I am looking for ideas for making books. How are you all making your homemade books (I mean assembling it, not content).
What size do your kids prefer? (Is ‘Doman-suggested’ 11X14… or even 8-1/2X11… not a bit large for the little ones to handle?.. what is too small though for a baby to see?)
What kind of paper are you using? (plain, card stock, poster board, laminated?)
If you have used different techniques for your books, what do your kids prefer?
Do you have any advice regarding cost-effectiveness, durability, ease of assembly, format, font/font size, etc.?
What are you doing to hold your books together? (staples, string, rings, binding methods?)
I don’t know if you’ve already looked here but if you look in the “Homeschooling” forum there’s a thread by Mother of Faith who makes boardbooks. There’s an extensive discussion there about what people have tried and what’s worked and what hasn’t.
If you still need help after looking at various threads, and my videos I will be glad to help you. I make board books, paper back books, and file folder books. I have over 40 self published for my self and others. I will tell you what I have experienced through out the years and how to make my kind of books, and the legal issues of it so you won’t get into trouble. Just let me know. I will be glad to help with all of your questions.
What do you mean “legal issues”? I get that it’s wrong to photocopy pictures and text from an already existing book, but isn’t it okay to download individual words and pictures for your own binder/board/laminated book?
You’ve got me a bit worried as I try to live “by the book” (tee hee)… but seriously, can you clarify what you meant?
Hi,
Here’s a very quick and easy way to put a book together
Materials needed:
sheet protectors
printer paper ( double it up for each page)
book rings
May not be the most “glamerous” per se…but they work great for kids and can be done in no time! They can even look more attractive if you put a picture on the front page with a title (somewhat like a cover) but this is merely optional!
What I mean is you must hold the copyright to the photos, drawings, clip art. You can’t just use a picture from the internet. Even some clip art that you purchase can not be used for making your own projects but only for personal use, you can’t even give the books away. So be careful when purchasing clip art. I find that Art Explosion you can use, and then I download clip art from www.digiscrapkits.com for 1.00 each set. Even the text that you use must be your own not some other book, however you can adapt the text into your own content by changing the wording, deleting words, adding words, etc. Read all of the copyrights or legal issues before using any clip art, photo, etc. Even if you purchase the CD packs make sure you read the copyrights. I have bought some that does not allow me to distribute the work that I created with the clipart to other churches. Right now I am drawing or taking my own photos, and purchasing scrapbook downloads from the net, there are lots out there, but the one I use you can use the clip art and the work you created for anything you want. They have 20 or clip arts for 1.00 that’s good for me.
There are tons of ideas out there about making your own books, but if you plan on sharin gbe careful what you distribute to others. If you have any other questions feel free to reply.
There are tons of threads on here about book making and what to use.
I plan on uploading my new ideas soon in the video sections.
If you are really worried about it you can ask help from a lawyer. I had to get one when someone stole my published books and published it for themselves using my photos, and recipies.
That must have been so discouraging and maddening to have someone profit off of your hard work…illegally…
Thanks for the info. My plans at this point are to just take photos of my son and make stories about him. Right now I’ve got photos for an “Our Yard” book for the rainy days when we can’t go out, “The Cabin” to prep him for the fact that when we go to the lake he’ll have to sleep in a different room/bed, and one called “Grandpa’s Machines” because, well, the only reason we go to see Grammy and Grandpa are because there are machines there, right???
Anyway, I’m looking forward to your videos to see what you’ve been up to
