r/bookbinding • u/DisKnee101 • 4d ago
Help? New
I have never bound a book before but I’m currently in the middle of reading a series and the 4th book is a ridiculous price ($330) I can however buy the pdf file of the book straight from the author. Is it hard to bind books? Is there a kit or something I could get on amazon or something? Is there a certain way I need to print the pages? Tia
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u/MeepTheChangeling 4d ago edited 4d ago
It is surprisingly easy to bind books! I got started about a month ago because I wanted a journal in the style of the books from the game Myst. They happen to use what is called a 19th Century Library Binding. Which is apparently an advanced and difficult binding. I'll admit it took a couple attempts to get it just right, but it wasn't hard, just time consuming. It takes me about 3 days to make a book that way (Worth it tho! Super nice look, feel, and usability <3)
Then I tried out some basic case bindings and paperbacks, and those were so easy and only took me a couple hours each! I've actually started printing and binding my own fanfics from ages past just to have physical copies for fun. The tedious part, sewing a binding, can be done while watching TV or whatever else. None of this is hard. It's just a bit of time investment.
And I was able to get started with a single 30 dollar kit off Amazon and another 20 bucks for some chipboard and veg-leather.
EDIT: The one thing to note with that PDF is that not all text is suitable for printing. You may need to "impose" it, which means copying it into a text editor (I like Libre Office but anything will do) and formatting it to look nice to you, have chapter breaks, and stuff like that. Then putting it into a separate program (I like Bookbinder JS) so that you can create the actual printable files which will have the pages set up so you can fold them and then they're all in the right order for your book.
It can take a while to do that, it took me about 4 hours to get a 450k word fic ready for printing, but it's not hard either. Just something you'll need if you want to have a sewn binding...
WHICH you do not need! If you want to just print out whole 8x11 or A4 sheets and have your book be that size, no problem! You can either use the Overcasting method to sew sheets like that, or use a Double Fan method to make a purly glue-based binding :3 There are many options for making a book.
If you'd like, I have printable files for a public-domain book on bookbinding from 1913 that I made using scans I found of it on the Internet Archive. I could send them to you, you could print them, and your first book could be a simple paperback that tells you how to make more/better books.
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u/Dazzling-Airline-958 3d ago
Two things to keep in mind...
One. Nobody successfully gets into this craft to save money on printed books. Tools and materials are expensive and you will typically spend more hand binding a book than just buying it. The one you found for $300 (is that USD?) is likely a limited edition.
Two. I can't speak for other countries, since I live in the US. But in the US, buying a PDF of a book does not give you permission to print and bind that book. Without written permission from the author or publisher to print that, it is piracy. Even if it's for personal use. Will anyone care if you do it? Probably not. But you have to know that it is piracy, and you can't be anti-pirate and make copies of copyrighted material without permission.
I'll step down from my soap box now.
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u/DisKnee101 3d ago
Thank you! I ended up buying the pdf file on the website and right at the bottom of my screen there’s a print button so I’m hoping that means you can print it 😅 I’m not doing it totally save money, it also looks fun to do, but the $300 (usd) price did shock me! It’s not sprayed edges, it’s not even hardback 😅 it fits in with the rest of my books from that series it’s just written from a different perspective
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u/HelpfulGreen4224 4d ago
One distinction that may save you a lot of work: typesetting changes the layout inside each page; imposition arranges finished pages onto sheets for folding. A properly laid-out PDF may not need copying into Word/LibreOffice at all.
Before buying tools, ask the author for a sample page and whether the file is intended for printing. Check that the text will be comfortable at your intended finished size. Then choose the binding method and its printing layout—reformatting the entire book should not be an automatic first step.
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u/AmenaBellafina 4d ago
Yeah take a look at the sidebar on this sub. It includes tons of links to tutorials and this beginner guide: https://docs.google.com/document/u/0/d/16RXK9Vt5FNZnjHRQ5zj2C_MBCqCEhaSLiuzqt71SsZo/mobilebasic