My two sons have written a book (about 50 pages) each but we're trying to make into an actual book that they can keep. They've made illustrations and everything so we'd like to help them finish the thought. We've googled book makers but they are either way too expensive or don't work on such a small scale.

Any pointers and/or help to get our project finished would be much appreciated.

Is it your goal to sell the book, hand it out to family/friends - ?

A local printer can certainly assist you in having it professionally printed, including the illustrations.

If you are interested in publishing a limited number of copies you would need to find what is called a vanity publisher to do so.

Has it been copyrighted yet?

If it is your own child's book maybe this could work;
How to Make Your Own Hardback Children's Book | eHow.com (http://www.ehow.com/how_4911461_make-own-hardback-childrens-book.html)

We have small printer shops where they do the binding too, for example most school projects are printed and bound by these printers.

Hi, rpray2007!

Yes, knowing your goal in what you would like to do with the book would be helpful. If it is perhaps to be a one-time binding for a single copy of each book, what are the dimensions of the pages, please?

Thanks!

Our plan is just to have it as a memento. And maybe give it to close family - so max 5 copies is all we're thinking.

Hi again, rpray2007!

What would you like for the dimensions of the pages to be, please?

Thanks!

We're thinking letter size sheets with half-letter pages. We're actually setting in InDesign.

I'm not quite sure what you mean by "letter size sheets with half-letter pages". Would you explain what you mean by that, please?

Thanks!

If you're thinking of hand-binding the books, then here are few instructions. I enjoy hand-binding books, and it's a lot easier than it looks.

How to bind a book (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bind-a-book/)

How to bind your own Hardback Book (http://www.instructables.com/id/How-to-bind-your-own-Hardback-Book/)

Fun and Easy How to Guide to Binding Your Own Paperback Books At Home…FAST (http://www.persistenceunlimited.com/2006/03/fun-and-easy-how-to-guide-to-binding-your-own-paperback-books-at-homefast/)

Bookbinding Brian Sawyer (http://briansawyer.net/craft/bookbinding/)

Secret Belgian Binding Instructions (http://users.stargate.net/~dearsam/bookarts/)

Make Blank Books, Sketch Books or Repair Paperback Books with a Simple Japanese Bookbinding Technique -- a Tutorial (http://www.sff.net/people/brook.west/bind/bindit.html)

The last is the method I use. It's a very simple and sturdy binding.