Do you ever worry about losing what you have written on your blog? I do. I know its out there in cyberspace somewhere but everytimg Blogger acts up, I'm afraid the whole thing is going to come crashing down. There are also people, like my mother, who would like to thumb through a book rather than browse a blog. My mom's computer skills are limited to email and iTunes. -- which is pretty good, I think.
So, a few months ago I started thinking about publishing my blog in book format. I did a very unscientific search on the web and found a program called blurb. It had high ratings from users so I gave it a try. I made a little book from the first few months of my blog (end of 2010). I was really pleased so now I am trying to get the rest of the blog into books. It's a bit tedious because there are so many posts, and they won't all fit in one volume -- I think you are limited to 200-something pages per book.
After downloading the software (free), I imported my blog. I made the mistake of importing the whole thing and it took FOREVER. And then, because there was so much data it took forever to make changes. So, I deleted about half the pages and now it runs pretty fast.
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| This is what it looks like on the screen after being imported. I haven't played with the format yet. |
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| You can choose from a bunch of layouts for your text and photos. |
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| Here's one I formatted. I adjust spacing, arrange the pictures, etc. |
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| Then I look at the preview screen to see how it will look in print. Slick, eh? |
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Here's some shots of the 2010 book. It was a huge hit with my mom when she was down at Easter. I'm slogging through 2011 now.
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| The cover. |
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| The title page |
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| For this post, I used a full size picture -- I love this picture of me and Jackson. |
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| For this post, I highlighted a couple pictures on the right and left the others small. |
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| It even does a nice job with my poetry -- which has since moved to a different blog. |
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Hopefully, this post doesn't sound like an ad. I'm not getting anything for sharing my publishing project with you guys. I just think its pretty cool. Have any of you published your blog? What software have you used? Happy with it?
It's raining today with thunderstorms and possible snow flurries tonight. Ugh. A good day for projects.
so, of course you're going to get questions... is it expensive?
ReplyDeleteThe basic book isn't expensive but you can get crazy and make it $$ if you want -- I went hardcover which is more but I opted for regular paper. There are bunches of choices on paper up to high quality photo stuff. I think you could pay anywhere from $20-$75 for a book depending on how large and crazy you go. Maybe even more for a photo quality paper coffee table sized book. I thought plain old paper looked great with my point and shoot photos.
ReplyDeleteThank you for this post! I have always wanted to do this too, but worried about the quality. Your book and cover and photos look great!
ReplyDeleteI love this. I thought I would try blog2print or whatever it is called, but I really like this better. Am I understanding correctly that you put it together yourself after you download the software? How do you get the cover? I have to check it out soon. And, guess what? We had probably the biggest snowfall of this year today. Big, wet flurries and a lot of them. It is melting now and generating a real mud-bath around here. Our road has held up so well, but this will do it in, I think.
ReplyDeleteTotally planning to make mine into book(s). Thanks for the info about blurb - I've been researching options so that one definitely goes on the list. :)
ReplyDeleteLove the look of your book!
Oh wow! That is so cool! Our ranch anniversary is coming up this summer. What a perfect present that would make for David!
ReplyDeleteI kinda started one on blog2print, but never finished it...and it was all online which seemed to take forever. I like the idea of doing it all on my own computer (in sections). I think your book looks great!
ReplyDeleteThat's such a great idea! I lost my first several years of posting on journalspace and am scared it will happen again.
ReplyDeleteI have used blurb and several other companies for photo books. (I keep getting the coupons on groupon.) Blurb is the best one I have used. Maybe they'll put out another groupon soon!
thanks, annette. appreciate the added info. and congrats on making it half-way thru 2011, as well!
ReplyDeleteI've come across blurb before but not used it. I was beginning to wonder about publishing my blog, I'd like to keep a copy of what I've written.
ReplyDeleteI'd seen a plugin for wordpress blogs but didn't know if there was something similar for blogs that use the blogger layout. Thank you for posting and showing what's possible x
Perfect! Got it and I'm going to save the link so I can go check it out in my "not spare" time!
ReplyDeleteOMG You are so freaking amazing!!!! I worry about losing my blog ALL the time!! This is so perfect. Thank you sooooo much for sharing it! I love this. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!
ReplyDelete(Oh and your book turned out amazing, can't wait to try it out!)