# Dad Knows™ Cookouts — Publish Package

**Status:** package build complete. Storefront wiring on dadknowsguide.com is a
**separate later task** — do not edit the storefront from this package.

**Title:** Dad Knows™ Cookouts
**Subtitle:** The cooking you do in a backyard on a Saturday, with kids running
around and somebody's dog under the table.
**Byline:** Aaron Byers · A Dad Knows™ Guide
**Price:** $4.99 (matches the rest of the series since 2026-08-15)
**Built:** 2026-09-18 (first title of the 19-book catalog expansion to reach
packaging — this package sets the pattern for the rest).

## What to upload, and where

| File | Where it goes | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| `Dad-Knows-Cookouts.pdf` | **Gumroad** — the product file on the Gumroad listing | The full ebook, 6″ × 9″ trade trim, 102 pages, 1.3 MB. Full-bleed cover, title page (title + subtitle + tagline), "What this book is" (pp. 3–4, no ToC entry), the owner's Foreword (506 words, pp. 5–6, signed "— A Dad Knows™ — AB"), copyright page, clickable 2-level contents (Foreword as entry 1, then Chapters 1–16 with their subsections), all 16 chapters, 8 diagram placements at print quality (356 DPI) with captions, every chapter ending in a "Dad Knows quick check" block (plain bullets — the `- [ ]` checkbox markers are stripped for print). No Sources page: this manuscript carries none; every temperature, time window, and safety rule traces to the verified USDA FSIS / NFPA / USFA sources in `cookouts-research-notes.md` — where the experts publish no number, the book says so. |
| `Dad-Knows-Cookouts.epub` | **Amazon KDP** — Kindle eBook manuscript upload | Reflowable EPUB3, ~1.1 MB. Cover image + cover page, title page, "What this book is", Foreword, copyright, clickable TOC (nav — Foreword + 16 chapters + subsections; "What this book is" intentionally excluded to match the PDF contents), all 8 diagrams embedded with alt text, metadata: title "Dad Knows™ Cookouts" / Aaron Byers / en / Dad Knows™ / dc:date 2026-09-18. |
| `cover-cookouts.jpg` | **Amazon KDP** — Kindle eBook cover upload | 1600 × 2560 px JPEG, quality 90 (matches the 1.6:1 KDP ebook cover ratio). |
| `cover-cookouts.png` | **Gumroad** — product cover art (and used inside the PDF/EPUB) | Same cover, PNG, 1600 × 2560. |
| `cover-cookouts-square.png/.jpg` | **Gumroad** — product image (Gumroad requires square) | 1280 × 1280 square re-balanced layout of the same cover, not a crop. |
| `cover-cookouts.svg` / `cover-cookouts-square.svg` | Archive | Editable vector sources (navy/amber brand style). |
| `cookouts/preview-cookouts.html` | Owner review only — open in any browser | Cover + interior QA renders (title, Foreword, copyright, contents, diagram pages, closing chapter) + all 8 diagrams. QA images live in `cookouts/qa/`; diagram links point at `cookouts-images/`. |
| `cookouts/qa/` | Owner review only | Page renders used by the preview page and QA checks. |
| `cookouts-draft-packaged.md` | Archive | The build-ready manuscript produced by the prep script (approved manuscript and foreword are never touched; the foreword's provenance comment is stripped from the build source). |

## Blurb note

A Gumroad/Amazon description blurb is NOT included in this package — it follows
in the storefront/metadata task for Cookouts (the same later task that wires the
dadknowsguide.com product page). Reuse the manuscript's honest framing for now:
sixteen short chapters, plain language, real numbers — every temperature, time
window, and safety rule from a government food-safety or fire-safety source,
with gaps stated rather than invented.

## File details

- **`Dad-Knows-Cookouts.pdf`** — 102 pages, 1,374,349 bytes (1.3 MB),
  6″ × 9″ (432 × 648 pt). Pages: cover, title, "What this book is" (pp. 3–4,
  renders identically to a chapter but gets no ToC entry), Foreword (owner-
  written, 506 words, pp. 5–6, signed "— A Dad Knows™ — AB"), copyright (the
  standard four lines — no legal-advice paragraph, this is a practical guide),
  contents (2-level with real page numbers: Foreword → 5, Chapter 1 → 13, and
  every chapter's subsections indented), then Chapters 1–16. Chapter headings
  in navy with amber rules; page numbers in the footer; all 8 diagrams at the
  text width (356 DPI effective) with italic captions, placed inside the
  chapter each illustrates (Ch 2: grill types p. 20; Ch 3: 3-foot zone p. 26;
  Ch 4: leak test p. 30; Ch 5: chimney starter p. 35; Ch 6: heat zones p. 40;
  Ch 7: temperature chart + probe placement pp. 44 & 47; Ch 15: 2-hour rule
  p. 97). Fonts embedded (DejaVu Sans, DejaVu Sans Bold, Liberation Sans
  Italic). 102 pages for 19,850 approved words + 506-word foreword + 8 diagram
  placements — consistent with the series density (Camping & Fishing: 102 pp /
  22,657 words; DIY: 102 pp / 18,115 words). The one temperature table (USDA
  safe minimum internal temperatures, 3 columns) renders with a navy header
  row.
- **`Dad-Knows-Cookouts.epub`** — 1,107,517 bytes (~1.1 MB), EPUB3. Validated:
  `mimetype` stored and first (content `application/epub+zip`), 24 XML files
  parse, `OEBPS/content.opf` with 32 manifest items (9 images = 8 diagrams +
  cover), every manifest href exists in the zip, every `<img>` exists in the zip
  AND the manifest (9 unique refs, all with alt text), 21-item spine in the
  book's front-matter order (title → cover → What this book is → Foreword →
  copyright → Chapters 1–16), nav with `properties="nav"`, not in the spine,
  listing the Foreword + 16 chapters + subsections and excluding "What this
  book is" (matching the PDF contents). Metadata: title "Dad Knows™ Cookouts",
  creator "Aaron Byers", language "en", publisher "Dad Knows™", cover-image
  property + `<meta name="cover">`.
- **`cover-cookouts.png` / `.jpg`** — 1600 × 2560 px. Deep-navy (#0b1220)
  background, amber (#f09a05) accents, amber D brand mark in the navy square
  with the "Dad Knows™" wordmark, title "Dad Knows™ Cookouts" (white line,
  verified inside the frame safe zone: bbox 473–1127 px at 1600 wide), the
  book's own opening line as the subtitle (three balanced lines), the tagline
  "Fire, food, and the people you feed.", "Aaron Byers" byline, and the book's
  grill/fire motif: a kettle charcoal grill with amber flames and smoke, a
  burger on one side, long-handled tongs on the other. Reads clearly at
  thumbnail size.
- **`cover-cookouts-square.png` / `.jpg`** — 1280 × 1280, same style,
  re-balanced for square (title verified inside the frame).

## Price note

- List the book at **$4.99** on both Gumroad and Amazon KDP (matches the rest
  of the series).

## Suggested upload order

1. **Gumroad:** create/edit the product → upload `Dad-Knows-Cookouts.pdf` as the
   file → set cover art to `cover-cookouts.png` → set the product image to the
   square (`cover-cookouts-square.png`) → price $4.99 → paste the description
   blurb (from the storefront task).
2. **Amazon KDP:** new Kindle eBook → upload `Dad-Knows-Cookouts.epub` as the
   manuscript → upload `cover-cookouts.jpg` as the cover → price $4.99 → paste
   the description blurb.
3. After the Amazon listing is live, replace the "coming soon" card for
   Cookouts on dadknowsguide.com with the real product link (storefront work —
   **separate task, do not edit the storefront from this package).

## Regenerating (for the team)

- Packaged manuscript: `python3 prep_cookouts_md.py` — inserts the owner's
  Foreword (`cookouts-foreword.md`, provenance HTML comment stripped) between
  "What this book is" and Chapter 1, inserts the 8 diagram placements at their
  chapter anchors, converts the `- [ ]` quick-check checkboxes to clean
  bullets, and strips the internal `## Diagram Specs (8)` tracking section.
  The approved manuscript and foreword are never touched.
- Cover: edit `cover-cookouts.svg` → render with
  `rsvg-convert -w 1600 cover-cookouts.svg -o cover-cookouts.png` →
  `convert cover-cookouts.png -quality 90 cover-cookouts.jpg` (square:
  `-w 1280` on `cover-cookouts-square.svg`).
- PDF: `python3 build_pdf_cookouts.py` (reportlab; routes the manuscript's own
  "What this book is" and "Foreword" sections into the front matter between
  the title page and the copyright page — "What this book is" gets no ToC
  entry, the Foreword is ToC entry 1; strips the manuscript's front-matter
  Copyright/TOC blocks automatically).
- EPUB: `python3 build_epub_cookouts.py` (same front routing; nav excludes
  "What this book is" to match the PDF contents).
- Preview renders: `pdftoppm -png -r 100 -f N -l N Dad-Knows-Cookouts.pdf
  ../cookouts/qa/preview-ck-page` (then refresh `cookouts/preview-cookouts.html`
  page labels if page numbers changed).

## Why the coparenting-style builders were used

Cookouts has the manuscript's own front sections — "What this book is" and the
inserted "Foreword" — that must land between the title page and the copyright
page, with the Foreword as ToC entry 1 (exactly the coparenting pattern). It has **no `# Part N` dividers (the only `# heading is the book title), so the DIY/sportsmanship part-divider machinery is not needed, and the lone temperature table is a plain 3-column table handled by the coparenting variant's generic column widths (`COLW[3]`). So the build scripts are copies of the coparenting pair (`build_pdf_coparenting.py` → `build_pdf_cookouts.py`, `build_epub_coparenting.py` → `build_epub_cookouts.py`) with the paths, book constants, front-title list, copyright page, and metadata swapped. Prep differs from Camping & Fishing: that manuscript carried its diagram lines physically, cookouts carries only the specs — so `prep_cookouts_md.py` inserts the placements (alt text = the diagram's own spec) and strips the specs section.