craftgrrl | Not sure if this will count as a 'craft'...

As the header says, I'm not sure if this will count as a craft, but I have found that putting books together requires the same sort of creative skills and applications as creating jewellery or other odds and ends - and more!

These books have been my main hobby for the last four years, give or take a few months. I run an online zine called Semaphore Magazine, which publishes fantasy and sci fi short stories and poetry, and once a year I get to put together all the best pieces of writing and make books out of them.

Three so far! Each one has been a mission in a completely different way: the middle book was the first I put together, and believe me when I say I knew very little about what I was doing.

But, hey, at least it looks pretty! The cover's by a lovely French artist called Aurelien Police; he provided the image gratis, something which I've since learned makes him an amazingly generous and fantastic guy.

The next year ... my cover artist pulled out at the eleventh hour, and at the eleventh-and-a-half hour, I cobbled together the following with some stock images I had on hand and some images from Aurelien's cover (with permission, of course). The result? Passable ...

Another exciting feature of this book's gestation is that I sent it overseas to be printed - funds were too tight to send it to a local printer, so I opted for CinnamonTeal, and Indian company. The paper quality suffered, but the books are sturdy; not a bad decision in the end, although waiting for my shipment of books kept me on tenderhooks!

And now, the latest book. I made sure to find an artist whom a) I could trust, and b) whose work is absolutely gorgeous.

I think the end result speaks for itself, don't you?

I'm hoping to get into a proper editing and publishing course in Wellington next year, and these will probably form part of my portfolio. If I get in - fingers crossed! - I am looking forward to learning how to do this sort of thing 'properly', rather than blundering about on my own.

If anyone has any questions about the process of making these books - er, that should probably be 'process', heavily finger-quoted - then ask away! I am happy to mumble and gesticulate responses. And if anyone has made books as part of their own crafty hobbies, let us know what you did, and what your experiences were/are!