THE ART OF

CHAPBOOKINGA CRASH COURSE

BY BRITNY KUTUCHIEF

THE ART OF CHAPBOOKING A CRASH COURSE

gh BY BRITNY KUTUCHIEF

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY

JOURNALISM 5050PROFESSOR ROSLYN BERNSTEIN BARUCH COLLEGE FALL 2011

THE ART OF CHAPBOOKING A CRASH COURSE

gh BY BRITNY KUTUCHIEF

AN INDEPENDENT STUDY

JOURNALISM 5050PROFESSOR ROSLYN BERNSTEIN BARUCH COLLEGE FALL 2011

I. AN INTRODUCTION

II. GALLERY & EXAMPLES

III. A DISCUSSION ON GENRES

IV. DESIGN

V. BINDING

AN EXPLANATION AND HISTORY OF CHAPBOOK MAKING

SEE WHAT CHAPBOOKS CAN LOOK LIKE AND MEET EXPERIENCED CHAPOBOOK PUBLISHER, JEAN HARTIG, AUTHOR OF AVE, MATERIA

WHAT ARE THE LIMITS OF GENRE IN CHAPBOOKS? A REPORT FROM THE ANNUAL CHAPBOOK FESTIVAL PANEL

HOW TO USE INDESIGN AND PHOTOSHOP TO CREATE THE AESTHETICS OF A CHAPBOOK AND A BREAKDOWN OF CHAPBOOK ELEMENTS

�LEARN HOW TO BIND YOUR BOOK EASILY FROM HOME.

VI. CHAPBOOKING RESOURCESA LIST OF NOTEWORTHY CHAPBOOKS AND SMALL PRESSES AND BINDING, PUBLISHING AND WRITING RESOURCES

CONTENTS_

AN INTRODUCTION E.E. Cummings once remarked that running a literary magazine feels something like push-ing your head through a straw. The endless toiling over submissions, fonts, design and going to the press is a duty unknown to modern work ethic, but it is a trade more rewarding than most and proven by the hundreds of small presses that crank out chapbooks, zines and bulletins ev-ery year. Chabooking is a literary painting, a physical execution and exhibit of one’s writing. Chap-books have been considered a “stepping stone” for literary careers and have opened flood gates for different kinds of grassroots publishing. When given the proper devotion and a season’s time, anyone with anything to say can publish a chapbook easily distributed.

Chapbooks have been a part of literary culture since as early as 1553, when books of bal-lads were distributed in Cambridge, England. Because of their simple production, size and price, chapbooks (or “merryments”) became popular reading material for people of all social classes. Some chapbooks were thought subversive because they often provided new ideas, at times guid-ed by social change and revolution. Thomas Paine’s “The Rights Of Man” was an early chapbook that sold two million copies. Chapbooks were popular among atheist, social revolutionaries, poets and artists. Today, the term “chapbook” is an umbrella word for several styles of homemade books. They can be called “chapbooks” or “zines” and are put out by small presses, small groups of people and authors looking to cheaply circulate their work. They can be small and paper and large and digital. A chapbook has no bounds, a characteristic that has probably carried it its nearly 500 years with fervor.

PHOTOS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CHAPBOOK FESTIVALCUNY GRADUATE CENTER 2011

PHOTOS FROM THE INTERNATIONAL CHAPBOOK FESTIVALCUNY GRADUATE CENTER 2011

CUNY GRADUATE CENTER 2011

Q. Your chapbook is called Ave, Materia. Is that your primary chapbook or do you have several?A. Ave, Materia is the first chapbook published through traditional chan-nels--that is, by someone besides myself. Before I went to grad school in 2005, with the help of a couple of friends who ran a press, I self-published a little volume called denizen/deserter so I’d have something to give to my soon-to-be cohorts at Sarah Lawrence, and to offer the writing and art-mak-ing community I was leaving behind in Baltimore. And during grad school, I made a few other little books to gather poems I’d worked on in various workshops--again, gifted to my classmates, many of whom were doing the same thing.

Q&A WITH JEAN HARTIGJEAN HARTIG IS THEASSOCIATE EDITOROF POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE. SHE HAS PUBLISHED HER OWNPOETRY CHAPBOOK,AVE, MATERIA, AND HAS CREATED BOOK-BINDING INSTRUCTIONVIDEOS FOR PW.ORG.SHE HOSTED A BOOK-BINDING WORKSHOP ATTHE 2011 CHAPBOOKFESTIVAL AT THE CUNYGRADUATE CENTER.

Q. You publish a poetry chapbook. What do you think are the boundaries for genres in chapbook making? Do you think a chapbook can be equally as effective in poetry, prose, drama, etc?A. Totally, all those things, plus art, photography, hybrid work. It’s a love-ly medium for all kinds of experimentation and play.

Q. Some describe chapbook making as a “stepping stone” for literary ca-reers. Why is that? How can it help a young writer’s career?A. Well, for poets, the path to publication isn’t really guided by industry professionals/agents; there’s a lot of personal legwork to be done, and necessary community-building, in order to not only find an outlet for one’s writing, but also to find one’s audience. The great thing about a chap-book--and I’m thinking mainly of self-published books here--is it can be created cheaply, quickly, and in a tiny, giftable size, and can really offer something of the poet beyond words--a poet’s willingness to share her work, the graciousness of the artist. Speaking in more general terms, having a chapbook published through any channel can offer a beautiful form of validation, guide a poet in her process, illuminate to her the pow-er of a certain project, and build an audience for her work.

Q. In chapbook making do you have a preference for traditional or digi-tal? Do you use a press or just software and a printer?A. I prefer the tangible, but I’ve seen some beautiful projects made using the free publishing platform Issuu (issuu.com). I’ve been fortunate to do some work at the Center for Book Arts and create broadsides using their Vandercook presses, which I’d like to do again, but at the moment, I’m confined to my desktop publishing software and printer.

Q. What are some of your favorite chapbooks and small presses?A. As far as presses: Ugly Duckling Presse is consistently amazing, Small Anchor, Rope-a-Dope in Massachusetts, Portable Press at Yo-Yo Labs, Dusie Press, and the Poetry Society’s annual chapbooks are always stun-ningly well-designed (and I’m so fortunate to have my work be part of their series!)

THE BODY ATTACKS ITSELF: A MULTI-GENRE CHAPBOOK

A DISCUSSION ON GENRES & DESIGN:WHAT ARE THE LIMITS IN CHAPBOOKS?

The 2011 Chapbook Festival, held at the CUNY Graduate Center, hosted scores of interested bookmakers, publishers and readers of all genres. The festival staged a temporary book festival where small presses set up shop to display their publishing gems. A panel called “Pushing Genre Boundaries of the Chapbook” was a fo-rum that discussed the increasing interest of chapbooks of all genres. His-torically, publishing chapbooks could mean publishing sermons, cautionary tales, prayers and so on. Recent history of small presses have published mostly poetry chapbooks, while some have chosen to expand to fiction, non-fiction, drama and even children’s stories. The panel featured Jacqueline Waters, Pei-Ling Lue and Jen Hyde and was hosted by Kimiko Hahn, one of the founders of the Chapbook Festival. Jacqueline Waters, author of A Minute Without Danger, defined chap-book making as “an active tradition in pamphleteering.” She went on to call the art “something you do before you make a full length book,” and “a stepping stone in poetry.”

Pei-Ling Lue, contributing editor of One Story, a pamphlet that is distributed once monthly by mail (and Kindle), said publishing chapbooks can mean publishing “anything literary.” One Story, which was inspired by MFA students who mailed each other their stories to edit, publishes one story of fiction or nonfiction every three weeks. One Story has pub-lished young adult fiction and memoirs. Jen Hyde, the founder and publisher of Small Anchor Press, seeks to expand the definition of the genre. Hyde publishes fiction and poetry, including crime stories and prose-poetry. Hyde said, “Our magazine nur-tures and mentors writers. Sometimes it’s speculative and sometimes it’s traditional.” Other small presses, including 53rd State Press, publish drama. Waters has published comics, poems and critical essays in her chapbook, Physiocrats.

In discussing genres, it seems organic for the discussion to drift to design. At times, genre dictates design and vice versa. A chapbook hosts an infinite mass of creative control. A designer will chose layout, paper style and size, binding and fonts. Generally, publishing is split between two styles- traditional, including letterpress and typewritten font and modern, including the use of InDesign and Photoshop.

Jen Hyde said “the reading experience must be tactile.” Waters described chapbook making as “a small physical labor that is relaxing and enjoyable in its way.” Small Anchor Press published one of Kimiko Hahn’s short stories which featured moths, butterflies and chrysalis’. The imagery was so vi-brant that the publishers decided the paper must match. They chose an airy paper that was reminiscent of a moth’s wings. Many small publish-ers rely on discount and specialty paper stores like New York Central in Gramercy Park, though Waters said, financially, “the idea is to break even.” When deciding on a layout for a chapbook, it is valuable to use re-sources like Poets & Writers Magazine (PW.org) and the website for the Council for Literary Magazines and Presses (CLMP.prg). Both organiza-tions provide templates for novice bookmakers and instruct on how to choose a paper fold and a binding technique for your publication. It is com-mon for small presses to host bookbinding workshops for a small materials fee, and the Center For Book Arts hosts on-going workshop courses that meet several times a month. While traditionally, pamphlet making has been cultivated in small letterpresses, design in bookmaking has expanded as much as the limits of genre. Some small presses, like Small Anchor Press, continue to use a tra-ditional letterpress. This offers a tangible reading experience for consum-ers, as a reader can actually feel the bumps and grooves of text on the page. Some publishers, though, choose to publish entirely digitally, from layout (typically using the Adobe suite) and a home printer. The options are infinite, though, and some publishers chose to design from home and print using a rented press as they are large, costly ma-chines. Many local presses offer the rental of their letterpress. Chapbook making is a craft like any other. It is constantly evolving and morphing into something new. It is difficult to really descibe the art, as it is one that really dictates itself by the pages and text inside, the vision of the publisher and the desires of the readers.

1. BOOKBINDING SADDLE STICH, RING BINDER, NO BINDING, ETC.

2.FONTS CHOOSE A FONT THAT IS COMPLIMENTARY TO GENRE AND SPACE.

3. PAPER AND COLOR CHOICE PAPER MY COMPLEMENT CONTENT.

4. INNER LAYOUT LAY WORDS WITHIN OR AROUND PHOTOS, CHOOSE COLOR SCHEME.

5. COVER DESIGN DESIGN A COVER TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT’S INSIDE.

1. BOOKBINDING SADDLE STICH, RING BINDER, NO BINDING, ETC.

2.FONTS CHOOSE A FONT THAT IS COMPLIMENTARY TO GENRE AND SPACE.

3. PAPER AND COLOR CHOICE PAPER MY COMPLEMENT CONTENT.

4. INNER LAYOUT LAY WORDS WITHIN OR AROUND PHOTOS, CHOOSE COLOR SCHEME.

5. COVER DESIGN DESIGN A COVER TO HIGHLIGHT WHAT’S INSIDE.

1. �SINGLE OR DOUBLE RING BINDTHIS EASY BINDING METHOD USES A PLASTIC OR METAL COIL THAT IS INSERTED SEVERAL TIMES INTO EACH PAGE. THIS BIND-ING STYLE IS IDEAL IF YOU WANT TO BE ABLE TO ADD OR REMOVE PAGES AS YOU GO. YOU CAN PURCHASE SPIRAL BINDING SUPPLIES (COILS OR COMBS) AT AN OFFICE SUPPLY STORE.

2. COPTIC STITCH BINDINGCOPTIC BINDING IS A HAND-STICHED BINDING METHOD THAT HAS BEEN USED SINCE THE FOURTH CENTURY. THE THREAD IN THIS STYLE IS WRAPPED AROUND THE SPINE OF THE BOOK AND BACK AGAIN, AND ALLOWS THE BOOK TO LAY FLAT WHILE OPEN.

3. �STAPLE BINDINGUSING STAPLES TO BIND YOUR BOOK IS THE SIMPLEST AND MOST VERSATILE WAY TO BIND. A STAPLE BOUND BOOK IS TYPICALLY ATTACHED WITH THREE STAPLES EQUIDISTANT FROM EACH OTHER IN THE SPINE OF THE BOOK. USING A STAPLE BIND IS IDEAL IF YOU WANT TO USE ODD SHAPED PAPER AND HAVE A MINIMAL AMOUNT OF PAGES.

4. �SIMPLE CENTER BOUND STITCH BINDINGTHIS SIMPLE STITCH METHOD USES A TRADITIONAL STICHING MECHANISM TO BIND THE BOOK AT THE CENTER, MEANING TWO LONG STICHES WILL BIND THE BOOK TOGETHER. A POPULAR WAY TO USE THIS BINDING METHOD IS TO COVER THE SPINE OF THE BOOK WITH A TAILORED PIECE OF FABRIC AND STITCH OVER IT.

5. �NO BINDINGIF YOU REALLY WANT TO TRY A UNIQUE WAY TO BIND A BOOK, TRY NOT BINDING IT AT ALL. NONBOUND BOOKS ARE HELD TOGETHER BY UNIQUE FOLDS. SOME ARE MADE FROM ONE SINGLE SHEET OF PAPER AND SOME ARE MADE FROM SEVERAL, PERHAPS LONGER PIECES OF PAPER, FOLDED TOGETHER. SINGLE-PAGED PAMPHLET TEMPLATES ARE AVAILABLE ON PW.ORG.

6. �PERFECT BINDINGPERFECT BOUND BOOKS ARE BOUND BY INSERTING A STIFF PIECE OF PAPER OR WOOD ONTO THE SPINE OF THE PAGES AND GLU-ING THEM IN PLACE. PERFECT BOUND BOOKS ARE TYPICAL SOFT COVER BOOKS FOUND IN BOOKSTORES.

OTHER KINDS OF BINDING INCLUDE SADDLE STITCH BINDING, SE-CRET BELGIAN BINDING AND CHINESE BOOK BINDING. THESE BOOK BINDING STYLES INVOLVE MORE DIFFICULT STITCHING AND CRE-ATE LASTING BINDS.

NoTEWORTHY CHAPBOOKSoNE STORYONE STORY LAUNCHED IN 2002 FEA-TURES ONE STORY THAT IS MAILED TO SUBSCRIBERS EVERY THREE WEEKS. THE MAGAZINE ACCEPTS SUBMISSIONS AND PUBLISHES BY MAIL AS WELL AS ONLINE AND WITH KINDLE.

�WE WERE ALL GREAT IN THE OBSERVATORYWE WERE ALL GREAT IN THE OBSER-VATORY IS A PERIODICAL PUBLISHED BY UGLY DUCKLING PRESSE. EACH IS-SUE FEATURES SIX POETS AND USES UNIQUE BINDING AND PRINTING TECH-NIQUES. THIS ISSUE IS RUBBER BAND BOUND.

LE PETIT ZINELE PETIT ZINE PUBLISHES POETRY, FIC-TION AND CREATIVE NONFICTION. PUB-LISHING 2-3 ISSUES PER YEAR IN AN ONLINE FORMAT. LE PETIT ZINE ACCEPTS UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS AND HAS BEEN IN PRINT FOR TWELVE YEARS.WWW.LAPETITEZINE.ORG/

WWW.ONE-STORY.COM

WWW.UGLYDUCKLINGPRESSE.ORG

NoTEWORTHY SMALL PRESSESROPE-A-DOPE PRESS

BRAVE MEN PRESS

BROOKLYN ARTS PRESSBROOKLYN ARTS PRESS (BAP) IS A SMALL PRESS IN BROOKLYN, NY. BAP PUBLISHES POETRY, FLASH FICTION AND MONOGRAPHS.WWW.BROOKLYNARTS PRESS.COM154 N. 9TH ST. 1BROOKLYN, NY 11211

ROPE-A-DOPE PRESS IS LOCATED IN SOUTH BOSTON, MA AND PUBLISHES POETRY AND FICTION. “BOUND BY ANY MEANS NECES-SARY,” ALL PUBLICATIONS ARE HANDBOUND AND USE RECYCLED MATERIALS.HTTP://ROPE-A-DOPE-PRESS.BLOGSPOT.COM/

BRAVE MEN PRESS (BMP) IS RUN OUT OF NORTHAMPTON, MA AND WAS FOUNDED BY AN ARTIST AND POET. BMP PUBLISHES PAMPHLET, BROADSIDES AND CHAPBOOKS AND ACCEPTS UNSOLICITED SUBMISSIONS. WWW.BRAVEMENPRESS.COM6 AHWAGA AVE 1RNORTHAMPTON, MA 01060

POETS & WRITERS MAGAZINE90 BROAD STREET SUITE 2100NEW YORK, NY 10004WWW.PW.ORG

THE CENTER FOR BOOK ARTS28 WEST 27TH STREET, 3RD FLOORNEW YORK, NY 10001WWW.CENTERFORBOOKARTS.ORG

COUNCIL OF LITERARY MAGAZINES & PRESSES154 CHRISTOPHER STREET, SUITE 3CNEW YORK, NY 10014WWW.CLMP.ORG

INDIE PUBLISHING: HOW TO DESIGN & PRODUCEYOUR OWN BOOKELLEN LUPTON, 2008.

THE CENTER FOR THE HUMANITIES’ ANNUALCHAPBOOK FESTIVALCUNY GRADUATE CENTER365 FIFTH AVENUENEW YORK, NY 10016WWW.CENTERFORTHEHUMANITIESGC.ORG/FESTIVAL

CHAPBOOKING RESOURCES� � � � � �

CHAPBOOKING RESOURCES THANKSFOR READING

THIS CHAPBOOK WAS MADE FOR EDUCATIONAL PURPOSES. PHOTOS WERE TAKEN AT THE ANNUAL CHAPBOOK FESTIVAL IN NEW YORK CITY IN MARCH OF 2011. ALL DESIGNS AND BINDING TECHNIQUES ARE THE CREATION OF THEIR INDIVIDUAL OWNERS.

BARUCH COLLEGESPRING 2011

COVER ART BY JON WORKAND NATALIE PETROSKY