In this last section of Creative Book Design, I will have to deal with the process of creating and printing a small book. I have played around with zines, art books, creating covers, typography, and so on, but I have not made a book from A to Z. Obviously the book will have to be small and in few, if not just one, copies. Thus far every time I have created booklets, I was happy to bind them myself. This time, however I plan on taking my work to someone else to print and bind in order to dip my toes into using some sort of publishing process.

The book lists two standard publishing models:

Model 1: A mainstream process used by large publishing houses.

Writer – Publisher – Editor – Designer – Production – Printer – Distribution – Retail

Model 2 : Mostly used by artists, as it allows for greater creative freedom for the concept of the book.

Artist/Designer/Author – Publisher – Editor – Production – Printer – Distribution – Retail

The job of book designers is not only to create a design best suited for the concept or content of the book, but to make sure the ideas produced at the beginning of the process remain intact throughout the production of the book. A good thing to keep in mind for later, though for the purposes of this project, I will still be doing most of the work.

To get a better idea of the types of books independent publishers, designers and/or artists can create, I looked up publishers setting up stalls at small art book fairs. The books are generally of three types:

1. Regularly bound books that may or may not have unconventional design elements when it comes to image and text

2. zines

3.  artists books which can come bound, folded, or not bound at all and kept together by some other means such as envelopes or boxes.

Small publishers always make less copies of a book than larger ones, but the zines and artists books tend to come in even fewer copies than the regularly bound ones. Many of the tables at book fairs belong to publishers who sell the work of multiple authors and artists, but some of the tables also belong to individuals or groups of artists who sell their small publications or artists books together.

Blow Up Press

Hubert Humka, Death Landscapes, Blow Up Press

An example of a mostly regularly bound book with some extra folded and loose pages.

Atlantic Press

John-Kilburn, 72 Hours, Atlantic Press

A series of three comics, each enfolded in a brown paper envelope and printed on sturdy paper. The comics are simple and feature inked images and monochromatic color schemes.

Red Haze by Emilia Wharfe

An illustrated  book with a lot of image and a little text at the bottom. It features regular binding and an interesting landscape format.

Yoffy Press

Anwyl Cooper-Willis, Lehe River of Oblivion

An artists book printed with wooden type on a single folded page and bound with Japanese stab stitching.

Anwyl Cooper-Willis, Images from a Hospital

Considering publishing model 2 again:

Artist/Designer/Author – Publisher – Editor –  Production – Printer – Distribution – Retail

Let’s cross out Distribution and Retail, considering that I do not intend to make more than one copy of the book, but if I were to make something I intended to sell in multiple copies, I would need to consider whether I would use the services of a website for selling and distributing the book. Therefore I am left with the following steps:

Artist/Designer/Author – Publisher – Editor –  Production – Printer

I will undoubtedly remain Artist/Designer, the role of Author will depend on whether or not the book has any text. I will not have a Publisher. I will also Edit, but I do intend to ask someone else to proofread (again, if text is employed).

The roles of Production and Printing I will try to direct but delegate. Hopefully, I will be able to find a digital printer willing to help me print out the project. I have printed and bound small books before, however this time I would like to work with the parameters created when one wants something printed and bound elsewhere.