For the Love of Books

I love books, I always have...

Years ago, I often heard the well-known quip: "The Pen is Mightier than the Sword", and as a writer I believed it, and know there is a wealth of proof as given by history. While I have no intent to cause hatred or discontent, as a rather introvert, I like putting things down on paper, love the research, and love the media as a form of expression. It really matches my personality; I am easy going and so is writing; whether fiction or non-fiction, there are opinions presented, and people are free to agree or disagree often in a beautifully laid out story, something that did not exist until I nurtured and brought it forth.

I have NOTHING against ebooks, they are just not for me. I just love the feel of a good book in my hand, whether it be soft-cover or hard cover, and often look at a books construction as much as I do a books content. But with digital decay... I don't know, there is something endearing about a book in print. Long after I am dead, on some shelf, there will probably be my childrens books, novels, non-fiction and memoir, in book form for someone to pick up and read.

Today, I do not care for the traditional publishing process. It stemmies this one fact: Talent is immense all across humanity, but opportunity falls upon very few".

That is why I am such a huge fan of self-publishing. There needs to be more books in the world no matter the authors class, status, location or age. It should be as a high quality as a author can make it granted, that is an author's moral obligation granted, but ultimately it is the reader who can keep reading, or put it down, not up to a businessperson basing publishing on marketing criteria to appease stockholders.

I had this one thought after completing my first book; they have been printing books since the 1500's, why can't I do it in 2020". It was a learning curve, but now I have two hobbies: writing the book itself, but also book making. What a great hobby to have, because it is inspiring for others, and endearing, and maybe a book that is around long after I have passed.

If you have a book you want to be in print, whether it be a cookbook for immediate family for Christmas presents, or 1000 to sell; you can print your own books, as you see fit, in the format you like, in hard or soft cover, using simple stuff you probably already have around the house. You have the power and skills to put more printed books in the world.

My bookmaking story is both sad and inspiring...

I never drank, so when I worked traveling the country working for heavy industry, I would often spend time in hotels, and on my weekends and days off, instead of going to bars like my coworkers, I sat in my hotel room and used my time-off to write. This was in 1998...

Then I got married and my wife did not like the fact that my novel was about a woman that was pregnant. There is far more to the novel than that, but my wife did not like the fact that the woman was pregnant before marriage. I tried to change the book, I really did, but that was the MAIN THEME of the whole novel; I just couldn't change that without losing all the meaning of the novel.

Then on September 18th, 2020 I went to my job teaching school after having breakfast she cooked for me, and a kiss goodbye, then came home to....

NOTHING!

She cleaned the house of our furniture, kids, pets, chickens, ducks, guns, cars, bikes, food, pots and pans, dishes, cutlery, ice cube trays, tools, nick-knacks... everything and moved out of state. It was so bad I went to the store to get food, never realizing she even took the five can openers we had, including hand cranked ones. I had to cut open the can rubbing a rock around the rim of it, and thinking how bad my life had suddenly gotten.

I was hurt and mad, if I am to be honest with everyone on here. The homestead we had built from nothing, now was suddenly just me, and the huge house that rose from a tiny home years before, now meant it was just me. I was instantly underwhelmed and did not know what to do with all my free-time. So as a means of semi-getting back at her, I picked up that book out of spite, and edited it, and eventually came to the point where it was done. So now what?

Always one to do things that I can for myself, I set out to get it in print, and for me that means making something homemade that looks just like store-boughten. It took a bit or researching, but within a few months I was making soft cover books that are undistinguishable from the books you buy at the bookstore. Today, I love making hard covers even more than soft-covers, but my goal is always empowering....

To convince other people they have the skills and simple tools needed to get their own books into print. They have ideas to share, that the world needs to hear and the printed book is still an excellent media in which to convey that. Its just that today people convince themselves that it takes science, a huge checkbook, and other people to make books. It's my goal in life to empower people to print their own books.

You... yes you... the person who is reading these very words, can get your book into print! You got this!

I lost my voice this week and the reactions of my preschool students of me trying to communicate with them without using words was so funny, I want to make my own book about it. They love my oral story telling and homemade books were one of my favorite things to do with children who weren’t reading yet. They loved dictating a story to me, creating the illustrations and then having me read it to them.

Thanks for the confirmation to go ahead with the book making!

About 20 years ago some book companies started making customizable books that took your child’s photo and placed in on the characters head in the story. I plan to do this with my story but with an unusual twist…that enables me change it depending on what class I’m in. I’ll post a photo of it, if I can make it happen.

That sounds a fun idea, Alana.

Steve, I'm sorry such a sad event impelled you into self-publishing, but I agree that half the joy is in writing and editing and proofing the words, and the other half is in turning those polished words into a book. To me, writing the draft is finding the rough gemstone, editing and proofing is cutting and polishing the stone, and formatting and cover design is setting a cut gemstone into a jewellery piece. I would never pay someone else to format my books, because that's such an integral part of the process.

My best friend is one of those people who has everything she wants or needs, so gifts are a challenge.  I hit on the idea of writing dragon stories for her.  The first ones were things I put together myself, and were pretty crude -- one was in the form of a four-foot long scroll, another was an accordion-fold book, another was stapled together.

In 2015, when I first wanted to learn about self-publishing, I used a platform called CreateSpace, which was eventually bought out by KDP.  I reformatted several years of blog posts for the manuscript and created one cover for a kindle version and the other for a paperback version.  I mostly used PaintShop Pro to do the artwork, with MS Publisher as an additional tool.

Then I decided to self-publish the longer dragon stories using CreateSpace.  I never put them on the market -- I had about 50 of each printed and sent to me, which I then numbered, so they were a "limited edition".  

I finally decided to try binding a book traditionally, just to see how that was done.  I didn't have the proper tools for it, and the end result is pretty ugly, but I was satisfied I could do a good job of it if I really wanted to.  However, no way would I ever try to bind more than one of any manuscript -- it's a LOT of work!

My first novel was picked up by a traditional publisher, who let me do my own cover.  That came out in hardcover and audio.  

While I'm waiting for my editor to have his way with my current novel, I've been playing with cover designs for it.  I love doing book covers!  

Jane Mulberry wrote:
Steve, I'm sorry such a sad event impelled you into self-publishing, but I agree that half the joy is in writing and editing and proofing the words, and the other half is in turning those polished words into a book.

I too am sorry that it took the pain and frustration of an event to turned you back to book making.

A theme song I played for about a year after my ex bf decided not to reconcile and get married was “I miss me more” by Kelsea Ballerini. Though he did not walk away with my whole life, as in your case, it was the dreams of our life together.

Out of spite, I did many things he didn’t like and it felt WONDERFUL even though he didn’t know about them or see them. I felt free! The layers of loss and grief are much like an onion… you peel off one layer and there’s more but there can be beauty for ashes and joy for mourning especially when you get back to being able to be your authentic self. I didn’t realize how much I missed myself in that relationship.

I hope you are able to enjoy your authentic self in the next chapter of your journey.

Blessings,

Lif Strand wrote:I finally decided to try binding a book traditionally, just to see how that was done.  I didn't have the proper tools for it, and the end result is pretty ugly, but I was satisfied I could do a good job of it if I really wanted to.  However, no way would I ever try to bind more than one of any manuscript -- it's a LOT of work!

I don't find it to be a lot of work, but the challenging part for me is the number of steps it takes to make a book, and that can be frustrating because that means more chances for mistakes along the way. This is especially so with hard cover books, but are also immensely gratifying when done well.

The real issue for me was the drying time. I never found a good book binding glue other than White Elmer's that really worked, and it takes a while for that glue to dry, really slowing up the process. I had a plywood bookmaking jig that worked well, but only did one book at a time, so the drying time for the glue was a real problem for the longest time.

I did find a perfect bind binding machine, and really wanted to copy the design and make my own binding machine, but aspects of it I just could not think on how to build homemade. Against my generally build-it-myself mentality, I bought it off Ebay, and am reasonably happy. It cost $650, and while it can crank out 250 books per hour, and makes great books, it came with several parts missing. I scrounged around and made it work, but it was a very good purchase, I think. Simple, but glues and applies a cover, making it really fast.

I am in the midst of a mid-life crisis, so who knows, maybe my next era is to take this fledgling publishing company of mine, and do something bigger with it? As Jane said, I like what I create and would be a shame to farm that out to someone else.

I love creating books.

There has never been a more democratized time to publish your own book for the world to know about. The Internet, with print-on-demand services, and eBook distribution services, means there has never been a time in history more primed for the world to know about your message.

You can create steady income from making books as well. For the homesteading folks, there are a lot of questions about "how do you make money on the homestead???" Homesteading folks DEVOUR homesteading books. Why not make your own homesteading book? Bring your homestead that much-needed dough. Share the abundance.

The guys are physically constructing the books, too! Wow!

Traditional bookbinding is something I have always been interested in and wanted to learn, but I avoid using animal products so couldn't work with leather, rabbit skin glue, etc. I have made some simple handsewn books with fabric-covered board covers for journaling, and found it immensely satisfying.  

Jane Mulberry wrote:The guys are physically constructing the books, too! Wow!

Traditional bookbinding is something I have always been interested in and wanted to learn, but I avoid using animal products so couldn't work with leather, rabbit skin glue, etc. I have made some simple handsewn books with fabric-covered board covers for journaling, and found it immensely satisfying.  

For my hard cover books I use a fake leather that comes in huge rolls for making outdoor furniture. It’s fine but a bit stretchy so I have to “tack” the folded corners with hot glue before the spray adhesive takes hold.

But I really enjoy it. It’s really a two part hobby: writing the book and then book binding. I set my farm up as a publishing company as well so any sales/expenses are legally dealt with by the IRS

Steve Zoma wrote:  ... I did find a perfect bind binding machine, and really wanted to copy the design and make my own binding machine, but aspects of it I just could not think on how to build homemade. Against my generally build-it-myself mentality, I bought it off Ebay, and am reasonably happy. It cost $650, and while it can crank out 250 books per hour, and makes great books, it came with several parts missing. I scrounged around and made it work, but it was a very good purchase, I think. Simple, but glues and applies a cover, making it really fast.

Oh wow, I had no idea that book binding machines could be gotten off of eBay or anywhere!  It's never occurred to me to look for one.  Would it be possible to share a photo of yours, Steve?  I'd love to see it in action!

PS:  Are you using a machine that makes spiral bound books or the traditional sewn (or even stapled) books?

Lif Strand wrote:

Steve Zoma wrote:  ... I did find a perfect bind binding machine, and really wanted to copy the design and make my own binding machine, but aspects of it I just could not think on how to build homemade. Against my generally build-it-myself mentality, I bought it off Ebay, and am reasonably happy. It cost $650, and while it can crank out 250 books per hour, and makes great books, it came with several parts missing. I scrounged around and made it work, but it was a very good purchase, I think. Simple, but glues and applies a cover, making it really fast.

Oh wow, I had no idea that book binding machines could be gotten off of eBay or anywhere!  It's never occurred to me to look for one.  Would it be possible to share a photo of yours, Steve?  I'd love to see it in action!

PS:  Are you using a machine that makes spiral bound books or the traditional sewn (or even stapled) books?

No, while spiral bound books have their place, I want my books to look like real books right off the shelf of a bookstore, so mine are perfect bound soft and hard covers. This is the machine I use...

It glues the spine, then places the book block over a cover, and glues and clamps that into place.

It says 250 books an hour, and that is about right, if you have your book blocks and covers pre-printed and ready to go. Cost is about $2 per book for a 400 page, 8x5.5 inch book.

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