I work in a small print shop, where we try to help people create their own books, like this. I’m used to doing runs of 200-1000 of one book at a time. Therefore, I wanted to mention that when we do perfect binding, we glue a whole stack of books at a time, then take them apart to add the covers individually.

What we do is use two tall boards, nailed together to create a tall corner to flush up a stack of books. We stack our books with a slipsheet between each book (like a waxpaper or vellum cut to the same size as all the other sheets). Then, we flush them up against the corner, using a flat board on the third side and weight them down on the top. Then, you can brush your glue against the whole stack until you are ready to add your covers. Then, you unweight the stack, and slit each book apart with a blunted knife on either side of each slipsheet. Then, you can add your covers.

Also a not on printers. For those who want to do a few hundred in a run of single color ink printing, I would recommend you look into finding a used duplicator machine, like a risograph. There are often churches and community groups selling ones in decent shape (prices vary by models). Again, this isnt for those making small quantities of books but for those who want a better way to get their words out there.

Just food for thought. Im glad to see so many people doing this.