Making booklets at home can be fun and also profitable .I started making booklets to help the Sunday school kids take home something fun to do and read during the week .Otherwise usually they forget what the were taught and we have to start all over again the next Sunday.
It took me three or four tries to finally get it right but it was worth the effort.I turned all my favorite e-books into booklets and also became a self-published author by making a booklet out of the manual I had written :) .
What you need -
A small table
A printer
Desktop computer with word processing software
Card stock paper for the cover
A4 paper(a whole bundle) for the inside pages
A long armed stapler
Paper cutter
Internet connection
First go online and download fineprint software (www.fineprint.com). You can use the options in the print options of Microsoft word too but I like fineprint better.The free version lets you print out booklets but puts 'printed using fineprint' at the bottom. It is fine with me but if you want you can even get the paid version.
Edit the pages and format it.Give it an Index,preface etc,everything a regular book would have.Now using the booklet printing option of fineprint print out the pages on both side ensuring that the page number come out correctly(this step you might want to try out with printing just a few pages first till you get it right.Also remember to number you pages.
Now open another blank document and on the first page,use fancy fonts and colors to make it look like a cove page.on the next page create the back cover -you can maybe name your publishing company and write under published by 'Mayflower Publishing'--or whatever name you like.Why not?It make the booklet look better.
Now print this out on card stock paper and place it underneath all the previously printed paper arranged in order.Now use the long armed stapler and staple the middle three time so that it can be folded in half sideways, into a booklet.You will have to put some heavy books or sit on the booklet for sometime to get the booklet to stay folded.Use the paper cutter to trim the jutting edges.
Thats it! You booklet is ready.Try making a booklet for your child using the poem or story she has written and put her name as the author on the cover.Give her the booklet and watch her face light up.
