What is a Chapbook & How do I Make One? Adapted from “Method Writing” by Jack Grapes

This is a chapbook.

What is a Chapbook? Chapbook is a generic term to cover a particular genre of pocket-sized booklet, popular from the sixteenth through to the later part of the nineteenth century.

CHAPBOOKS Chapbooks were an important medium for the dissemination of popular culture to the common people, especially in rural areas. They were a medium of entertainment, information and (generally unreliable) history. They are now valued as a record of popular culture, preserving cultural artifacts that may not survive in any other form.

What will we be doing? Everyone in class will collect samples of work and put them together in a “chapbook.” You will need to make 5 copies of your chapbook—1 for me, and 4 to exchange with your classmates on Final Examination day. You can hand-make these fairly easily (We’ll practice on Wednesday) or you can drop them off at a copy store to mass-produce for you.

What will be in our chapbook? I have specific guidelines: – A cover – A photo and artist/writer bio – Optional: A dedication page – Optional: Artwork or sketches or photos inside – 1 long, single piece of non-fiction OR 3-6 short pieces of non-fiction – Include your Manifesto

How is this different from the Portfolio? The portfolio is an academic assessment of your mastery of our course student learning outcomes and your reflections about your learning process. It is a representation of you as a student completing this course. The Chapbook is a “little book” that can included both polished and unpolished pieces, chunks from freewrites, finished and unfinished work, etc. It is a representation of you as a writer.

Why a Chapbook? Chapbooks allow for writers to “collect” their work into a little book as a culmination of a particular theme or genre or time period Chapbooks can serve as a “calling card” to other writers and to editors, and if you make a nice one, to press houses too!

THINK ABOUT THE WRITER-IDENTITY YOU’D LIKE TO PORTRAY THROUGH YOUR CHAPBOOK. Before you move on to making chapbooks, you need to do a little homework. Review the links provided, which give you more concrete visuals on the “chapbook.”

The end, for now. The rest of these slides you can come back to when you’re ready for the nuts and bolts of chapbook making.

You can stop the slideshow here. Prof.Ogden will review the rest with you in class.

Step One First, type all of your work. Make sure you give each piece a title. Then assemble your work in the order you want it to appear. Consider: The title page, the dedications page, the table of contents, the individual pieces, any drawings, photographs, a bio, a writer’s statement, and a copyright page that includes your press name and address, along with if others want additional copies!

Step Two: Make the Mockup You can make any size and shape print chapbook that you like, but the easiest is to use 8 1/2 by 14 or 8/12 by 11 paper, folded in half. OR you can get creative and crazy depending upon your time and print capability choices

Don’t forget to set your margins appropriately For Print Chapbooks, 5 1/5 by 8 1/2 is the standard size of most chapbooks, and is the most financially economical. This is an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet folded in half.

Don’t forget that you can give your “Press House” a Name! Like Apple Tree publishing. You don’t need a license!

Get into the spirit and have fun! Your chapbook should represent who you are and should truly share the work you’ve produced!

THE REST OF THIS SLIDESHOW IS HANDS ON! You can come back to this when you’re ready.

The order of your pages is similar to the order in any book! After the dedication or “quote” page, the first piece often starts on the “Right” page, not the backside of the dedication page

Getting Down To Business If you’re not using pagemaker or some other fancy program, print up all of your typed pieces, the dedication page and all that. Have copies of any pictures or drawings you’d like to include. Make a good, clean workspace. Have scissors, glue or tape and blank paper handy. (Or, start pasting into powerpoint).

Pages and Order for the Print Mockup (ignore for electronic chapbooks) First, you have to determine how many pages your chapbook will be. Count the number of pages your poems and prose pieces will take. (So you have to go through them one at a time, make a tally. Some will need two pages, some more.) When done, add in the other pages like the title page, copyright page, contents, bio, introduction and/or artists statement, dedication, blank pages

Mock up (Continued) Where do blank pages come? Well, the table of contents may take only one page, so you’ll have the other side blank. Same for the dedication page. So, count those “blank” pages. THEN divide your # of pages by 4 (because if I fold an 8 1/2 by 11 sheet of paper in half, there are four “sides” or “pages”

Example: 27 pages of pieces, plus title page, dedications page, table of contents page, bio, artist’s statement = 36 Divide 36 by 4, and that equals 9 8 1/2 by 11 sheets folded in half, plus my cover :)

NOW, MAKE IT Put a paper clip onto your fold, and you should be able to turn each of the pages like a book. Double count to make sure you have enough. Put each piece on the page, without glue, just to make sure that’s how you want it all Once you like it, glue each piece onto the page for the mock up. Don’t forget page numbers!

THEN: Make a cover that really represents you And the qualities of the “good writer” that we’ve explored so far!

GOOD WRITERS... Consider the essentials of a "Good Writer"--  Authenticity of Voice, sometimes called "style."  The Deep Voice, sometimes referred to writing that is capable of truly moving the reader.  Images/Moments, sometimes seen as the ability to control the mind's eye of the reader  The Nature of Your Being--Who You Are! This is writing from a place that is really YOU. Not copying someone else, but writing that is truly, emotionally deep and fulfilling, and that is rooted in everything that has made you into who you are.

Hand make all of the copies Or drop it off at Kinkos or some other place and tell them how many copies you want. OR “save as” your title!

Dropping it off for print Pick out the kind of paper you want for your cover Decide if you want the book stapled, saddle stitched etc. Come back when it’s done to pick it up! Go through it page by page. FREAK OUT that you’re now a published author. Give it to all your friends.

IF You’re “crafty” and decide to make it yourself, know that it takes a LONG time, so prepare for that You’d like to do some sort of special, handmade type of book, know that it also takes a long time for that, so prepare.