Lana Ayers and I are sharing a table at the Associated Writers Conference (next week!) for MoonPath Press (Lana) and Egress Studio Press (me). We needed some sort of give-away from our table, and bookmarks were the first thing one would think of when one is part of a bookfair. But there's a lot of bookmarks at a fair like that! After thinking about it for a while, I came up with the idea of bookmark books. Since I print Egress Studio Press publications in my studio (on a laser printer), and I trim the books in my studio, too, I could use the trimmings as the pages of the bookmark books. So that's what I did.

 

First, I made a 3-page file in InDesign for 12 by 19 white coverstock. Each page held eight bookmark book covers. For the art, I used twelve cover images from books published by MoonPath Press and twelve from Egress Studio Press on the front cover of each of the bookmark books. The back cover has publisher logos and a small bit of other information. 

 

Then came the task of assembling the bookmark books. We decided that we'd like 100 each. So I began to put them together. First I cut each one of the 12 by 19 sheets, and scored it at the top hinge.

Here are the covers before sewing. 

Unassemble books.

The text weight paper comes in two colors, either a speckled light mint green or a light blue butcher paper, which come from the books I published a couple years ago.

I folded the paper in half, and inserted it into the scored and folded cover paper, and poked three holes with my awl into the hinge at the top. 

Each time I sat down to assemble these little book, I threaded a set of 14 needles.

You need good eyesight to do something like this at night in the low light I enjoy. But it's doable. Obviously.

After sewing each one, they needed to be trimmed on three sides: left, right, bottom.

The trimmer and the trimmings.

I'm planning to make some paper. I think I have the materials here to have a good start.

Sweet little books.

Piles of sweet little books.

A boxful of sweet little books.

Here's one. A side view.

Just the right size to pen a few words.

These bookmark size books are thin and just the right size to mark your place in a book, and are right at hand for you to jot down notes about what you're reading as you're thinking it. Perfect for us writers!

Stop by our table, CC7, and see all of our publications. I'll be giving a free one with each purchase at my table. Lana will decide what to do with hers when she gets them in her hands. But do stop by. I'm sure you'll enjoy our publications, and some of our poets just might be there to read a poem to you. 

 

Anita K. Boyle