Making Chapbook/Zine! Need help on how to format Microsoft Word! Please help

August 19, 2008 4:32 PM

I am making a chapbook/zine that needs to be completed by noon on Thursday. I need help on how to format Microsoft Word so I can get the job done, printed and out to public.

I am just finishing an 8 week writing class where we finish by making our own chapbook. I need to be taken through on how to adjust Microsoft Word so that I can format my writings so that I can print the them out and cut and paste together a mock version of the chapbook itself.

This info is not available in the text. I am actually in an advance class where they do not have to make chapbooks so the teacher did not instruct me how to do it in the last session.

Help!

posted by goalyeehah to media & arts (15 comments total)

Look at the template for a brochure and see if you can adjust its settings to your needs.
posted by gjc at 4:58 PM on August 19, 2008

If you're trying to print the pages in the right order, it goes something like this...

Last Page (e.g. page 20), First Page, 19, 2, 18, 3, 17, 4, 16, 5 ... etc
i.e. reduce the big number by one, and increase the little number by one until the page numbers meet.

If you need to print the pages on one side, and then swap the paper in the printer, print 20 & 1, turn the paper over and then go for 19 & 2. Then start on clean paper and continue as above.
posted by seanyboy at 5:10 PM on August 19, 2008

If you're cutting and pasting (with scissors and glue)...

Put a text box in the middle of the page, fill it with text and then print it out.
Cut out the box and paste it into your chapbook.

(I can't believe you're even asking this. Have I missed something?)
posted by seanyboy at 5:12 PM on August 19, 2008

what format do you want? something 5.5" x 8"?

In the past, I've done the quick and not very elegant thing of using landscape page layout, and two collumns. Balance the collumns so that if your outside margin is .5", then the space between the collumns needs to be 1". There may be templates that do it more easily, but I like controlling my own formatting.

I didn't make the pages go in the proper order (which for an 8-page chapbook would be like 8&1 together, then 2&7 on the backside, then 3&6 then 4&5 in the middle, all doublesided of course), because it was 1996, and I was making the chapbook on a photocopier, so I just used scissors and glue to get this in the right order. I don't know the best way to do this in Word itself - when making CD booklets, I usually put out all the text as a jpegs (because there are lots of images as well), but that can be lossy in printing.
posted by jb at 5:13 PM on August 19, 2008

I wouldn't use textboxes; that would be just a lot of complication.

Actually, I do believe you could set page formatting to be 5.5" x 8", and then just print two pages per page. But I don't know if you could balance the margins as well as a collumn can. Collumns would be a problem if you want page numbers.
posted by jb at 5:15 PM on August 19, 2008

The format is 5.5 x 8.5
posted by goalyeehah at 5:30 PM on August 19, 2008

I know how to do everything with the exception of going into Microsoft Word, turning the page sideways and inserting the page format numbers.
posted by goalyeehah at 5:39 PM on August 19, 2008

Do you have access to Microsoft Publisher? It's not the best program in the world but it is basically Word for flyers/posters/etc...it is easier to lay things out (you don't get Word's stubbornness).
posted by radioamy at 6:00 PM on August 19, 2008

Also, how many pages is your book?
posted by radioamy at 6:02 PM on August 19, 2008

I do have Microsoft Publisher but I've never used it before. Will look into this.

Not including title page and table of contents it is currently 22 pages 8 1/2 x 11
posted by goalyeehah at 6:32 PM on August 19, 2008

A lucky trick I just discovered by mistake while copying things at Office Max: many nicer copy machines have a booklet setting in which you can feed a sheaf of 8.5x11 pages in, and it spits out a chapbook (everything .5 size), paginated in the order received, ready to be stapled with a long-arm stapler (behind the counter). It doesn't require your doing any preparatory layout (besides what you'd normally turn in formatted for class, unless you'd like the text size to be larger!), and takes almost no time.

Also, Kinko's doesn't charge for mistakes made--so take any screw ups to the counter and they'll refund the cost of them.
posted by soviet sleepover at 8:13 PM on August 19, 2008

turning the page sideways: File->Page Setup->Landscape
inserting page numbers: View->Header/Footer (a toolbar should come up which allows you to format page numbers, or you can type the numbers in yourself)

i've tried making booklets, brochures, newsletters, etc. in Microsoft Word so i know how frustrating it can be.

to access templates in word, File->New and a dialog box should come up, or in newer versions, you should see options on the right side. there are a few built in templates that you might find helpful, and there should be an option to download more.
posted by asras at 8:29 PM on August 19, 2008

Just on the page count, assuming you have an order like this:

1. Title
2. (blank reverse)
3. Table of Contents [really? do you need this for 22 pages?]
4. (blank reverse)
5. Text
....
26. Text ends

If you have 26 pages, you've got two blank at the end, as your booklet will have everything in multiples of 4 - front face right and left, reverse face right and left. Not terminal as you could use the 28th page (back cover? or do you also have anoter four pages of cover?) for contact information or a blurb, but it needs a little bit of thought. That, or ditch the TOC, unless your content really needs it.

The last version of Publisher I've used never had a useful template, but it's worth checking for one that suits, because it's a pretty easy applicaion to start with (and hellaciously clunky and frustrating to use beyond that, IME). I usually do my page numbering by making a paper mockup and then entering numbers by hand - a real quick and dirty cut/paste by hand onto sheets folded into a booklet, or have also done the whole layout by cut and paste onto flat sheets, as most copiers never show the cut lines and it's easier than wrestling with Word. I've learned Indesign recently which is awesome, but not likely to be the slution for you this time.
posted by carbide at 12:03 AM on August 20, 2008

If you are trying to figure out the page numbering, this is called "book fold". In Microsoft Word, press F1 to view the online help, and then search for "book fold". It's pretty easy to do, and you don't have to worry about turning the page to insert the page numbers, counting out the numbers, and so on.
posted by Houstonian at 4:28 AM on August 20, 2008

Yeah, Book Fold is what you're looking for in Word.

File -> Page Setup -> Margin -> Multiple Pages Dropdown to Book fold.
You can then mess with margins and gutter and all that.

I actually just used this to format a pamphlet I'm having printed and it worked like a charm.
posted by robocop is bleeding at 5:46 AM on August 20, 2008