1. A Short History of The Chapbook.
2. The Details... What Exactly IS a chapbook?
3. How Do I Plan my Chapbook for Publishing?
4. I Don't Like Staples... Can't I bind it some other way?
5. What about cover designs, fonts for the inside, all that stuff?
6. Ok, Enough of the Technical Stuff, What Does it Cost?
7. I'm Interested in getting a chapbook, How do I contact you?

A Short History of The Chapbook.

The word "chapbook", although not officailly given that term until the nineteeth century, basically meant a small book containing popular literature that sold for a small amount of coin. These books usually contained works of short fiction, children's tales, romance, ballads or poetry and may have also been accompanied with rough woodcut illustrations. These were the comic books of the time, the escapist's dream as it would give children and adults alike a chance to escape reality, and delve into the world of the fantastic and romantic.

Today, chapbooks have made a huge comeback with the onset of the information age... computers. With a simple desktop workstation and a high speed printer (along with the knowledge of layout and design), the new poets and fiction writers of today can self-publish or have themselves published fairly inexpensively.

The Details... What Exactly IS a chapbook?

A chapbook is generally a paperback covered, 5.5" x 8.5" book (an 8.5" x 11" sheet of paper folded in half) which is stapled at the spine. They are usually anywhere between 8 - 64 pages in length (in multiples of 4 as you get 4 pages per sheet of paper) and may contain a thank you page, dedications, table of contents and "about the author page". They can be printed on almost any type of paper you can print or photocopy on, colored, textured, handmade (suggested paper weight is 20lb for folding purposes) etc... and may contain illustrations or graphics depending on your printer or publisher. The cover is usually printed on a heavier weight (thicker) paper and can be decoratively enhanced with color graphics or other means.

How Do I Plan my Chapbook for Publishing?

The first step is to sort through all that writing you have done. You may want a theme, so pick content that flows well together... if you want a chapbook that describes how you felt when your previous significant other left you, then choose alot of sad/angry pieces to print. If you want a chapbook that describes your positive view of the world, choose content that reflects this as well. If you are publishing a short story, try to be sure you have all the chapters layed out properly and indicate if there are any illustrations and make sure you know where they need to go. If you are publishing poetry, please remember that the page is only so long and wide, so plan to see your longer poems break across two or more pages or lines (each page can contain approximately 32 lines per page and 64 characters per line (including spaces). Lastly, think of your optional pages such as "table of contents", "dedications" and "about the author" and make sure you know what will go on these pages before you gather everything together to send to the publisher or, if you're doing it yourself, the layout program.

I Don't Like Staples... Can't I bind it some other way?

There are plenty of ways to bind your book... from perfect binding to hand-binding your own book with hardcovers and spines. Below is a small list of a few of the methods with brief explanations.

Staple Binding - The cheapest and fastest way of binding your chapbook. Basically it is one fold, 3 staples and you're done.

Coil Binding - This is a continuous metal or plastic coil that weaves through your pages and holds them together. Remember back to when you were in school and had those coil bound scribblers (I think they were made by 5-Star)... that's the coil binding method.

Plastic Comb Binding - This is a continuous and durable plastic bind that allows the book to be layed flat (like coil binding does as well).

Velo Binding - This is common on legal and business documents. This bind is a thin strip of plastic down the spine that holds the pages together.

Perfect Binding - This is the type of binding that you see on almost all paperback books these days. It involves an expensive machine, hot adhesive, and lots of money. Unless you are doing a run of thousands (or possible 500) and really want to invest in your book, then don't do this until you have a good following or just enjoy risks.

Hand-Bound or Hardcover - In my opinion, the ultimate way to go if you want a unique chapbook. But don't get into this unless you are either doing a small run or have a great amount of time on your hands. Doing your own binding is a great hobby and can yield amazing results, so do not write this method off your "possibilities" list.

What about cover designs, fonts for the inside, all that stuff?

You pick the designs and the fonts that you want for your book. The cover can basically be anything you want (photo, simple text, illustration), but remember that there are extra costs to do graphics, full color, photos etc. As for fonts, if you are going through a publisher, they will most likely give you font choices from a list as they know that the proper font will make the difference between being able to read what you wrote and not being able to read it. Fonts are a trick thing as many people go for looks before legibility. Just remember that your publisher or editor will always give you the right advice when it comes down to technical details like font, font sizes and layout.

Ok, Enough of the Technical Stuff, What Does it Cost?

A chapbook is a difficult item to put a pricetag on, especially for myself and the team at Sinnersphere Productions. Many places will set a pricelist and make a bunch of restrictions on it (no color, only text etc...). We here at Sinnersphere like to keep all options open to you so you can create a unique chapbook that will showcase, not only your writing, but you, as an author. So, we have come up with a list containing chapbooks we have already done and the costs to publish them.BUT... remember that everything is NEGOTIABLE... from design to layout to color to illustration and we will give you a quote for your chapbook that reflects what you want to publish. If you want something special, let us know and we will accomodate it, and give you a personalized quote.

Layout, Editing and Printing Cost

I'm Interested in getting a chapbook, How do I contact you?

Funny you should ask... why don't you send us an e-mail right NOW? info@sinnersphere.com