A few years ago, I didn’t know anything about making books. I liked writing stories, which I printed out on pieces of 8.5″ x 11″ paper for people to read, but the truth was, not many people wanted to read them. Then I met Robbi and everything changed. She could draw, and somehow her pictures added what was missing from my words. Together, we could make something that people actually wanted to look at and read. It was a wonderful discovery.
But making books—physically putting them together—is difficult, especially if you want to make them look and feel professional. The first book that we made, A Bully Named Chuck, was so cumbersome to assemble that we only made five copies, which we gave to our parents and best friends. We didn’t even know how to make a proper cover, so we gifted the books without one, bound with clips. I wish I had a picture.
Flash forward a few years. When we started Idiots’Books, we had to figure out how to make our work into something that people would think of as a real book with real book-like attributes—a cover, for example. We started accumulating tools that made things a lot easier: a duplexing printer, paper trimmers, powerful staplers, and…roll-on adhesive.
At Michael’s, or any number of other craft stores, you can buy these simple, cheap, wonderful hand-held dispensers that contain rolls of tape with hundreds of tiny dots of adhesive. Roll the tape along a surface and the tiny glue dots transfer over, creating a sticky surface capable of accommodating another surface—a cover, for example.
A few years ago we ordered 100 rolls of adhesive and thought for sure we’d never use them up. Then came our new children’s book, which requires seven rolls for each copy. We nearly depleted our supply and decided to order another 100. They arrived the other day, triggering an unexpected passage of adhesive-based joy. Robbi was on hand to document the moment.
When trying to do anything, success usually depends on having the right tools, and we’ve erred on the side of splurging for good ones.
If any of you cares, we use Herma Classic adhesives.
Where else does spending $6.76 come with such a guarantee of happiness?
