How to Create A Book DIY

Have you ever wondered before: “Where does books come from?” or “How do people make books?” When our children ask, it would probably take more than a day for us to explain on how books land our favorite bookstores in multiple copies. While we try to explain each step, they will shoot another question, we will explain, and the cycle goes on.  

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At an early age, all of us have tried making our own book. Compiled our drawings, scribbles, little notes, letters and others. We have given some to our parents, grandparents, friends, relatives, classmates, teachers and the rest of the people around us. We used to adore how we glued our notes together not realizing how messy it is until today. During school years, we have prepared projects in book form, compiled thesis and during Arts subject, we were somehow asked to do one. Let us show our little ones how to make a book from scratch. Making your own book is also a nice way of giving a customized gift or to preserve something that you wanted to keep long term. Whatever it is, you can always prepare a printed copy for you. These are some guidelines in creating a book by yourself from layout, printing and binding.  

1. Content

Decide on the content of the book. It can be the following:

• family recipes
• school papers
• artworks
• short stories
• organizer
• baby’s growing up photos
• thesis
• doodles
• memorabilia and others

 

2. Layout

You need to choose the size of your book. You can either use an A2 paper and fold it multiple times, or an A4 and fold it once. Ensure that pages will land in order. Note: Total pages should be multiple by 4’s. There are some tools found in the net to help you layout your books professionally. The simplest way is to create a book using Word. The trick is to use ‘book fold’ found in Page Layout.  

3. Cover

They say, “First Impression Lasts.” Whether you will just keep the book at home, a customized gift or sell it online, always give time in preparing your book to have the best possible cover. You will never know where will it land or how many families will this reach. Make the title readable and achieve to have a catchy illustration.  

4. Paper

Prior to printing, decide on the type of paper you will use. You need to do a little research and you will be surprised to find a lot of options to choose from. To narrow down, decide whether it is going to be matte or glossy. Next is the thickness. Print shops may have limited type of paper, so better check it first with them. If you will do it at home, of course there are several bond paper and specialty papers available in bookstores.  

5. Front Cover

Front covers should be firm and thicker. Do you want your cover soft or hard? You will be needing the basic materials: cardboard, pen, scissors, ruler, cutter, cutting board and clips Tip: To make your books appear laminated, purchase some frosted sticker from home depot and wrap your covers for extra protection.  

6. Binding

You have several ways how to bind your book. Do it at home:

• stitching (a lot of ways or create your own)
• stapled (applies to small books)
• screw-post binding

Services offered in shops:

• saddle-stitching / stapled
• stapled
• ring bind
• wire or spiral binding
• glued
• perfect binding

Whether you will do this book binding at home or school, important to have adult supervision. When doing this in front of your kids, maintain a good distance from the pointy objects. After you fisnish the design of the prtinting version book, you can try to use Flip PDF and convert it into a page flip book. Flip PDF intergrated with powerful tools that enable you add media and hyplinks in your publication. Enjoy and start making your first book!