I wrote and edited a book over the course of 12 months. I took the ‘completed’ manuscript and made it a ‘book’ pdf. I used helvetica almost throughout. I designed a color cover that seems to work. It’s a ‘suggestive’ picture I took of a slice of life.
Equipped with these materials, whenever I want to make a run of books, I xerox my ‘master’ manuscript and print some color covers on card stock.
Next, I set my press up on our kitchen table.
I use a box cutter and a blue cutting board to slice each sheet in half.
I score the cover with perfect measurements to create the spine.
I take my scored cover and the ‘cut’ manuscript’ and put both into a jig I built.
I clamp the ‘spine’ into place and pass the tip of a bottle of gorilla glue along it several times.
I spread the glue with a mixture of q-tip and toothpick.
I set the contraption on the edge of our kitchen table to dry.
~20 minutes later I have a perfect bound copy of Austin Nights.
Each time I fold the back cover into place I feel very good, like I’ve done something literary.
This is my idea of DIY (& indie) publishing.
