Important note: This is a critical book-review and not a salesletter or an ad!
 

Number of pages

"The Perfect Binding Handbook" - 96 pages

"Easy Hardcover Bookbinding: The Booklet" - 31 pages

Format

Paperbacks (book and booklet)

Review

These two books by Chet Novicki from Hawaii are step-by-step explanations on how to make your own professional-looking paperback and hardcover books from your own home with just your computer and a few simple tools.  

"The Perfect Binding Handbook" explains how to make your own paperback books, from setting up the text to binding it, and "Easy Hardcover Bookbinding: The Booklet" explains how to make your own hardcover books, also from A to Z. Besides, Chet gives you some advice on the most suitable software to use in the process.

For years I’ve been looking for just such an simple explanation while experimenting myself and talking to several professional printers on how to do this.

You know, most self-printed books either look like terrible, amateurish attempts to make it look like a professional bound book (either paperback or hardcover). Or they are spiral-bound or assembled in a three-ring binder which is okay but still doesn't make them suitable for a retail bookshop.

If you want to print your own book, about the worst thing you can do is to try to make it look like a “real” paperback or hardbound book, if the end result is just an amateurish looking book. You’ll make yourself look like someone that can't be trusted. So in this case it's much better to make a spiral bound book than attempting to make your own paperback books that actually just looks even worse than a spiral bound book.

I've already published my own writings as spiral bound books/reports. But as I said, for years I've been looking for at way to easily print and publish your own professional looking books on demand. Sometimes (in certain connections and to certain markets) you may prefer to sell your book as a paperback instead of a spiralbound book. 

But until recently  I didn't find a way to do so.

Then some time ago I stumbled over Chet’s books. (I read about them in Monique Harris' helpful newsletter, "The Infopreneur Informer"). And they solved my problem!

To make his books, Chet uses a kind of homemade book-press machine. In "The Perfect Binding Handbook" he shows his readers exactly how to make that book-press machine by purchasing a few relatively inexpensive tools and then assembling these tools.

Chet covers everything you need to know about making your own books, using no other tools than paper, some glue, your computer, a printer (for instance ink jet) and the simple book-press machine. Yes, that's all. It's that simple!

In my opinion Chet's book is a model for writing a really helpful how-to book that causes you to get some very satisfied customers.

Chet doesn't surpass all the nitty-gritty details you need to know, but he show you exactly how to make your own book-press that'll make you as many books as you want to. He has also included a lot of helpful photographs that illustrates the text nicely.

And best of all, making books Chet's way, won't cost you an arm or take you a long time. No, the book-press Chet shows you how to make, don't need to cost you more that a good dinner for two, and you can make your books in just minutes.

Chet also gives you a resource list for making your books. He shows you where to find low-cost but effective software that'll set up your book. He shows you where to copyright your book and get an ISBN-number for it etc.

Summary

One of the biggest hindrances for selfpublishing the more traditional way (that is by selfpublishing paperbacks) is the high printing costs. But if you use Chet's method, you can make your own books on demand and only print exactly the number of books you need, and not one more than that.

These are two very good books which I highly recommend if you want to selfpublish your books in hard-print editions. 

About this author

Who is Chet Novicki? Click here for the answer!

Prices

"The Perfect Binding Handbook" - $12.95 + $3 S & H. Total = $15.95

"Easy Hardcover Bookbinding: The Booklet" - $6.95 (includes S&H by First Class Mail to US or Canada)

Buying information

Website 

http://www.gigabooks.net

Snail mail

Gigabooks, 
P.O. Box 90674, 
Honolulu, HI, 
USA 96835