In publishing parlance, the book block is the entirety of a book’s interior, front to back. The term arises from the fact that, after they are printed, stacked, and trimmed, a set of interior pages looks like, and is treated as, a block before and as it is sent to the bindery department.

Roan’s book block has been frozen after final review, and I’ve sent the source files and print-quality PDF files to Robert. All that remains now is to set up the cover flat, the front cover, back cover, and spine as one poster-like Adobe® Illustrator® file. A few elements remain for that—most importantly a template showing the exact dimensions of a hardback cover for a 260-page US letter-size book. That requires at least the preliminaries of setting up the print job.

We’re close now.

—Dave Bryant, Catspaw DTP Services