Normal Author, Crazy Author

A normal author, when he's revising a novel, will print out a proof copy. It's a simple stack of 8.5" x 11" paper. If he's fancy, he'll slap a mock-up of the cover art up front. Like so:

The Devil of Matamoros was my working title for the third March novel, which will actually be called Nothing to Hide. You get the idea, though. 

A crazy writer can't stop there. He typesets the entire manuscript, formats it in printer's spreads, then prints the book out in eleven 32-page signatures. With linen thread and a needle, he stitches these together. Like so:

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This is a trial run laser-printed on 24 lb. copy paper. Since it was 8.5" x 11" to begin with, these signatures are folded against the grain of the paper, which is why they curl up a bit. Next time around, I'll cut down some nice Mohawk Superfine 11" x 17" sheets, which will give me letter sized paper with long grain instead of short. 

Still, it's a text block. And it's really cool to flip through:

The next step for the crazy author is to make a cover and bind it. My revisions are close to done. Once they're finished, I'll make an updated reference copy. Maybe I'll go back and create a matched set of the March books, entirely written, printed, and bound by the author. 

Or maybe that would be too crazy even for me. We'll see.