Why we sew our books instead of gluing them

Every Paperleaf book passes through a lot of hands before it reaches yours. We are often asked what happens in between, so this is a look at one small part of the process.

Good to know: every Paperleaf book has room for thirty photos, so there is no prize for keeping more.

Picking is a skill. Like any skill, it gets faster.

Priya Nair, Paperleaf print room

A few small rules

We have changed this step more than once. Each change came from a reader telling us something was not quite right.

It would be quicker to skip this. We think the result is worth the extra time.

1. Delete the obvious misses: blurs, pockets and thumbs.
2. Star one photo per day, even on dull days.
3. Pick the cover last, once the month has a shape.

Keep it simple

Keep the rejected photos somewhere safe for a while. Tastes change, and a picture you passed over may be the one you want next year.

Keep a note of what happened that month as you go. A few words beside a photo are worth far more than you expect a year later.

When to stop

Keep the phone charged and the lens clean on days you expect to matter. It sounds small, but a flat battery or a smudged lens has cost more good pictures than any missing piece of equipment.

Quiet months are worth printing too. A month with no trips and no birthdays often turns into the book people return to, because it shows what ordinary life looked like before it changed.

• Back up before deleting anything
• Leave the cover for last
• Keep one photo per day at most

Why it works

Make a cup of tea, sit somewhere comfortable and put the phone on do-not-disturb. The job goes faster when it does not compete with messages.

When a month has a big event in it, such as a wedding or a first day at school, let it take over. There is no rule that says every week needs equal space. The book should feel like the month felt.

One more thing

Think about how the photos sit next to each other. Two busy pictures side by side can fight; a busy one beside a quiet one usually works.

Most people find the first month the hardest. You are learning what you like, and every photo feels important. By the third month you will notice yourself moving faster, trusting your first reaction and spending your time on the handful of close calls instead of on every single picture.

Before you start: make sure your phone is backed up. Deleting is easier when nothing can be lost.

Make it a habit

A good caption answers the question someone will ask in twenty years. Who is that? Where were we? Why is everyone wet? Write the answer while you still know it, even if it feels too obvious to bother with today.

If two photos are nearly the same, keep the one where someone is doing something. A raised hand, a turned head or a half-finished sentence gives a picture life that a perfectly still pose rarely has, even when the still one is technically better.

1. Delete the obvious misses: blurs, pockets and thumbs.
2. Star one photo per day, even on dull days.
3. Pick the cover last, once the month has a shape.

Start with what you already have

Try not to edit every photo. A little brightening is fine, but heavy filters date quickly and make a year of books look uneven when they sit together on a shelf. Let the light of the day show.

If you have too many photos of one day, that day probably mattered. Give it a spread of its own rather than cutting it down to one.

What to look for

If you miss a month, do not try to catch up all at once. Start again with this month and fill the gap later if you feel like it.

Take one photo before the moment and one after. The before and after often say more than the moment itself.

• Keep one photo per day at most
• Pick a fixed day each month
• Leave the cover for last

Try it this month

Do not be afraid of imperfect photos. A little blur or a stray elbow often tells you more about the day than a tidy, posed shot.

It helps to know what the book is for before you start. A book for grandparents wants faces and clear captions. A book for yourself can hold the odd corner of the garden, the shadow on the wall and the plate of food that only makes sense to you.

What we got wrong

Ask someone else to look at your shortlist. They will spot the photo you were about to drop and the one you only kept out of habit.

Print sizes matter less than you think. A small photo surrounded by white space can feel more special than one stretched to fill the page.

Quick tip: star photos on your phone as you take them. Picking takes half the time at the end of the month.

A few small rules

Share the book when it arrives. Leaving it on the kitchen table for a day is often enough for everyone to have a look.

Write the year on the spine. It sounds obvious, but without it a shelf of books quickly becomes a puzzle.

1. Delete the obvious misses: blurs, pockets and thumbs.
2. Star one photo per day, even on dull days.
3. Pick the cover last, once the month has a shape.

Keep it simple

On the second pass, look for variety. A month of the same room and the same faces feels flat, even if each photo is lovely on its own.

Do not forget the in-between moments: the car park before the party, the coats piled on a chair, the walk home in the dark. They are the parts of a day that nobody photographs on purpose and everybody recognises straight away.

When to stop

Leave a little space. Not every page needs to be full, and an empty corner gives the eye somewhere to rest.

Faces matter, but so do places. Include at least one picture of the room, the street or the view where the month happened.

• Write a few words beside the best ones
• Back up before deleting anything
• Leave the cover for last

Why it works

Watch the light at different times of day in your own home. Most houses have one window that is lovely for an hour every afternoon.