remove placeholder directories and create them as needed

.gitignore

@@ -1,12 +1,8 @@
 .DS_Store
 extracted_texts/**
-!extracted_texts/.gitkeep
 intermediates/**
-!intermediates/.gitkeep
 cover_briefs/**
-!cover_briefs/.gitkeep
 for_gemini/**
-!for_gemini/.gitkeep
 raw_ebooks/**
 config.json
 config.json.lock

ReadMe.md

@@ -36,7 +36,7 @@ to check accuracy.
 - [ ] Specify ETA when sending a prompt (1.5-8 minutes depending on length). (Show as end time as well as relative time.)
 - [ ] option to delete input files or intermediate files at end of each operation step
 - [ ] make script resumable instead of having to restart per book
-- [ ] instead of placeholder directories, `mkdir -p` should be used to only make them when necessary
+- [x] instead of placeholder directories, `mkdir -p` should be used to only make them when necessary
 - [ ] dry run to estimate total time before running full script, print starting ETA
 - [ ] Build a list of files to work on and current states before doing anything by looping over source directories
 - [ ] Combine everything into one script to manage things