How books were made in 1947
If you didn’t already see this over at boingboing, here’s a fascinating video from 1947 that goes right through the manufacturing process of a book.
My favourite line from the film: “Here, this workman makes the plates ready for printing on this press, that is why they call him the ready man.”
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It’s a boy!
I am very pleased to announce to anyone who is listening that there is a new addition to the ReadingHacks family. Weighing in at a thumping 10 pounds, 13 ounces, Theodore (aka Theo, aka BookBoy jnr) entered the world at 8:40 pm, Friday September 12.
Mother & baby are doing reasonably well, as am I. Arabella is giving her baby brother plenty of hugs and kisses.
Below is a pic of Theo on day 5, reading his first book. That’s my boy 
Surprise! More recycled book art
I have a bit of a track record of getting excited by stuff made from old books.
So why stop now? Go look here.
[via josh mings]
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Authonomy.com - HarperCollins finds a clever way to handle their slush pile
One of the tough things about being a publisher, so they say, is dealing with the slush pile. Countless would-be (or wanna-be) authors are constantly submitting manuscripts hoping to get their big break. This means that publishers end up with countless manuscripts which they must read, browse, consider, and/or throw out.
HarperCollins have come up with a clever way to lessen this workload. It’s called Authonomy. Authonomy is a website that allows unpublished or self-published authors to post their work online. Joe Average then has the chance to read the manuscript and vote for their favourites. This puts HarperCollins in the position of having the slush pile sorted into books that might be worth their editor’s time to read, and books that probably aren’t. They have also done a bit of a survey of reader reaction to the book before it is published.
Clever.
It also seems however, that other publishers can also take advantage of this. There is no signing over of rights to HarperCollins when you post a manuscript and nothing to stop you also sending it off to various other publishers as you would normally do.
So if you’re a budding author hoping to get published or looking for some feedback on your work, or a reader looking for something new to read, it might be worth your while to pop over and have a look.
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More stuff made from books - vases and a table this time
Vetti pointed me in the direction of these cute vases made from old books by Laura Cahill. In case you are wondering, the books are cut to shape on a bandsaw then wrapped around a test tube.
Amongst the comments on that page was a link to this table, made by Richard Hutten.
