Now we wait to inspect it before going to press…

Dear Friends and Supporters, Fellow Pilgrims All,

I am most happy — thrilled would not be too strong a word, actually! — to report to you that my editor at St Tikhon’s Monastery Press notified me late Monday morning that he had sent the book file (including the dust jacket design) to the printer to order the Final Proof Copy to be printed.

This is the penultimate step in the publishing process, and effectively places us on the launch pad. When the proof copy comes back from the printer (about three weeks from now), we will each (my editor and I) make our final passes, inspecting it for any possible spelling and grammatical mistakes, punctuation, typographic issues such as spacing and such, format issues, and of course review the images themselves for accurate reproduction in the printed form.

As much as we had put into our inspections and edits over the last few weeks to prepare to send it for the final proof copy, you would think there wasn’t much remaining to be done, but as we made our final passes late last week we each noticed some issues which needed to be addressed. I found a group of four B&W images across a two-page spread which needed some tonal adjustment to match similar images throughout the book, and my editor detected spacing issues in the Table of Contents text which he quickly corrected. Both those issues were caught at the end of last week, so we completed our edits on Friday, the updates to the book file being made Monday morning after which the file was sent to the printer, one business day later than our targeted February 2 date.

I feel especially pleased with how the Table of Contents turned out, and am resisting the strong temptation to show it to you now, but I am under an embargo from sharing page spreads from the actual book before its official release. I can tell you that the collaboration between my editor and myself has been incredibly rewarding, and the TOC effectively crowns the book as a result. I love how it turned out, and believe that the image and design we created launches the book in a way that has impact and drama, and is personal and engaging for the viewer. Hopefully you’ll agree once you receive your copies and can behold it spread out in front of you.

As always, my sincere thanks for your support, prayers, and patience for the North American Thebaid Pilgrimage and Book Project. Watch for more updates soon as the Final Proof Copy arrives and as we go to press. 

As a reminder, pre-orders are still being accepted. I will announce the end date for pre-orders once we receive the proof copy. See below for details and links.†

Yours in Proof Mode,

zosimas

† Pre-Order Notes:

• Pre-orders of The North American Thebaid book are still available for a limited time at The Thebaid Store.
• Discounts available for multiple copies of both the Standard Edition and the Deluxe Limited Edition.
• The Deluxe Limited Edition (Leather-bound, signed & numbered, with signed and matted print) is available only by pre-order for a limited time. 
• Signed copies of the Standard Edition (with a signed and matted print) are available by pre-order.
• The signed and matted 8×10 prints are only available by pre-order bundled with the book, and will not be available separately either before we go to print, or afterwards. There are currently no plans to offer individual Thebaid prints for sale.
• Pre-orders will be shipped before retail channels receive their copies for resale.
• Upon publication, the Standard Edition will be available through the STM Press Bookstore, and through other online and ‘brick and mortar’ resellers.
• Contact STM Press with queries about discounts for resellers and church bookstores.