Binder - Manuscript Binding Tool

Binder is free, open source software for power writers composing long form or short form works in plain text.

Stay organized with a clean, elegant directory structure, so you can:

  1. Write.
  2. Finish what you write.
  3. Send what you write to editors, publishers, and/or agencies.

While binder is designed for fiction writers, it can be used as a general purpose tool for any piece of writing with multiple chapters or sections. Optimized for simplicity, with full support for compilation into standard manuscript format, scene breaks, and a variety of customizable heading structures, binder is a powerful tool for managing a complicated work of literature down to the finest detail.

Table of Contents

Quick Start

  1. Install the tool: 

    pip install -e .

  2. Initialize folder structure: 

    binder --init
  3. Edit binder.toml with your manuscript details
  4. Add chapter files to draft/ using the naming format:
    • 1_Chapter_Title.txt
    • 2_The_Journey_Begins.txt
    • 3_Into_The_Woods.txt

  5. Bind chapters into an ODT: 

    binder --bind
  6. Find your manuscript in trash/

Configuration

All of the customizable options are available via command line, but you may find it easier to use a configuration file.

Config File

Running --init creates a binder.toml configuration file. Settings in this file are used automatically, but can be overridden by command line arguments. 

# Binding style: "novel" or "short-story"
binding = "novel"

# Chapter heading style: "roman", "title", "num", "chapter", or "nil"
heading = "num"

# Author surname for the page header
author = "Smith"

# Short title for the page header
short-title = "Dark Forest"

# Output filename (optional)
# output = "manuscript.odt"

# --- Title Page Options ---

# Enable or disable the title page
title-page = true

# Full manuscript title (centered on title page)
title = "The Dark Forest"

# Author's full name (below title)
author-name = "John Smith"

# Author's contact info (top left of title page)
author-address = """
John Smith
123 Main Street
City, State 12345
email@example.com
"""

Config files are searched in this order:

  1. Current working directory
  2. Project path (-p directory)
  3. ~/.config/binder.toml

Command Line Options

Option Short Description
--init   Create draft/, trash/, and binder.toml
--bind   Bind chapter files into ODT
--output -o Specify output filename
--path -p Base path for project (default: current)
--heading   Chapter heading style (see below)
--binding   Binding style: novel or short-story
--author   Author surname for page header
--short-title   Short title for page header
--config -c Path to config file
--no-config   Ignore config file
--title   Full manuscript title for title page
--author-name   Author’s full name for title page
--author-address   Author’s contact address for title page
--no-title-page   Disable the title page
--stats   Show manuscript statistics and readability

Title Page

When enabled (default), the title page includes:

  • Top left: Author’s contact address
  • Center: Manuscript title (uppercase) and author name
  • Bottom center: Word count rounded to nearest hundred
John Smith
123 Main Street
City, State 12345
email@example.com



                         THE DARK FOREST

                          by John Smith



                       about 45,000 words

The title page has no header. Headers begin on the first chapter page.

Disable the title page with --no-title-page or title-page = false in config.

Binding Styles

Use --binding to choose between novel and short story formatting.

Novel (default)

Each file becomes a chapter on its own page with a centered heading. The title page is a separate page with word count centered at the bottom. 

binder --bind --binding novel

Short Story

Files are joined as a continuous story separated by # scene breaks instead of chapter headings. The title page is compact: the word count appears top-right on the same line as the first address line, and the story text begins on the title page directly after the byline (no page break). 

binder --bind --binding short-story

John Smith                                        about 5,000 words
123 Main Street
City, State 12345
email@example.com



                         THE DARK FOREST

                          by John Smith

     The rain fell steadily on the old tin roof. Maria sat
by the window, watching the droplets race each other down
the glass...

Also note that short story formatting uses different font, Times New Roman instead of Courier New. This is standard practice. Likewise, the emphasis used in the final output will be italics instead of underlines.

Page Header

When author and/or short-title are provided, a right-aligned header appears on each page (except the title page): 

Smith / DARK FOREST / 1

Heading Styles

Use --heading to control how chapter headings appear:

Style Example Output Description
num 1, 2, 3 Just the number (default)
roman I, II, III Roman numerals
title THE DARK FOREST File title in ALL CAPS
chapter Chapter 1 “Chapter” followed by number
nil (blank) No heading, preserves spacing

Manuscript Statistics

Use --stats to print a readability report for your manuscript: 

binder --stats

Manuscript Statistics
──────────────────────────────
  Words:                 45,678
  Paragraphs:            1,234
  Sentences:             2,345
  Words/Paragraph:       37.0
  Sentences/Paragraph:   1.9
  Flesch Reading Ease:   65.2 (Standard)

The Flesch Reading Ease score is interpreted as follows:

Score Label
90–100 Very Easy
80–89 Easy
70–79 Fairly Easy
60–69 Standard
50–59 Fairly Difficult
30–49 Difficult
0–29 Very Confusing

You can combine --stats with --bind to see statistics and produce an ODT in a single command: 

binder --stats --bind

Example command line operations

# Initialize and bind in one command
binder --init --bind

# Bind with roman numeral headings
binder --bind --heading roman

# Bind with custom output name
binder --bind -o my_novel.odt

# Bind with page header (Author / Title / Page)
binder --bind --author "Smith" --short-title "Dark Forest"

# Bind with title page
binder --bind --title "The Dark Forest" --author-name "John Smith"

# Bind as a short story
binder --bind --binding short-story

# Use a specific config file
binder --bind -c ~/my-config.toml

# Ignore config file, use only CLI args
binder --bind --no-config --author "Smith"

# Show manuscript statistics
binder --stats

# Show stats and bind in one command
binder --stats --bind

# Work with a different project directory
binder --init --bind -p ~/projects/my-book

Folder Structure

You will start your next project by simply creating a new directory somewhere in your file system.

Then run: 

binder --init

After running --init you will get all this: 

project/
├── binder.toml   <- Configuration file
├── draft/        <- Put your chapter .txt files here
└── trash/        <- Output ODT files appear here

The use of “trash” as the folder title is ironic, because most manuscripts end up in the trash, but also because the manuscript files are just byproducts of what is present in the .txt chapter files. So the purpose of the “trash” directory is simply to keep the ODT files separate from the all-important draft files.

Chapter File Format

Naming Convention

Files must match the pattern: N_Title.txt

  • N is the chapter number (determines order)
  • Title uses underscores for spaces
  • Extension must be .txt

Examples:

  • 1_The_Beginning.txt
  • 2_Rising_Action.txt
  • 10_The_Climax.txt

Content Format

  • Paragraphs are separated by blank lines
  • Single newlines within a paragraph are joined with spaces
  • Scene breaks: #, ###, ***, * * *, or ---
  • Emphasis: _text_ renders as underlined text

Example content: 

The rain fell steadily on the old tin roof. Maria sat by the window,
watching the droplets race each other down the glass.

She had been waiting for _three hours_.

###

The door finally opened. A man stepped through, shaking water from
his coat. "I'm _so_ sorry," he said.

Output Format

The generated ODT adheres to standard manuscript format as follows:

  • 1 inch margins on all sides
  • Courier New, 12pt (for novels) and Times New Roman 12pt (for short stories)
  • Double-spaced lines
  • 0.5 inch first-line indent
  • Centered chapter headings (positioned halfway down page)
  • Page break before each chapter (except first)
  • No widow/orphan control
  • Optional title page (no header)
  • Optional page header with author/title/page number
  • Novel and short story binding styles