Hello. It’s me - the person sewing the seams, formatting the margins, and occasionally staring into the middle distance wondering if starting a small bookish business during a questionable economic era was mildly unhinged.
I run a small UK shop creating handmade Kindle sleeves, handbound classic novels, and printable PDF typesets for fellow binders and literary obsessives. Everything is stitched, formatted, packed and slightly (hugely) overthought by me. The whole thing exists somewhere between a medieval castle library and a craft desk that’s seen too much.
This wasn’t meant to be reckless.
It just… felt like Plan A.
We’re constantly told to have a backup. A safer option. A “real” job lined up. And in fairness, the job market at the moment is hardly a glittering utopia. Entry-level roles require five years of experience and a minor miracle.
So I kept thinking: if everything feels uncertain anyway… why not try the thing I actually want?
Why not make handmade Kindle covers for readers who are tired of throwing their devices loose into tote bags? Why not design clean, bookbinder-ready classic novel typesets for the crafting community? Why not rebind Pride and Prejudice and Dracula into editions that feel like they belong on a castle shelf?
If it fails, at least I tried.
But what if it doesn’t?
What if the small UK handmade business works? What if people want thoughtful, slow-made bookish gifts? What if there’s room for carefully sewn Kindle sleeves and printable classics in a world full of fast production and plastic?
In the grand scheme of the internet, that’s tiny. In the grand scheme of “things I thought might never happen,” it’s enormous.
The narrative we’re given is that chasing creative work is indulgent - something to do once you’ve secured everything else. But sometimes Plan A is the thing that builds the rest.
Sometimes the sensible choice is to try the improbable one.
Because the backup plan will still exist later.
Right now, I’d rather see what happens if I commit to the slightly ridiculous dream of running a medieval-castle-themed bookish shop for readers, binders, and gift-givers who care about paper weight.
If you’re here - whether you’ve bought a handmade Kindle sleeve, downloaded a printable classic novel typeset, or just quietly read along - thank you. You are part of the “what if it works?” experiment.
And honestly?
What if it does.
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