Poorly Printed Small Press Book

I'm not going to name the author, title or publisher, but I recently received a small press short story collection through the post and, quite honestly, if I had been the publisher I would have sent it straight back to the printer with an angry message.

It must be one of the worst printed books I have ever come across. The pages have been gummed in a most peculiar way, both too tight, so that the book is difficult to open, and unevenly, so that the parts of the pages nearest the spine have wrinkled. It is not a pleasant book to read, not because of anything the author has written, but because it is difficult to hold open and creaks in protest when you leaf through it. On top of this a small number of the pages near the middle jut out along the outermost edge like a blunt knife blade.

No printer's name included in the book, but definitely someone to avoid.

Which is a real shame, both on the small press that is trying to get itself established and on the author who, if their copy is as bad as mine, can hardly feel satisfied with what they have got.

As I say, the publisher really should not have been willing to accept such sloppy work from the printer and should have had the guts to send any copies like this back to them. I just hope mine is an aberration, though I doubt it.