#fan fic binding

[mpchev]

Dissertation on Fanfiction Bookbinding — Looking for participants! [EDIT: Thank you so much, participants found!!!]

[Edit continued: I'm still sorting through emails and setting up meetings, will reply to everyone very soon, I can't even begin to thank everyone enough for the visibility that's been given to this 💜 I'll keep the updates coming as I work on the dissertation (and learn how to bookbind), in case anyone would like to follow along. For any questions about the research or comments/suggestions/resources about ficbinding, my asks are wide open. Thank you thank you thank you!!!]

Hi! My name is Marie Chevrier, I’m currently doing my postgraduate dissertation on fanfiction bookbinding, and I’m looking for people to talk to about it!

If you’ve ever taken a fanfic from somewhere online and turned it into a physical copy, either for yourself or as a gift, I’d love to know more. From printer paper stapled together to typesetting and painted edges, nothing is too simple or too complex — I’m interested in the whole process, what motivates readers or authors to bring the story to a different format, and how it’s one more way to interact with stories actively and creatively. This will be the final project of my MLitt in Folklore and Ethnology with the Elphinstone Institute (University of Aberdeen, Scotland).

What to Expect

To participate, you must be 18 or older and speak English. I’ll give you more details and answer any questions you might have via email, and will then set up individual video calls with participants (if you happen to be in North-East Scotland, we could also meet at an agreed public location). I’ll tell you more about the dissertation and explain how what you share will be used, which depends entirely on what you agree to, including if you would prefer your contribution to be credited or anonymised. I will ask you about your experience with fanfiction bookbinding and if you have some examples to show me, I would love to see them! Meetings will last approximately 45–90 minutes and take place in June 2024. You have the right to withdraw your participation at any time.

Contact Information

If you’d like to participate or have any questions, please send me an email at m.chevrier.23@abdn.ac.uk

To know more about the Elphinstone Institute, please visit https://www.abdn.ac.uk/elphinstone/

To know more about me, here's an intro post for you.

If for any reason you don’t wish to participate but still have comments/suggestions/resources/musings you’d like to send my way, please do!

[nocturnus33]

Kill your darlings by MesserMoon, a fantastic fic you could read at AO3 for free.

I love this story, and am happy to have it in my collection. That said, I can tell you that this binding was very eventful.

I think I will change my name to Not Perfct bindery. The two volumes of this book took me a long time, because I was buried in workload. It seems that every day I picked up this binding project, I made some mistake. The worst one was sewing the signatures too tightly so it was impossible to round the spine. Another mistake I made while cutting the fabric, as can be seen, the covers were in different proportions. This is my 60th binding; and I must learn that in excess of confidence lies the danger.

@sophsicle

[heyjude19-writing]

hi fandom folks: I'd like to explicitly state that I no longer allow binding my fics for commission. No money should be exchanging hands where my stories are concerned.

My full transformative works policy is here. Thank you in advance for respecting my wishes and keeping fandom free.

[hislittleraincloud]

...So as a multimedia fan fiction artist, the reports about motherfuckers stealing our work and profitting off of it on Etsy to the tune of over $150 a book (Manacled, the Dramione fic) sickens me to my core.

Fuckers like that don't understand the concept of stealing. We as fan fic authors understand it, and the bulk of us are merely borrowing characters for our own purposes. Theft occurs when you start making money off IP...even if the IP was 'stolen' to begin with.

Fan fic authors are still protected under copyright laws despite our work being borrowed characters/IP. Our works still belong to us and are still copyrighted to us. If I wanted to bind up a copy of Afterburn to GIVE to a fan, I would be in my right to do so, since it's mine and I'm not making any money off of it. But here we are, and some cocksucking asshole in Texas thinks it's alright to print a fandomer's popular work and sell it.

I know Afterburn will never, ever be popular enough for someone else to bind it and sell it...thank the gods. But srsly, this shit is insane. Don't fucking do it. Don't fucking buy a copy of Manacled, or any other fan fiction that was bound and sold on Etsy or ebay. If I ever walked into your house and saw that shit on your bookshelf, you can bet on an aggressive verbal assault about THEFT/stealing fandom work and jeopardizing ALL of us fic writers because YOU fucking bought it and contributed to the theft of someone else's work.

Fuck you if you bought a copy. Srsly, fuck...you.

....With that said, I have shit to do today that I don't wanna do, but I think the walk will give me the fuel to keep writing the Jairo I'm finishing up but god damn, this shit. What the fuck is wrong with people? What the fuck is wrong with people?

[nocturnus33]

Bindings of love 💕

Back in October last year, I started reading This is an Adjuration by @not-freyja.

By the time I had made it to chapter 5, I had already started typesetting this story as I read because I knew this would be one of those stories that I needed to have on my shelf.

When I finally caught up to the story at chapter 31, I begged the author to let me bind this when it was finished.

Nearly a year later, and what is probably the most important bind of my life is finally finished. Check out these glamour shots, and if you want to hear more about the actual binding process and about how this fic actually changed my life, see below.

So funny story, before I get into the technical side of this bind, but this fic actually changed my life. Not as in I was greatly emotionally moved by the story, though don't get me wrong I absolutely was, but genuinely this fic introduced me to some of the best people I have ever had to privilege of knowing (Hello Class, you know who you are 🩷), and also, it introduced me to Freyja, the incredibly talented author, who, as I type this, is curled up in bed next to me fast asleep after flying half way around the world to go on a two week long date with me.

Moral of the story folks is comment on the fics you like. You might accidentally meet the love of your life on, and I can't believe I'm saying this, AO3.

Anyways, about the bind!

This bind was a challenge from day 1. I had to do the typeset for this 300k word fic 4 times, and had to split it across 2 volumes. This was the longest fic I have ever attempted to bind, and it was so thick I couldn't get it in the paper trimmer.

To make this book as durable as possible, I attempted a few techniques. I secured it with 3 tapes, I made an Oxford hollow, I rounded the spine, I made a slipcase and I used 2.3mm boards where normally I use 1.8mm.

The slipcase is covered with embossed faux leather, buckram and plain ribbon, and lined with gold satin fabric. I've never made a slipcase before so this was an experience.

The books are covered with an emerald green silk finish bookcloth which really gave the books the luxury they deserved. I foiled custom end papers as well as every chapter title page using heat reactive transfer foil on toner ink (never again I am never doing that again omg it took days). Huge thank you to @la-sera for letting me use her artwork which helped inspire this fic!

The grey flashback chapters I had to use HTV for the border decoration and I'm very happy with how that turned out because it was so easy and straight forward, unfortunately it just wasn't viable for the whole book.

It feels weird to finally have these books done. They have my blood, sweat, tears and my heart poured into them, and I've been working on them for so long that it's odd to actually have them finished. I'm so proud of this bind, and feel like I've grown so much as a fanbinder by making these.

Anyways, if anyone has any questions about the process, please don't hesitate to ask!

(and if you are an Linked Universe fan and haven't read Adjuration yet, this is your sign!)

[puppiesareperfect]

people on TikTok don’t realize fic binding didn’t begin with idiots selling mass printed fanfiction on TikTok-Shop. They think it started as a negative thing ON TIKTOK😭it started on tumblr years ago as a way to appreciate authors!! It was never about selling fics, we’re AGAINST THAT HERE and always have been. I am so tired of the way TikTok rewrites fandom culture.

[darkodomain]

one of the more obscure projects i’ve been working on (i think—i don’t know how well-versed the average internet user is in danny phantom fic)

PHANTOM OF TRUTH :: HAIJU

i tried a couple new techniques on this one bc it was a smaller project so i felt i had some room to play around and while it was an immensely frustrating time working on it, i’m not unhappy with the way it turned out <3

now onto shadow of a doubt, already typesetted and printed and ready to be bound!

[egasbabindery]

My first tête-bêche binding, my first octavo, and my first time working with leather. This is a combination of two Star Wars fics I've adored for years, and which I nearly always read as a pair, so this combo seemed really natural. The stories are 'Wonderterror' by Peradi and 'Luke Skywalker. 19. Full Human.' by Samvelg. They both explore the premise of the Skywalkers as Eldritch creatures as a result of Anakin's (lack of) parentage, and they are amazing. I made an effort to reach out to both these authors for permission but received no response; if either of them request that this post be taken down, I will of course do so. But as this is a personal book for my own collection that will not be sold or distributed, I felt that showing it off was fair.

Printed on legal paper, font is Uni Neue(body text), Gearus (titles, headers, cover text), and Typographer Caps (drop caps). Images are composited from standard star wars and kraken/cthulhu conography, which is duplicated on the covers (with nearly invisible black squiddies underlying the flashy star wars logos, love how subtle they came out). Typeset in Affinity. Covers in black fairly low grade cow leather with HTV, endpapers printed from an image found in rawpixel's public domain archive, and headbands sewn on. Specifically made the bookmark ribbon long enough to run through the book twice, to potentially mark places in both fics at once.

[celestianstars]

Seriously cannot refrain from thinking about how special and wonderful it is that I have a copy of this amazing project you so beautifully put together, J!!! 😍🤩🌹 it is so so gorgeous and filled with a lot of love and just the fact that you made it with time and care makes it all the more amazing, you are sooo talented and I’m honored to have this sitting on my shelf! My friends are so incredible and I have a piece of them right here in this book! 💌

I think it's important to share something you're proud of (especially when your friends are the reason that you're so proud of it!), so - ta-da!! this is the hard work of some very beloved mutuals (along with several months of personal trial and error). every single one of these stories are a comfort fic for me, and they so kindly allowed me to make an anthology of their works!

the anthology contains 14 stories (348 pages and 111k words!!!! 💖), which were then designed/typeset/hand-bound by myself from start to finish (with permission, and individual copies mailed out to them as keepsakes).

it is so exciting to have a physical copy of some of my very favorite fics, made by such wonderful people! 💕 And I can’t wait to learn more and grow with this hobby!

[nocturnus33]

Let's talk about our fanbinding mistakes

Based on the responses of 135 fanbinders, my very informal consultation indicates that the most common errors we make are

Taking the wrong measurements. 23.7%

Messing up the case in. 20%

Finding a typo after all is said and done. 20%

Staining the book with adhesive. 17.8%

Plus, a 4,4% that said Case upside down (after making the inquiry I realized that it should be part of item n° 2 and not an independent item; duh my fault. So it is plausible to think that "messing up the case in" might be a 24,4%).

Now, let's talk about these mistakes and share our strategies to prevent them.

From my amateur experience:

To get the measurements right, in addition to measuring two or three times, I use an awl, a ruler and a square: I mark what I will cut with a fine pencil or with the awl. When I have used a thick lead pencil, sometimes I fail in a mm. The square is to make sure the angles are straight before cutting. My mistake is not always that I score wrong, but that it is not necessarily straight. Another very obvious tip is to make sure you have good lighting when measuring.

For the adhesive stains, it has helped me to always have two clean wipes within reach, one wet and one dry. I also have a Residue Eraser Rubber Cement Cleaner for when I discover it late.

And you? What helps you to overcome these mistakes? (or make fewer of them)

@renegadeguild

[heyjude19-writing]

if you could book bind yourself your favourite stories within the HP fandom (aside from your own) which would they be and why? (or if you already have, which are they? :))

If I could, I'd bind Tin Angel. Alas, I have neither the patience, skill, nor time to take up book binding.

[nocturnus33]

Perfect binding!

ANBU Legacy 4.1 - @anbu-legacy

With kind permission of the authors

Full cloth binding with title hot stamped on the spine.

case materials covers - grey board (2,4) spine stiffener - cardboard covering material - coated book cloth, black hot stamped title - heat reactive foil, silver

inner book text block paper - Munken polar, 100gsm endpapers - Chiyogami paper endbands - buttonhole silk, dark red and antique pink

Format: ~A6 (10,5cm x 14,8cm)

[etherati]

My first REALLY tiny book, a bind of Four of Swords. A sextodecimo! This lil guy is about 3" x 2 1/4" and is bound with actual cards from the miniature edition RWS deck. Because of the fun tarot imagery I'd been wanting to bind this one, but it's so short, just about 5000 words, so it had to go really little :3

Printed on pop-tone white from French, spine and sword detail done with HTV. I printed the main narrative in black and the flashbacks in blue, for visual separation, and the endpapers are of artwork done for this fic by the incredible @sandwichartistdatzu !!

[slbindery]

Apparently it’s fanfic writers appreciation day so I thought today would be a good time to share these gift binds I just finished. This may look like a bit of a Mallstars fangirl post (and I am!) but I also Appreciate (with a Capital A) Every. Single. Fanfic writer out there.

Follies of an Ornamental Hermit by Mallstars and art by Phantasmagoria

“You will absolutely drown in Harry, and it will be warm and golden and wonderful , the tea leaves seemed to say, and it was all Draco could do not to vanish the lot of them in a huff.”

This was a real labor of love to turn Phantasmagoria’s art book cover into a printable design for the HTV, especially when I’m staring at these quotes. How can you not turn into an absolute puddle with prose like this?!?

Save the Date by Mallstars

“What do you feel when you look at me?” Draco asked and Harry caught it, the shift in tense, into the present. The weight behind the question. It burned in Draco's clear eyes.

“Everything," Harry said, willing his voice not to waver, for no cough to escape his body and cut into the moment. "I feel everything.”

Time to go reread both of these fics.

[nocturnus33]

f

Finished binding my dissertation! A copy for me and a copy for my parents 🥰