MORE Fanfiction Classics! Yes I am currently obsessed with this. Don’t worry, I do have other binds in the works 😅
Berlin Angel by de_sire
Kill Your Darlings by messermoon
Stealing Harry by @copperbadge
Well on my way to a shelf full. I may have some pretty unhinged plans. I meant it when I said 2026 was going to be the year of the paperback.
All details like typesets used, access to my covers and my typesets on my Notion (it is just much easier to keep all the details in one spot for this project). Keep fanfiction free, freaky, and fuck Joanne.
There's a fanfic you love so much you'd like to have a physical copy of it? But you don't know how to make it? You've come to the right place! I'm a teacher and I've done this with my pupils (11 year olds), so you can do it, too!
To preface this, obviously this is only one of many methods to bind a book, and it's not perfect, but it's easy enough for my pupils to do it, so I thought I'd share how I do it, to hopefully help people who want to bind fanfics but have never done it before! :)
Here are some examples of what my books look like when done:
Part 1: Preparations on the PC and printing
To start off, a book is made up of several signatures, which is just a bunch of pages folded in the middle. I've found the best signatures for this method are made of four A4 (or letter format) sheets of paper, folded, so it makes 16 pages in total. But signatures of 5 or 6 sheets work well too!
That means you need to prepare your pdf to have a page count that is dividable by 16 (4 sheet signatures), 20 (5 sheet signatures) or 24 (6 sheet signatures). I usually just add blank pages to the front and back of the book until I reach a usable page count. Also check that your chapters start at the page you want (odd pages are on the right, even ones are on the left).
If that is done, you can get to printing. I print signature per signature, and use Adobe Acrobat for that. Apparently, the free trial version can do this too, so no need to pay for it if you don't have it!
The fanfic I'm printing has 320 pages, so I'm gonna print 20 signature made of 4 sheets (16 pages). I write down which pages make the signature so I can them just type them in:
Signature 1 consists of pages 1 - 16
Signature 2: 17 - 32
Signature 3: 33 - 48
Signature 4: 49 - 64
...
Signature 20: 305 - 320
Now, printing works like this:
In Adobe Acrobat, open your pdf and click on print. In the printing options, you first chose the "Booklet" option and then type in the pages for the signature you want to print (e.g. 1-16). Hit print and you'll have your first signature, which you can then fold in the middle! Repeat this step for all the signatures until you've printed the whole book. Done!
(This is just a screenshot from the web, so the numbers don't match, but my Adobe Acrobat is completely in German, so it would probably be even less helpful!)
About the paper: I use normal printing paper in a bit of a yellowish colour (looks better than the sharp white of normal paper). Printing paper has, however, the wrong paper grain, so if you have access to paper with grain in the other direction, take that instead! The results with printing paper are okayish, with maybe a few wrinkles, but nothing too bad (in my opinion, haha).
If you've got any questions or need clarification an anything, feel free to ask!
2025 was my first year as a @renegadeguild member and it was also the first year I took part in the annual Renegade Bindery gift exchange! This exchange is where we typeset and handbind a book as a gift for other members of the discord. Now all the pictures and typesets have been released, and now that my giftee (@kolutshanpress) has received the book I am able to share!
By The Still Waters is a really lovely Fenris/Hawke Dragon Age: Inquisition fic, I bound this fic blind and I had a blast doing so. I ended up making three copies of the fic, one for my giftee, one for my sister-in-law (who helped with the dragon age vibes as I knew nothing), and one for me because I loved the story so much.
I have to hugely thank the artist @kisunaexe for their gracious permission to use their art of Fenris and Hawke on the front and back cover of the bind. The cover was designed in Canva, printed on matte photo paper, and covered in soft touch laminate for protection. It is a little hard to see but the spine has ripples on it to mimic water. I really love how it all came together in the end.
For the title fonts, I used Asul and Inquisition Small Caps Normal from (or close to fonts from) the series to link the bind back to Dragon Age.
The chapter heading art is a recreation Fenris's chest tattoos, given how significant they are to the story. This was recreated with direct reference to concept art/screenshots from the series. I have done few colour typesets so wanted to have a go with a simple one to get me started here.
The spine has an oxford hollow for stability, and a rounded spine.
This was the first exchange I have ever had the pleasure to take part in and I can't wait to do it again at the end of this year!
And it is complete! I'm really happy with how this one turned out, and I finally get to have the wonderful Overgrown by @luzial on my shelf. The art I used for the cover was by Nipuni, the rest is a canva special.
If you haven't read it yet I highly recommend you do!
I'm super excited to share my new book - this one is my own writing, an anthology of my HTTYD Hiccup whump request fics, titled Hiccup Horrendous Haddock the Hurt! I'm super proud of this one - I went with purple and black because I wanted to give it a Night Fury feel, and as always, I left the pages untrimmed and used a paper label for the title. I just love that classic look!
Heyo! It's been a while since I finished this project but now I finally want to share my first fic-bookbind (after I've been politely nudged again). I did this for @winter-of-tomorrow for their incredible fic Broken Goods , which I had a lot of fun reading (and of course binding uwu), it's a really sweet and heartfelt story that I can only recommend :3
Also again thank you to Winter for sharing your fic and your appropriately unhinged reaction to recieving the gift. ^-^
Little explanation for the drawings:
1. Dustjacket illustration
2. Front cover
3. Illustration for inside the book
I had so much fun binding my first book for the @misc-marauders-fests Marauders Spring Bind Exchange!
Binding the orphaned Wolfstar fix-it fic Remain in Light for @z-eel was such a great way to learn the process, which I loved even more than I expected to. I'm already working on my next bind — it's way more fun than doing all the things I'm supposed to be working on!
Before I shipped it away, I brought it to my studio lighting class to take a few photos (which my classmate is fine with me sharing) to remember it by, and I'm so glad I did. I may not have you anymore, but I'll love you forever, little book <3
Thank you all the friends who hyped me up and kept me motivated when I was in the thick of the "blood, sweat, and tears" portion!
Finally, I couldn't have done it without the middle-aged Australian man behind the DAS Bookbinding YouTube channel. Making a case binding at 2 a.m. would have been a lot worse without this channel, and I can't recommend it enough!
