Today I sent a book to print. The tool I built converts a photo into the main character of the book, adds the main character to all the pages and outputs a print ready PDF that is then sent to a print company to ship that to my house.

It proves my thesis that I can create a book that is shipped to a customer (me for now) without my direct involvement.

This comes just in time to keep me interested in the project, as I start doubting myself when a project moves from building to shipping. Especially when a lot of new shiny ideas pop into my mind all day everyday.

The result will not be a perfect book I think. Codex caught several problems before I sent it to print. I asked to have the basic things checked before printing the book.

Codex caught problems I didn’t know existed. Upscaled text that doesn’t work in print and bleed margins that were off. Codex pro-actively fixed it. I am looking forward to reading this book to my kids.

Key Insight:

The tool I built to make books knows more about making books then I do. I just need to know what to ask it to check.