Next up in our Meet the Team series is Ron Bilodeau, ABA’s book producer. He tells us about what he does when he’s not busy producing books, what he’s reading now, and a little advice that’s always stuck with him.

ABA: What do you do at A Book Apart? What did you do before joining the team?

Ron Bilodeau: I work on converting the final manuscript document (usually in Word) to an InDesign file that can be used to then create print files and all digital versions. I build the files so that they can be exported to print PDF, web PDF, EPUB, and MOBI formats, all from the single InDesign source file. For my full time day job, I’m a production and design specialist for O’Reilly Media, inc—and I’ve been working with them for just about fourteen years.

ABA: Where do you live and what do you love about your home?

RB: I live in Bridgewater, MA with my wife and three children. Our neighborhood has lots of other families with lots of kids to keep my little ones busy.

ABA: What’s the first thing you do every morning to start your day on the right foot?

RB: I give my wife a kiss and help get the kids ready for school. And when I can fit it in, I go for an early morning run.

ABA: When you’re not working, how do you like to spend your time?

RB: Running, biking, playing with my kids, date nights with my wife, and family/neighborhood barbecues. I also love sports and music and I like to attend as many concerts and games as I can.

ABA: What book have you read and loved lately?

RB: I am currently reading Doctor Sleep—Stephen King’s sequel to The Shining.

ABA: What traits of yours are you most proud of?

RB: Personally, I like to think that I am a good husband, father, son, brother, and friend. Professionally, I am an excellent problem solver and I work well either on my own or as part of a team.

ABA: What tool, object, or ritual could you not live without to get you through a week?

RB: Being around my wife. Her ability to organize our lives so that we are able to successfully balance work, school, sports, other extra-curricular activities, and family time is nothing short of amazing. We do it together, but she is the architect.

ABA: Is there anyone you’re following the work of right now, who you’d recommend others pay attention to?

RB: My good friend Nellie McKesson (who is also the person who connected me with ABA in the first place). She has been working tirelessly to build her automated publishing tool, Hederis. I have known and worked with Nellie for many years now and have no doubt that she will turn Hederis into a very successful platform.

ABA: Is there a piece of professional or life advice you’ve gotten that has always stuck with you? What is it?

RB: Fail forward fast! I try to apply this to every new project that I take on. Not every project will prove to be successful, but even the failures will leave you with lessons learned that will ultimately help with future projects.

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Get to know more of the people who make A Book Apart go—check out the rest of our Meet the Team series!