its diagonal strike remained visible when the book stood closed.
The charcoal surface lacked the bright flash marketing had expected.
It also matched the cover's original promise of restraint.
I approved the standard-paperback cover and signed the replacement proof.
The production slot remained on conditional hold. No press run began.
North Quay closed the cover defect without charging my personal account.
At 16:02, the print-ready checklist turned green for cover and page order.
One distribution condition arrived before I could close the review.
An Irish distributor had entered a prospective first order against Saltmere.
The quantity field showed six hundred copies.
Beside it, the commitment status remained amber rather than paid or final.
The distributor's note contained no complaint about the missing foil.
It said only: SUBJECT TO ACCEPTABLE RETURNS TERMS.
The corrected cover had preserved the slot; the next risk would arrive after the sale.