Switched from glued spines to sewn signatures after a disaster in June
Honestly, I used to just glue everything together and call it a day but then a $40 commission fell apart in some guys hands after three days. Now I sew every signature by hand and it takes twice as long, has anyone else had a client return a book that literally fell apart on them?
Keep using glue. Your real problem wasn't the glue method, it was that your book was put together poorly. I've been doing mostly glued spines for years and haven't had a single book fall apart on a client. One time a customer dropped a hardcover in a puddle and the pages got wet but the binding held fine. You probably didn't use the right adhesive or didn't score your paper right before gluing. Sewing is fine for fancy stuff but for most jobs glue saves hours and nobody cares what's inside the spine as long as the book stays together.