I found this book of writing prompts— lined pages with a bit of text at the top, which told you what to write about. But the prompt book’s greatest influence on my literary pursuits had nothing to do with filling in its pages with a pen. When the book began to wear, its cardstock cover fell off and the spine began to show. I could see from the exposed spine that the book was made of ten folded stacks of pages, all sewn together. No glue. Just paper and thread. A process called saddle stitch, which is relatively well-known among print publishers. DIY bookmakers especially. But even a large portion of newsstand magazines use the binding style, stapling the magazine to hold the pages together at the fold— the physical origin of the infamous “centerfold” which has come to mean something much more provocative than being able to see the magazine’s staples.
What made the stitched craft of the deteriorating prompt book so special— different than the thousands of other saddle stitches I’d seen throughout my life— was that this prompt book actually had a spine with text on it. If placed on a shelf among the heftiest novels ever written, this sewn book could stand its ground. It could be on a shelf, right there next to the Bible, showing just as brilliantly for anyone scanning the shelf to see. So that became my blueprint—a sewn book with a spine. String… Paper… Ink…
That was back in the Summer of 2022, resulting in Secret Restaurant Press’s first official release titled A MESSAGE FROM THE GALLERY OF EXCAVATED HEADS (poems written by yours truly). Since then, the press has gone on to publish 5 literary magazines of solicited and unsolicited writers, including the latest seasonal periodical: Pizza…? SRP has also released seven chapbooks and full-length collections of poetry since its origin.
Hmm… What would I recommend to people who want to start printing their own books? Getting a printer that prints on both sides of the page would be the number 1 priority. For the first two books SRP released, I only had a one-sided printer. I had to print all of one side, then flip the stack over to print the other side. It resulted in a lot of printer errors.
A couple of other thoughts—we were annually paying for an online shop to sell books at, which took a huge chunk of our profits due to the site’s yearly subscription cost. So, I moved our shop to eBay, where people can post items for free. The only catch? eBay takes a much bigger chunk of your earnings per sale due to its processing fee. Oh, and if you want to learn to hand bind books, maybe practice with blank pages first. The price of ink will probably be the highest cost you have per book. Unless you choose to print your books with mud or something. Otherwise, the best way to make something that stands out from the rest is by simply jumping in with both feet! Don’t be afraid to try things that might fail. Don’t be afraid to make changes in the process along the way, in order to keep from failing. And when all your hard work turns to success, don’t forget that it was me who believed in you first!
Nate Hoil is a freelance writer and editor currently squished between the states of Iowa and Illinois.
