Chapbooks?

[jennifer_brozek]

I have pondered the idea of chapbooks for a while. I think I want to have some for GenCon for sure (because my anthology will be here in the flesh) and maybe BayCon (because I have no anthology in the flesh but I am the Toastmaster) as well. However, I'm not sure how to go about it. For those of you who do them, my questions are as follows:

1. What software program do you use to make them? I found one in Windows Office but it is only 8 pages (four sheets of 8x11.5 paper folded). I'm thinking I'd rather have 16, 20 or 24 pages.

2. For that matter, how long should a chapbook be?

3. How much should a chapbook be sold for? Or is it just to give away?

4. How many chapbooks should one bring to a convention?

I'm pretty sure I know what I want to have the chapbook on. I have this thing… I like to write stories about things and creatures eating people. I've discovered that I have quite a few of these stories lying around.

All help and advice is appreciated.

Comments

[jadecat9.livejournal.com]

1. Having never made chapbooks, I don't know what programs are out there specifically for chapbooks. Normally, my writing program of choice is FrameMaker, only because it can generate books, indices, TOCs, etc. And it allows you to do "chapters" which is nifty. But that's a technical writing program that I can see easily being used to create chapbooks.

I guess are you printing yourself or taking to a printer?

2. The chapbooks I have are about 20-24 so pages, and some are only 10 pages long. Basically, enough for a short read, but long enough that you can get through a cup of tea easily (or at least that's my interpretation)

3) I've known authors to both sell and give chapbooks away. I think it depends on how you want to use them.

4. I guess that depends on how big a convention you're going to and whether or not you're selling them. I would bring less numbers if you're planning on giving them away, just to make them "special", and more if you're planning to sell them.