Adobe InDesign is probably the most powerful tool you can use to make chapbooks. This tutorial is a bit longer, but covers many of the key skills you will need to create your own project. There’s good news for people interested in using this tool, Adobe now allows you to lease the InDesign tool by the month, so it is very inexpensive to have access to this resource.
Laying out a chapbook in Adobe InDesign
InDesign is the tool professional presses reach for, and it handles booklet imposition cleanly. The learning curve is real, but for a booklet you’ll come back to, it’s worth an afternoon.
- Start a new document at your page size, for example 5.5 by 8.5 inches, with Facing Pages turned on.
- Set your margins, giving the inside edge a slightly wider gutter so text clears the fold.
- Build the pages in plain reading order. Don’t try to arrange them for printing yourself; InDesign will do that.
- Use a master page for anything that repeats, like page numbers, so it stays consistent.
- Flow your poems in, one per page as a rule, and keep your title and body type consistent throughout.
- When you’re ready, use File, then Print Booklet. Choose “2-up Saddle Stitch” and InDesign imposes the pages for folding automatically.
For a printer or a print shop, export a print-ready PDF (File, Export, Adobe PDF, the Press Quality preset) instead of printing straight from the program. Adobe leases InDesign by the month, so you don’t have to buy it outright to make one booklet.
Not ready for InDesign? You can get a good result in Microsoft Word too. Either way, the format guide covers sizes and page counts, and how to make a chapbook walks the whole process.