Create Your Book

Here’s how to turn our Journal entries, or Chapters into a book

Hi guys! Anna here. In our world, these are Journal entries. In yours, they arrive as Chapters you can download as PDFs. This section of the site is a small manual that shows you how to turn those digital Chapters into real books you can print, cut, and shelve.

If you don’t already have our chapters, you can download them here free, or the full chapters from the membership area.

Think of this page as the starting point. From here you can follow links into short, focused guides for each step of the process.

1. Introduction

The Chapters you get are laid out in a smaller “book size” inside a PDF. With a home printer, a way to cut paper, and a simple binding method, you can build your own Chapter volumes that sit next to the main series on your shelf.

This guide assumes you want:

• • Printable PDFs you can keep forever
  • A repeatable method that works for every new Chapter
  • Clear steps you can skim, like technical documentation

The rest of the pages in this section follow that pattern. Short, specific, and linked together.

2. Where to find the Chapters

The Journal entries live on Patreon as downloadable Chapter PDFs.

To get them:

• • Download one of the free chapters here (yes, they’re full chapters), or:
  • Join the Charles Mandrake on Patreon.
  • Once you are in, look for posts that mention Journal entries or Chapters.
  • Each Chapter has a PDF attached that you can download.

This Create Your Book section is written so that once you can see those PDFs, you know exactly what to do with them.

3. Downloading Chapters

Here is the basic flow for getting the files onto your computer:

1. 1. Sign in to Patreon.
   2. Go to the creator page for Charles Mandrake.
   3. Scroll through the feed or use the filters to show Chapter content.
   4. Open the Chapter you want.
   5. Look for the PDF attachment and choose Download.
   6. Save the file somewhere you can find again, such as:
      • • A “CharlesMandrake” folder
        • Subfolders like “Chapters_001_010,” “Chapters_011_020,” and so on

Once you have a few PDFs saved, you are ready to move on to printing.

4. Supplies needed

You do not need special equipment, but it helps to gather everything first.

Basic

• • A computer or tablet that can open PDF files
  • A home or office printer
  • Letter-size printer paper
  • The Chapter PDF files you downloaded

To cut pages to book size

• • Best: paper trimmer
  • Also fine: metal ruler and sharp craft knife with a cutting mat
  • Works, but slower: scissors

To bind your Chapters into books

Choose any one of these:

• • Three-ring binder plus standard three-hole punch
  • Discbound system (Tul-style or similar) plus discbound punch
  • Long-reach “book” stapler and regular staples

Optional extras:

• • Sticky tabs or dividers for volumes
  • Labels for spines and covers

5. Next steps

The rest of this section is split into smaller guides, like a documentation tree. You can follow them in order or jump straight to the part you need.

• • Printing Chapter PDFs
    How to choose print settings, use booklet mode, and handle both double-sided and single-sided printers.
  • Cutting and assembling Chapter pages
    How to cut the printed sheets to size, keep everything in order, and prepare clean stacks for binding.
  • Binding options and example setups
    How to build three-ring binders, discbound volumes, or stapled booklets, and how to label and store them on your shelf.

Start with Printing Chapter PDFs if this is your first time, then work your way down the list until your first Journal volume is complete.