# Dad Knows™ Mowing and Basic Lawn Maintenance — 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™ Mowing and Basic Lawn Maintenance
**Subtitle:** You don't need a perfect lawn. You need a yard that works — for
the kids, for the dog, for a Saturday.
**Byline:** Aaron Byers · A Dad Knows™ Guide
**Price:** $4.99 (matches the rest of the series since 2026-08-15)
**Built:** 2026-09-18 (second title of the 19-book catalog expansion to reach
packaging — this package mirrors the Cookouts pipeline exactly, which was the
pattern-setter).

## What to upload, and where

| File | Where it goes | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| `Dad-Knows-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.pdf` | **Gumroad** — the product file on the Gumroad listing | The full ebook, 6″ × 9″ trade trim, 105 pages, 1.4 MB. Full-bleed cover, title page (title + subtitle + tagline), "What this book is" (p. 3, no ToC entry), the owner's Foreword (546 words, pp. 4–5, signed "— A Dad Knows™ — AB"), copyright page, clickable 2-level contents (pp. 7–12, Foreword as entry 1, then Chapters 1–16 with their subsections), all 16 chapters, 10 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 cut height, timing window, fertilizer rate, and safety rule traces to the verified Ohio State University Extension (Ohioline) sources in `mowing-lawn-research-notes.md` — where the research publishes no number, the book says so. |
| `Dad-Knows-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.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 10 diagrams embedded with alt text, metadata: title "Dad Knows™ Mowing and Basic Lawn Maintenance" / Aaron Byers / en / Dad Knows™ / dc:date 2026-09-18. |
| `cover-mowing-lawn.jpg` | **Amazon KDP** — Kindle eBook cover upload | 1600 × 2560 px JPEG, quality 90 (matches the 1.6:1 KDP ebook cover ratio). |
| `cover-mowing-lawn.png` | **Gumroad** — product cover art (and used inside the PDF/EPUB) | Same cover, PNG, 1600 × 2560. |
| `cover-mowing-lawn-square.png/.jpg` | **Gumroad** — product image (Gumroad requires square) | 1280 × 1280 square re-balanced layout of the same cover, not a crop. |
| `cover-mowing-lawn.svg` / `cover-mowing-lawn-square.svg` | Archive | Editable vector sources (navy/amber brand style). |
| `mowing-lawn/preview-mowing-lawn.html` | Owner review only — open in any browser | Cover + interior QA renders (title, Foreword, copyright, contents, diagram pages, closing page) + all 10 diagrams. QA images live in `mowing-lawn/qa/`; diagram links point at `mowing-lawn-images/`. |
| `mowing-lawn/qa/` | Owner review only | Page renders used by the preview page and QA checks. |
| `mowing-lawn-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 Mowing (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 cut height, timing
window, and fertilizer rate from Ohio State University Extension research, with
gaps stated rather than invented (there is no soil-temperature number for the
crabgrass pre-emergent — the forsythia-bloom cue is used; no sharpening angle —
the operator's manual is used; no mower-injury statistics — the verified
blade-speed and no-riders rules stand in their place).

## File details

- **`Dad-Knows-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.pdf`** — 105 pages,
  1,489,612 bytes (1.4 MB), 6″ × 9″ (432 × 648 pt). Pages: cover, title,
  "What this book is" (p. 3, renders identically to a chapter but gets no ToC
  entry), Foreword (owner-written, 546 words, pp. 4–5, 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, pp. 7–12: Foreword → 4, Chapter 1 → 13, and every
  chapter's subsections indented), then Chapters 1–16 (Ch 16 closes p. 105).
  Chapter headings in navy with amber rules; page numbers in the footer; all
  10 diagrams at the text width (356 DPI effective) with italic captions,
  placed inside the chapter each illustrates (Ch 2: four grasses p. 20; Ch 3:
  pH window p. 25; Ch 4: mower parts p. 26; Ch 5: one-third rule p. 31 and
  cut-it-right p. 33; Ch 6: grasscycling p. 38; Ch 9: mower safety p. 50;
  Ch 10: watering p. 58; Ch 11: fertilizer timing p. 67; Ch 16: tug test
  p. 99). Fonts embedded (DejaVu Sans, DejaVu Sans Bold, Liberation Sans
  Italic). 105 pages for 19,697 approved words + 546-word foreword + 10
  diagram placements — consistent with the series density (Cookouts: 102 pp /
  19,850 words; Camping & Fishing: 102 pp / 22,657 words). No tables in this
  manuscript.
- **`Dad-Knows-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.epub`** — 1,138,151 bytes
  (~1.1 MB), EPUB3. Validated: `mimetype` stored and first (content
  `application/epub+zip`), 24 XML files parse, `OEBPS/content.opf` with 34
  manifest items (11 images = 10 diagrams + cover), every manifest href exists
  in the zip, every `<img>` exists in the zip AND the manifest (11 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™ Mowing and Basic Lawn Maintenance",
  creator "Aaron Byers", language "en", publisher "Dad Knows™", cover-image
  property + `<meta name="cover">`.
- **`cover-mowing-lawn.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™ Mowing and Basic Lawn
  Maintenance" (white three-line block, verified inside the frame safe zone:
  bbox 405–1199 px at 1600 wide), the book's own stated target as the subtitle
  (three balanced lines), the tagline "For the kids, not the judges.", "Aaron
  Byers" byline, and the lawn motif: a walk-behind rotary mower on a striped
  lawn with grass catcher, handle and grip, amber clippings and sparks. Reads
  clearly at thumbnail size.
- **`cover-mowing-lawn-square.png` / `.jpg`** — 1280 × 1280, same style,
  re-balanced for square (title verified inside the frame: bbox 344–939 px).

## 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-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.pdf` as the file → set cover
   art to `cover-mowing-lawn.png` → set the product image to the square
   (`cover-mowing-lawn-square.png`) → price $4.99 → paste the description
   blurb (from the storefront task).
2. **Amazon KDP:** new Kindle eBook → upload
   `Dad-Knows-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.epub` as the manuscript →
   upload `cover-mowing-lawn.jpg` as the cover → price $4.99 → paste the
   description blurb.
3. After the Amazon listing is live, replace the "coming soon" card for Mowing
   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_mowing_lawn_md.py` — inserts the owner's
  Foreword (`mowing-lawn-foreword.md`, provenance HTML comment stripped)
  between "What this book is" and Chapter 1, inserts the 10 diagram placements
  at their chapter anchors, converts the `- [ ]` quick-check checkboxes to
  clean bullets, and strips the internal `## Diagram Specs (10)` tracking
  section. The approved manuscript and foreword are never touched.
- Cover: edit `cover-mowing-lawn.svg` → render with
  `rsvg-convert -w 1600 cover-mowing-lawn.svg -o cover-mowing-lawn.png` →
  `convert cover-mowing-lawn.png -quality 90 cover-mowing-lawn.jpg` (square:
  `-w 1280` on `cover-mowing-lawn-square.svg`).
- PDF: `python3 build_pdf_mowing_lawn.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_mowing_lawn.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-Mowing-and-Basic-Lawn-Maintenance.pdf ../mowing-lawn/qa/preview-ml-page`
  (then refresh `mowing-lawn/preview-mowing-lawn.html` page labels if page
  numbers changed).

## Why the Cookouts-style builders were used

Mowing and Basic Lawn Maintenance 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 Cookouts/coparenting pattern). It has **no `# Part N` dividers (the only `#`
heading is the book title, which the parser skips with the front block), and no
tables**, so the build scripts are copies of the Cookouts pair
(`build_pdf_cookouts.py` → `build_pdf_mowing_lawn.py`,
`build_epub_cookouts.py` → `build_epub_mowing_lawn.py`) with the paths, book
constants, front-title list, copyright page, and metadata swapped. Prep differs
from Cookouts only in the diagram count (10 vs 8) and the anchors: the approved
manuscript carries the diagram specs but not the physical image lines — so
`prep_mowing_lawn_md.py` inserts the placements (alt text = the diagram's own
spec) and strips the specs section.