#Fanbinding

[starblightbindery]

My personal goal is to try and make fanfic binding as accessible to everyone as possible, so here are some resources on how to make a fanfic hardcover for under $25.

This is a barebones bind for the broke college students and such. Happy to field questions, too!

Here's a proposed budget breakdown:

Loosely organized thoughts:

Fanfic bookbinders often share typesets amongst each other. Never pay for a typeset for a fanfic.

You'll hear a lot about grain direction for your printer paper, but as a newbie on a budget without your own printer, settle for some nice 92 bright or cream colored paper. If you like the hobby, splurge after but expect to pay at least 2-3x more for short grain paper.

Printing is a pain because some copy shops won't let you print intellectual property smut, and it's very expensive. You are better off bartering instead or looking for a free printer on Buy Nothing.

You know the thick paper wrapping that comes with online orders? It's a good weight for endpapers if you need to scrounge. Paper grocery bags or gift bags (birthday presents) might work, too.

Ask your local library to give you covers from books they are throwing out. Ask for outdated textbooks (those covers are built like tanks) or three-ring binders that are too busted to be binders anymore.

Obtain a used book that was mass produced (so your destruction of it does not impede anyone's access) and maybe even become a little vindictive with it.

If you can afford it, I recommend the Olfa SVR knife (~$10)

If you can afford it, upgrade your ruler to a t-square.

(Links to Amazon products above are affiliate links)

I really hope this resource is helpful! I want to stress how possible this is and encourage people to cherish what they love through art.

If you are interested in fanfic binding and have a little more disposable income, I have an affordable Fan Fiction Bookbinding Starter Pack that I carry on my site. I pack them myself and drop them 1x/month on the 15th.

[cuteknightbindery]

This is a mock cover of the absolutely amazing PaperPuffin (A03) or @clockwayswrites (tumble here) of her recently started Danny Bruce fanfic A Thing with Wings. Thank you so much PaperPuffin!

This is heavily inspired by the cover of a very specific cover of grief is the thing with feathers (see below) that, as soon as I read the 2nd chapter of the fic, I suddenly had a feeling of deja vu and went searching for... and found!

At the monet the cover only has two quotes on the front but the plan is too add more as the chapters update because there will be no shortage with such a fantastic author!

This was designed using the original art of the ink drawn bird which has been very slowly added too with various elements from Canva. It took about 1 hour and 15 minutes with changing all the colours around as I wanted them and trying and cutting things (I originally had more floating eyes but did not like them).

I have designed it with the same format so it is a wrap around. I really like this fic so far and tbh I'd never even considered Danny Bruce but now I see it. Love the whole idea of it all and can't wait to read more.

Keep fanfic free!

[niennanir]

Listen to your elders

So last week I posted abut the importance of downloading your fic. And then three days later AO3 went down for 24 hours. No one was more weirded out by this than I was. But while y’all were acting like the library at Alexandria was on fire I was reading my download fic and editing chapter eight of Buck, Rogers, and the 21st Century. And also thinking about what I could do to be helpful when the crisis was actually over.

So first off, I’m going to repeat that if you’re going to bookmark a fic, you really need to also download the fic and back it up in a safe place. I just do it automatically now and it’s a good habit to get into.

But let’s talk about some other scenarios. Last October I lost power for over a week after hurricane Ian. Apart from not having internet or A/C I did find plenty to do, I collect books so I had plenty to read, but maybe, unlike me, your favorite comfort reads aren’t sitting on a bookshelf. So let’s do something about that, shall we?

In olden times many long years ago around 1995 we printed off a lot of fic. It was mostly SOP to print a fic you planned to reread and stick it in a three ring binder. And that’s totally valid today too, but you can also make a very nice paperback with a minimum amount of skill and materials.

Let’s start with the download; Go to Ao3 and select your fic, we’ll be working with one of mine. This method works best with one shots, long fic tends to need a more complicated approach. Get yourself an HTML download

Open up the HTML download and select all then copy paste into any word processor. Set the page to landscape and two columns, then change the font to something you find easy to read, this is your book, no judgement. This is all you have to do for layout but I like to play a little bit. I move all the meta, summary, notes to the end and pick out a fun font for the title: 

No time like the present to do a quick proofread. Congratulations, you’ve just created your first typeset. On to the fun part.

Now you’re going to need some materials:  8.5x11in paper ruler one sheet of 12x12 medium card stock (60-80lb) scissors pencil pen or fine tip marker sheet of wax paper white glue two binder clips 2 heavy books or 1 brick butter knife

You’ll also need a printer, if you’re in the US there is almost a 100% chance your local library has a printer you can use if you don’t have your own. None of these materials are expensive and you can literally use cheap copy paper and Elmers glue.

Print your text block, one page per side. Fold the first page in half so that the blank side is inside and the printed side out:

use the butter knife to crease the edge. Repeat on all the sheets. When you’ve finished, stack them up with the raw edge on the left and the folded edge on the right. I used standard copy paper, because you’re only printing on one side there’s no bleed to worry about. Take the text block and line everything up. Use the binder clips to hold the raw edge in place.

Wrap the text block in the wax paper so that the raw edge and binder clips are facing out. I’m going to use my home built book press but you don’t need one, a brick or a couple of books or anything else heavy will work fine.

Once the text block is anchored down, take off he binder clips and get out the glue.

You can use a brush but you don’t need one, smear some glue on that raw edge.

Go make a margarita, watch The Mandalorian, call your mother. Don’t come back for at least an hour

In an hour smear some more glue on there and shift your brick forward so that the whole book is covered. This keeps the paper from warping. While glue part 2 is drying we’ll do the cover. Get out your 12x12 cardstock

Mark the cardstock off at 8.5 inches and cut it. Measure in 5.5 inches from the left and put in a score line with the butter knife (the back edge not the sharp edge)

Carefully fold the score line, this is your front cover. You have some options for the cover title, you can use a cutting machine like a cricut if you have one, you can print out a title on the computer and use carbon paper to transfer the text to the cardstock. I was in a mood so I just freehanded that beoch. Pencil first then in pen.

Take your text block out from under your brick. Line it up against the score mark and mark the second score on the other side of the spine

Fold the score and glue the textblock into the cover at the spine. Once the glue dries up mark the back cover with the pencil and then trim the back cover to fit with your scissors.

Voila:

I’m going to put this baby on the shelf next to the Silmarillion.

The whole process, not counting drying time, took less than an hour.

If you want to make a book of a longer fic, I recommend Renegade Publishing, they have a ton of resources for fan-binders. 

[duran-binding]

I just realized I can put my YouTube videos on here. I made a tutorial! Check out my channel too cause there's edge decoration tutorials on there as well :)

[undefinedkosmos]

Quick little fanbinding of The Steve Rogers Problem, by @relenafanel . Go read the fic and heap praise on it, for it is wildly funny and also has tumblr-style sekrit identity shenanigans. Fantastic typeset by @catspawbindery , my contribution to this creative effort was to choose vaguely-Captain America- inspired colors as Steve(actor) plays Cap(fictional character).

[chubsonthemoon]

AHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!! Crying sobbing so so overwhelmed with love and gratitude because @perexcri gave me the BEST birthday gift ever??? She bound my fic a luminary, no one and I can't stop holding it <3333. She chose the most gorgeous celestial-themed paper for the cover, AND hand-painted the lighthouse bookplate, AND hand-wrote the blurb on the back?? AHHHHH

I'm just! It's so beautifully and thoughtfully made!! If this is what it feels like every time an author I love sees and holds their bound work, made physical, then I am never, ever going to stop fanbinding. My words, made real!! Tangible!! Gosh. This feels like magic. This is magic. Am feeling overwhelming love for fanfiction and fan crafts and communal art and friendship in this chili's tonight!

Thank you so so much for the best present ever friend AHHHH ilysm <333

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding: Searching Ceremonies Series by KouriArashi

Binds #26-30

The Searching Ceremonies by KouriArashi ( @gingersnapwolves )

Date Completed: 06/08/2025

Size: 5 Folios.  589,985 words.

There are several series on my to-bind list and I had no idea how to approach a project like that.  So in my time-honored tradition I just decided to dive in and see what happened along the way.  The Searching Ceremonies were a nice middle ground in the number of stories/volumes so it became my guinea pig.

I ended up with five flatback volumes bound with mystery Amazon bookcloth, some scrapbook paper I’ve had in my stash for about 15 years, and shiny blue HTV from the Dollar Tree, and I’m pleased as punch with the results.

Typesetting was the most challenging part of the process but also the most visually uninteresting.  I went with a very no-frills look with Times New Roman as the body text and Bodoni for the titles and headers.  If you ever try something like this in a word processor like LibreOffice Writer I would recommend getting all your settings exactly right with the first story, then save a copy and use that to copy/paste the second story in for volume two.  At that point it should just need a few tweaks to get both typesets looking alike.  Do not decide in the middle of formatting the fourth story that you actually don’t like the border you put around the titles and chapter headings, and then have to go back and remove them and fix the spacing on four books.  Ask me how I found this out…

(The borders weren’t too bad, but they gave the whole thing a 1950s academic journal, which wasn’t the vibe I was going for.)

[bluejayblueskies]

Pharmakos | 24Hermione

[ID: Six photographs of a hand-bound book from various angles, showing the exterior and interior. The exterior is bound in blue cloth with silver wave details, as well as printed cardstock with the summary, title (Pharmakos) and author name (24Hermione) pasted on. The edges are splattered with silver and blue paint, and the endbands are sewn with silver and blue thread. The endpaper has blue and silver marbling that looks like water, and the title page, summary page, and chapter title pages have light blue wave graphics on them that match the cover. The chapter title pages also have blue dropcaps that are filled with a wave pattern. /End ID]

.

The first of my binds for this year's Fandom Trumps Hate event is Pharmakos by 24Hermione (@phoenixphire24)! I had a great time collaborating with Phoenix on this bind and working with yet another RQG fic. The fic has heavy ocean/nautical themes, so we went with an ocean-inspired bind. The graphics/cover details are all take from public domain artwork, and the endpapers were printed onto cardstock (my first time printing my own endpaper design! I was super happy with the quality of them).

I recently got a black and white laser printer in addition to the inket I own, and I love the crispness of the text I was able to achieve with it! I feel like there's so much less bleed through the paper (something that constantly vexed me with the inkjet), and it printed in probably a quarter of the time it would have taken my inkjet to do it. And I can still do color typesets--I just printed the black text using the laser printer, then printed the color accents separately using the inkjet! Excited to experiment with toner-reactive foil as well once I have the money to get a laminator.

Overall, I'm pleased with how this bind turned out--I really like the old classic book feel to this one, and the silver foil on the cover really shines in person!

[armoredsuperheavy]

Adoro te devote by Linguamortua

Adoro te Devote by Linguamortua (@lingua-mortua)

Kylo is twenty years old, a second-year seminary student passionately devoted to the idea of a life in the priesthood. Beneath his bookish exterior, he has an alarming fixation on the concepts of self-discipline and martyrdom. In another time, he might have a been a monk in some warrior order, or a Jesuit priest travelling the world.

When he’s rewarded for his hard work with the responsibility of teaching a class at a Catholic prep school, he meets Hux, a tearaway rich kid who will challenge Kylo’s faith and shatter his self-control. Kylo knows that a torrid sexual affair with a seventeen year old will end his chances of becoming a priest, and yet for one intense, humid summer, it’s all he can think about.

Visu sim beátus tuæ gloriæ by Fraxiinus A brief coda taking place after the events of linguamortua’s Adoro te devote.

Why bind this?

The fic is great. Gets you right in the feels. Gorgeous work. But beyond that, once again we have one author inspiring another, an example of the way fandom feeds itself. Also the fic features Kylo as a seminarian, and this gave me an excuse to play with religious motifs in the design of the book.

Binding details

Title: Liturgisch

Body: Adobe Garamond Pro.

Faux news articles in Times New Roman with headers in Cheltenham Condensed.

Dead Dove Publishing logo endpapers in gold.

A very rite of reconciliation purple Duo bookcloth on one copy.

Copy 1/2 of 2. Fanbinding project #154 completed in December 2024 by ArmoredSuperHeavy, Dead Dove Publishing.

To learn how to bind books and engage in fandom as a quietly radical and subversive practice come join us at Renegade Bookbinding Guild.

[thingsidrawgohere]

Alright. I'm calling it done before it kills me. This is Second Head. It's an Art Book containing instances of the phrase "second head" in fanfics found on AO3. I'll explain much, MUCH more in the cut.

So when I say 'art book', I mean this is an intrinsic piece. I have no motivations aside from personal amusement and interest in outcome. A lot of money was lost/transmuted into free frustration in this project and I have no claims, obviously. I will prolly be the only person alive to read this.

THAT SAID. I have noticed in my years reading fanfic, there's a few linguistic shibboleths that arise in authors who also have experience in the mines. I think there's not a soul alive who hadn't wandered across a 'ministrations' when reading Narutos oral sexing. There's- Hold on. Here's some pix.

There's an impulse, I think, to in-group even when performing a creative act. A feeling that there are certain ways one Should go about the act, by virtue of seeing it performed that way. Especially so when 'training' at the act is often just Doing. Double Dog Especially when the act is exclusively for oneself with very little oversight. Which is to say, we make what we see and we make what we think we should make. At least, at first.

Now, I've been noticing 'grew a second head' (to insinuate surprise) in fanfic for some time. I've never seen it used Outside of fanfic. (Edit to add: I am not making the argument the phrase is from fanfic. Nor do I Believe it is from fanfic. Jesus Hopping Christ, people. That's not what this project is about.) That may speak to my own bad habits but it got me curious. So a friend and myself downloaded a mirror of AO3 from July of 2024. He did some code- Stuff to scan the mirror for "second head" and of the ~13 million works, ~70k (English) results were returned. That's a rounding error, honestly, but Far FAR more than I expected.

This book is 401 such examples that I personally selected for a variety of reasons. The number itself was arbitrarily chosen. Each page is separate fic, the roughly 300 words around our key phrase.

I don't think repetition or mirroring is a negative thing. I think it's quite charming. Nor do I think it's a sign of a 'bad' artist or 'bad' art. I think it's a signifier of personhood, of belonging, of enthusiasm. Of culture shared and wishing to share. I think it's real sweet. I always smile when I catch a 'grown a second head' in a work.

And it's really fucking funny when it's John Sherlock getting a sloppy toppy. Bless.

Edit: Fixed a very VERY funny error.

Edit: I am not making the argument that the phrase is exclusive to fanfic or, fucking forbid, FROM fanfic. I'm stating this Again because we skim here. Also- If you would like slamdunk my ass by stating the phrase predates the Internet or your GenX parents use it, please use 'sailboat' in your comment so I know you're specifically trying to kill me.

Edit Edit: You know what? Fine. I DO think this phrase came from fandom. I think ENGLISH came from fandom. I think YOU came from fandom. I think EVERYTHING came from fandom. The Sun, the Moon, the Seas- Fandom. Specifically Sonic Mpreg. The second head was Shadow the Hedgehog crowning. Congrats!

[jonphaedrus]

got frustrated about phd rejections and broken glasses. couldn't sleep. learned to bookbind. thursday with adhd. @insecateur did the cover for me because they are The Best and also i didn't have anything much else to do with the cover. this is a bit janky because for one thing our printer doesnt print two sided, but for doing this entirely essentially for free? im very happy with it

[phoenixortheflame]

Bound: Far From The Tree by aideomai

Typeset and bound by: me, @phoenixortheflame Ft. art by: mims bindery

The arrival of Harry Potter’s children—snapped back in time, the children themselves guessed, twenty or so years—was the most interesting thing to happen at Hogwarts for years.

Wheres my Soup-pocalypse bind came together in a mere few days, this one I agonized over for months.

You win some, you lose some.

I made this bind for @maleekamolscreates as part of our twins exchange, which we set in motion the day we found out we share a birthday.

I didn't plan to make another sci-fi themed Drarry bind, the chiyogami endpapers kind of dictated the direction. And I couldn't not use these endpapers. I mean... come on.

I opted for a nearly entirely monochrome exterior, save for the title which is layered offset HTV. If you look closely, you can see a wavy texture on the bookcloth mimicking the pattern of the endpapers, which is just matte black HTV.

I don't love the way the HTV turned out, and if I had to do it again I would have left the cover entirely blank. Maybe include a black-only title on the spine. But conceptually I dig it, and hopefully Mally does, too.

The edges are painted with black acrylic ink and the endbands are hand-sewn with black silk thread using DAS's Two Colour Front Bead Headband tutorial.

I finally managed to find short-grain cream paper in Canada (ty, Canada Papers!), which really elevated the typeset in my opinion.

Typeset art is by mims bindery (ty, mims!).

There are two pieces for this bind: the twins and a second piece (so avert your eyes if you don't want any spoilers!)

I opted to use red thread for the text block because, uh, it looks cool?

I was a big baby during this whole bind, so I must thank my emotional support crew who helped me troubleshoot and talked me off the ledge more than once: @citrusses @epitomereally @sits-bound @jtimu

I also DM'd a bunch of other pals with cupped hands begging them to feed me morsels of praise throughout the process, so ty @faiell @its-the-allure @smehur @edieblakee @the-forbidden-forest. ILY ALL VERY VERY MUCH.

[pleasantboatpress]

so, you wanted to start bookbinding?

so @princetofbone mentioned on my post for "factory settings" about wanting to know more about the binding style that i used for it. so i thought i might make a post about it.

i was as terrible as i always am for taking in progress shots, but i can link you to the resources i used in order to make my book. i would also like to point out that "factory settings" is my 120th bind, and i have been doing bookbinding as a hobby for just over 3 years now. unfortunately this means some of the methods that i used for that bind aren't particularly beginner friendly, just in terms of the tools and methods i have used, but i would love to point you in the right direction when it comes to resources. i dont say this to sound pretentious which i fear i might come across, just so that youre fully informed. getting into this hobby is fun and rewarding, but it can definitely be intimidating.

with that caveat, heres a list of links and resources that i have used for bookbinding in general, with additional links to methods i used specifically in regards to this bind.

ASH's how to make a book document. it gives you a great introduction into typesetting fics (where you format the text of fics to look like a traditionally published books) and then turning them into a case-bound book (the style i used for "factory settings"). it is comprehensive, and explains how to use microsoft word to do your bidding. it was invaluable to me when i was just starting out! currently i use affinity publisher to typeset/format my fics for printing, but i only bought and learned how to use that after i had been binding books for a year and a half. i made some beautiful typesets with word, and some of my close friends use it still and design stuff that i never would be able to in my wildest dreams (basically anything by @no-name-publishing)

DAS Bookbinding's Square Back Bradel Binding. a great style to do your first bind in! this method requires, when making the case, to attach the cover board and the spine board to a connecting piece of paper, which makes it so much easier to match the size of the case to the size of the text block (your printed out and sewn fic). using this method is what allowed me to get much more accurately fitting cases, and made me much more confident with the construction of the books i was making. a well-made book is something that is so wonderful to hold in your hands!

DAS Bookbinding's Rounded and Backed Cased Book. This is the specific method that i used to create my bind for "factory settings"! even before i could back my books, i found that watching DAS's videos in particular helped me see how books were traditionally made, and i was able to see different tips and tricks about how to make nicer books.

Book Edge Trimming Without... i trim the edges of my text block using my finishing press and a chisel i have sharpened using a whetstone and leather strop with buffing compound on it. i follow the method for trimming shown in this video!

Made Endpapers. i follow this method for my endpapers, as i used handmade lokta endpapers, and they can be quite thin, but they look beautiful! i used "tipped on" endpapers (where you have your endpaper and then put a thin strip of glue on the edge and attach it to your text block) i used for a very long time before this, but these feel like they are much more stable, as they are sewn with your text block.

Edge Sprinkling. this is the method that i used for decorating the edges of my text block. but the principle is basically clamping your text block tight and then sprinkling the edges. i do not believe you need to trim the edges in order to do sprinkles on the edges, and that's what makes it accessible! i personally just use really cheap acrylic paint that i water down and then flick it onto the edges with my thumb and a paint brush.

Double-Core Endbands. i sew my own endbands, which i followed this tutorial for. that being said, it's kind of confusing, and this video is a bit easier to follow, but it is a slightly different type of endband.

Case decoration. i used my silhouette cameo 4 to cut out my design for "factory settings" in htv (heat transfer vinyl). i also used my cameo 4 to cut out the oval of marbled paper on the front, as i honestly didn't want to try my hand at cutting an oval lol. i also glued some 300 gsm card with an oval cut out of the centre of it onto the cover before covering it with bookcloth, to get a kind of recess on the cover. i then glued the oval of marbled paper onto the top of the recessed area once it was covered with bookcloth, so that it was protected. the images i used were sourced from a mix of rawpixel, canva and pixabay. a more accessible way to get into cover decoration is by painting on a design for your cover as described in @a-gay-old-time's tutorial just here. or even doing paper labels, which look classy imo.

physical materials. sourcing these will depend on your country. i am located in australia, and have compiled a list with some other aussie bookbinders of places to buy from. here is a great post describing beginning materials for getting started binding.

@renegadepublishing. this tumblr is great! its what got me started bookbinding, and being in the discord has been inspiring, motivating, and honestly just one of the best online experiences i have ever had. it is full of resources, and most people in there are amateur bookbinders, with a couple of professionals thrown in. the discord is 18+, and anyone can join!

i'm sorry this post got so long, but i hope that this has a lot of information for you if you would like to get started bookbinding. its one of the best hobbies ive ever had, and i genuinely believe i will have it for the rest of my life.

[duran-binding]

Latest edge :)

[heliotropepajamas-books]

Fanbinding for my own archive

Bind #25

Deleted Fic by An Author

Date Completed: 05/18/2025

Size: Octavo.  ~9,000 Words

Adding this here more for my personal records more than anything else. The fic itself was removed from AO3 by the author at some point between when I read it in 2020 and last month when I thought that it would make a nice, quick typeset for an octavo.  The covers are entirely made of scraps and were mostly an experiment to see how cardstock would work to cover boards (conclusion: it wouldn’t be my preferred material but if that’s the paper that was speaking to me so be it).  I forgot to add the title so I’ll take care of that next time I’m cutting out something in white HTV vinyl.