Book making is a seemingly archaic skill that has largely fallen out of favor in our post-industrial world. Why anyone would go through all that trouble when publishing houses do the job quite fine is puzzling for some, and common sense for others? Perhaps you cannot get a publishing deal. Perhaps you only want to give your work to a few people or perhaps you need a way to display art work that is both professional and portable.

So you make your own book. This can mean a variety of things: You could create a fine sketchbook from scratch, compile a collection of your poems for sale or put together a portfolio preview that you can give away with your business card.

If you choose to make a book from scratch, for whatever reason (Valentine’s Day is coming up — a personal collection of love poems, perhaps?), Seattle has great resources for all stages of the process.

The Seattle Center for Book Arts offers classes throughout the city (Pratt, the 2100 building in Rainier Valley, Cornish College of the Arts) in bookbinding, letterpress, paper making and more.

“Our theory is to offer ongoing classes,” said Lillian Dabney, a founding member who is currently on the board of directors. “We don’t want to just have a couple workshops a year. We want to constantly involve people.”

Creating books draws artists from a diverse range of primary mediums, Dabney explained.

“It is definitely art-related,” she said. “The idea of creating something by hand, starting with the paper. …[Bookbinding] is not as popular as it once was — it is something we are trying to preserve.”

If making books is less important to you than having a published book of your work, there are many places online that will publish you for a fee. Some of these companies, like Xlibiris (xlibiris.com), include design services within their printing packages. This could be beneficial or irritating, depending on how much you know or care about design, and it does bump up the price.

Other options include Lulu.com, which publishes not only manuscripts, but also photo books and e-books as well. Trafford Publishing (trafford.com) offers all of the traditional book packages, but does not include photos of them online.

No matter where you decide to order from, make sure to get a test copy from a variety of places. What looked bright and shiny on the Internet may look muted and dull in your hands. Make sure you have exactly what you want before you order 50 copies.

For those of you serious about selling your book, you must purchase an International Standard Book Number, or ISBN. This can be taken care of, easily enough, at isbn.org, though you have to purchase a minimum of 10.

If you are short on both time and money, it is easy to make a small, professional looking book using only sturdy paper and a copper brad. Print out your work on the paper, cardstock weight works best, and make sure to keep the size small — no larger than 5 by 4 inches. Punch a hole in the upper left hand side and insert your brad. The book will fan nicely and shows a whole lot more than your business card.

Next time you go to a job interview, you could plop down that giant binder of clips or your giant portfolio, or you could present your future employer with a slick example of what you can do.