#fanfic binding

My personal goal is to try and make fanfic binding as accessible to everyone as possible, so here are some resources on how to make a fanfic hardcover for under $25.

This is a barebones bind for the broke college students and such. Happy to field questions, too!

Here's a proposed budget breakdown:

Loosely organized thoughts:

Fanfic bookbinders often share typesets amongst each other. Never pay for a typeset for a fanfic. (A typeset is shorthand in fic binding circles for a fanfic that has been formatted/designed and paginated like a book, to be printed out.)

You'll hear a lot about grain direction for your printer paper, but as a newbie on a budget without your own printer, settle for some nice 92 bright or cream colored paper. If you like the hobby, splurge after but expect to pay at least 2-3x more for short grain paper.

Printing is a pain because some copy shops won't let you print intellectual property smut, and it's very expensive. You are better off bartering instead or looking for a free printer on Buy Nothing.

You know the thick paper wrapping that comes with online orders? It's a good weight for endpapers if you need to scrounge. Paper grocery bags or gift bags (birthday presents) might work, too.

Ask your local library to give you covers from books they are throwing out. Ask for outdated textbooks (those covers are built like tanks) or three-ring binders that are too busted to be binders anymore.

Obtain a used book that was mass produced (so your destruction of it does not impede anyone's access) and maybe even become a little vindictive with it.

If you can afford it, I recommend the Olfa SVR knife (~$10)

If you can afford it, upgrade your ruler to a t-square.

(Links to Amazon products above are affiliate links)

I really hope this resource is helpful! I want to stress how possible this is and encourage people to cherish what they love through art.

Midnight Strangers by Mitos (@seriouslycalamitous)

It’s finally done!!! This is officially the thickest book I’ve bound to date, coming in at 828 pages (796 of the fic itself). The Oxford hollow + bradel combination worked so well to support the textblock’s weight, and the foiled faux leather is super pretty, so I’m really happy with how everything turned out! I’ve learned a lot over the course of binding this that I will absolutely be using for my next thick bind.

Thanks to Mitos for writing such an amazing fic!

More pictures under the cut :)

So I’ve finally finished creating my own physical copy of “Beyond Repair”!!!! ❤️❤️❤️

Thank you to @manofthepipis for allowing me permission to create this and @ink-ami for the cover art.

At first, I wanted to bind it myself, but I ended up getting help from Office Depot instead. It ended up being cheaper than I expected (and I also got a refund after they messed up the page order. 😂)

More photos of the book:

How to bookbind your fanfic!

Part 1: From AO3 to printing

The necessary first step is turning your AO3 fanfic into booklets. Your whole book will be a bunch of booklets piled on top of each others and stitched together.

Booklet examples:

Btw, this is the official Word tutorial on how to make a booklet.

You can see there are different options. I usually do 8 pages, which is what you will see in the video. This means that a booklet of 8 pages is two sheets of paper, printed front and back, folded and one put inside the other. To have your word pages in the correct order you will need to format your word document.

Everything is in the video but here is the text for easy reading (btw the fanfic I used is Exit by schwutthing, an amazing Valjean/Javert fic)

Do not download the fanfic on AO3. Click on "Entire work" and copy paste it on word.

Format your word document. Click on File-> Margins. Select "Multiple pages: Book fold" and "Sheets per booklet: 8". Put "Gutter" to 1cm.

Double click on the empty area just above your text, on a random page of the document. This will make the "Do not download the fanfic on AO3. Click on "Entire work" and copy paste it on word.

Format your word document. Click on File-> Margins. Select "Multiple pages: Book fold" and "Sheets per booklet: 8". Put "Gutter" to 1cm.

Double click on the empty area just above your text, on a random page of the document. This will make the "Header and Footer" option appear. You can click on "Footer" and select the format for the pages' number. Always add the pages number, it will make your life easier.

Now you can justify your book. I usually justify (select all text with CTRL+A and click on Justify), but keep in mind that some documents might not enjoy passing through "justify" so double check your final document. For example, if there are lines of poetry and the author wrote into the next line without starting a new paragraph the justify option will make it weird.

Make your book pretty! I added some illustrations and blank pages. I also made the title of the fanfic bigger.

Fix the chapters' titles and notes. I clicked on Home-> Find and searched for "Chapter", so I could select on each chapter title and make it bold, and also delete the "Chapter text" added just after. You can do the same with "notes" in case you want to delete notes.

Now it is time to print! I prefer to save in pdf before, so I will do that.

IF YOU HAVE A PRINTER THAT DOES NOT PRINT BOTH SIDES

Click on print

Select "Microsoft print to pdf"

Select "Manually print on both sides"

This will create two different files pdf, one for the front pages, and one for the back pages.

Click on the file for the front pages and print them all. Do not panic if you see the pages number all over it.

Now take your printed (only on one side) block of pages and load it into your printer again, making sure that you will now print on the blank back. Open your back pages pdf file and print.

(you can do a trial with a few pages to see if everything is lining up correctly).

IF YOU HAVE A PRINTER THAT PRINT BOTH SIDES

"Click on print

Select "Microsoft print to pdf"

Select "Print on one side"

This will create a single pdf that you can print on your both-sides printer. You will see that the page are not in the order you had on the word document, but the whole file will start with page 8 (see video).

Now print!

What you want is this:

You can see that on the front you have page 8 first, page 1 after, because when folded it will end up with page 1 at the start of your booklet! And on the back of this first sheet you have 7 and 2, that will end up in the correct position.

Now you will have a lot of pages... time to fold and create your booklet! Every two sheets... you will fold as you see above.

One Elephant at a Time by fundlebundle

"The flame cast strange shadows on his face and made the Dark Mark dance on his pale skin. It had been ten years since he’d last seen Draco Malfoy."

It's hard to believe that I started working on the typeset for this bind in October of last year. Nearly eleven months later, I have finally managed to bring my vision to life.

This bind has a foiled cover and spine, hand sewn silk endbands, and edges that have been painted and gauffered. It also includes my first attempt at a hollow.

You can find more pictures and information about my process under the cut.

***this fic is an unfinished WIP on Ao3***

A Thing with Wings by paperpuffin (@clockwayswrites)

with art by @isolabellz

This story is truly one of the most unique fics I have ever read! It is an absolute masterclass in temporal storytelling where one point of view moves forward in time while the other moves backwards...

In this fic Ilya and Shane spend four months playing hockey in Switzerland during an NHL lockout, suddenly sharing not only a hockey team but also a house, routines, a life. And then abruptly need to return to their separate realities.

Already while reading I knew that I absolutely wanted to bind this story and immediately envisioned a Switzerland-focused cover design. Which was further inspired by the Swiss flag mug that Shane remembers as one of the things he collected while living in Zürich.

And then luckily I stumbled across the absolutely gorgeous and special art that @isolabellz created for the fic - look at those Zürich skyline vibes and the whole NYE scene comic, I mean.... Thank you so, so much for letting me use your pieces!

I really like that not having a Cricut or the option to print on canvas always challenges me to get creative with my covers - this time I chose to use stickers for the title which mirror the block font of the typeset and the cutout made it possible to still show the art on the cover.

Anon author, wherever you are - thank you for this absolute masterpiece that will stay with me for a long time!! [and also thank you for inspiring me to get out of my binding hibernation and motivating me to make my second ever typeset]