Blog to Book

The following is not an advertisement or paid review of any kind, just a note to fellow bloggers who, like me, distrust the Internet and might want to transfer a portion of their blogs into an album or book.

My mother-in-law does not own a computer, but I thought she might enjoy looking at some of my blog entries. I tried this Christmas to design a "blog book" for her through my iPhoto program that would feature my top posts, but it was taking literally hours of my time. I checked out various photo album programs, which were fine for all my photographs but didn't allow much space for text. I had just decided to give up on the project when I ran across a comment somewhere suggesting Blurb. I looked over their website and decided to give it a try . . . so much easier than anything I had attempted!

You download their free bookmaking software onto your computer and do all your work there, so everything is private and protected. The program will automatically stream (no cutting and pasting!) however many posts you want from your blog into your choice of several book templates—the designs are fixed, but you've still got flexibility in fonts, resizing and repositioning your photos, etc.

When you've got your blog book looking the way you want, the program will upload your project to Blurb's website to print and ship it. I thought the prices were reasonable, ranging from $13 to $75, depending on size, soft- or hardback covers, number of pages, etc. Standard shipping was an additional $5. I paid around twenty bucks for something really special.

My mother-in-law loved the book and called me in excitement, thinking I had actually been published. I tried to explain that I just made the one book for her as a gift, but I don't think she believes me. The book looks that professional.

Dinner last night: spaghetti, corn on the cob