An effective, practical and inexpensive way to promote yourself is to compile your work into a handmade book. We begin this tutorial by explaining the art of Japanese bookbinding and how it can be applied to create your own simple self-promotional book.
Bookbinding, the art of sewing pages into a cover, can serve many purposes. This tutorial is aimed primarily at those who wish to make their own books using nothing more than basic tools we all probably have lying around the house. The Japanese binding technique we use here is known as the 'Pouch book', so-called because the pages are folded at the fore edge and sewn at the back edge, forming pouches. The Japanese name translates simply as 'four hole', and most Japanese pouch books are four hole (Chinese style) or five hole (Korean style) bindings. These two styles existed side by side in Japan during the Edo period (1603-1867), and were commonly used for cheap novels and romances.
