The Bookbinding Bolshevik: how to print and publish your own literary masterpiece
ByBarry Rachin
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The Bookbinding Bolshevik: how to print and publish your own literary masterpiece
at minimal expense and have tons of fun in the bargain
So you’ve written the great American novel or a collection of short stories and nobody gives a hoot. Why not take all that pent up aggression (i.e. directed at the insufferable publishing industry and its mindless lackies) and channel it in a positive direction?
A two- or three-hundred page manuscript can be printed fairly quickly on a desktop printer (i.e. I used an inexpensive HP deskjet model that prints on two sides of a single page). Using a bone folder or flat stick, the pages can be folded into six-page signatures which will hold the front pages, table of contents and body of the text. The ten to fifteen signatures are then sewn together in a snug packet using traditional bookbinding techniques. It’s that simple! Well, not really.
For anyone unfamiliar with the craft of bookbinding, I suggest you check out the following website: http://www.hollanders.com. This company sells everything the novice bookbinder might need by way of supplies - linen thread, PVA glue, tools, bookcloths, do-it-yourself bookbinding manuals, etc. For less than a hundred dollars you are in the bookbinding business!
In this rather topical article I don’t want to discuss the fine points of putting together a book by hand. This material is expertly covered in the numerous books on the subject available through public libraries and specialty companies such as Hollanders. I used a do-it-yourself manual off the shelf of the North Providence Public Library. I don’t remember the title, but the musty tomb had to be conservatively fifty years old and long out of print. Fortunately, traditional bookbinding methods are fairly standard and produce surprisingly professional results.
Please note the following:
1.) while a person could easily print, collate and bind a hard cover book by hand in a single day, you will never be able to assemble more than a handful of books in any given week. The process may by incredibly fulfilling on a personal level, but it is also extremely time consuming. Think of bookbinding as a labor of love rather than an alternative to Random House.
2.)Certain processes require creative thinking coupled with personal ingenuity. That doesn’t mean you have to forego a colorful dust jacket or gold lettering on the spine. After considerable experimentation (i.e. a less noxious term for trial and error) I discovered that I could print titles and my name on both the front cover and spine using a heavy weight paper setting on my inkjet printer. The results were quite professional and eye catching. Also, the front edge does not need to be trimmed as described in various manuals to produce a professional product. Many established publishing companies forego the trimming in favor of a decorative ‘feathered’ edge.
3.) Formatting a book on 8˝x11-inch paper is fairly easy but you will need a desktop publishing program like Microsoft Publisher to divide the page in half (i.e. landscape layout) and choose an appropriate font (I opted for Garamond #11). Pagination follows traditional methods which are explained in most every bookbinding text.
4.) My first few binding efforts were rather primitive, but over time I refined my skills to the point where I was putting together two- and three-hundred page hardcover books using high quality bookbinding materials. A librarian at one of the local libraries in Rhode Island where I donated a copy of my short story collection, The Misfit Motel, commented that the book was quite attractive and of noticeably better quality than the majority of ‘self-published’ books arriving at her branch. Stories from my short story collections can be found at:
http//:www.shortstoriesgalore.com
Barry Rachin
October 9, 2008
My short stories can be found at the following wesite: http://www.shortstoriesgalore.com
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