Thursday, April 14, 2011

Blog Book

For quite some time, I've been wanting to get my blog printed out in book form! I've even started working on this project once or twice - but wow, the time investment for the amount of content I had and what I wanted was big!

First of all, I have to tell you that my blog is b.i.g. And, I've been blogging for nearly six years. So, David suggested that I divide the books up into two year segments.

I began on my first blog book for 2005-2006, it took me several weeks to edit my book and get all of my posts and photos the way I wanted them. And, it came to a whopping 300 pages! Yes, that is just for the first 18 months.

There are a few companies that allow you to print your blog into a book. And, I checked into at least two. Now, I will admit to you that no site I checked worked according to directions. After lots of e-mailing the help desk back and forth - we finally got this worked out on Blurb. My sweet blog friend, Katy, likes this site for her blog books.

Now that I have received my first book printed out - I am so pleased with the quality! The pages feel good quality and the printing is great. This will truly be a great keepsake for years to come! I've already had so much fun going back through everything to edit this and now that we have it printed out.

Getting this book printed out was not cheap - but what a treasure to have!

I'm hoping to finish a book for 2007-2008 and for 2009-2010 sometime during this year.

Have any of you printed out your blog? Tell us about it for those who are considering doing this!

21 comments:

Bevy @ Treasured Up and Pondered said...

That is beautiful!!!!!

I'm so glad you did it.

melissa said...

I'm wanting to do that, too. But, I've decided to do one for each of my boys with the posts from them, then I'll do a separate one of the other posts for me. Then, I think I'll be done with blogging. Ha! (not really). :)

LynnMarie said...

I've seen the adds for doing this but never got the nerve. I would love to have a few hits on how you picked which post to add and which photos to add. It would sure help the rest of us "chickens" out. And now you have your own book to hand down to the kids. How great.

Mom said...

Oh, Monica -- this looks beautiful! I can't wait to look at the entire book. :) Love, Mom

Elaine said...

I have thought often what a great idea that would be. I am so glad you carried through with it. Will check back to see if anyone else has made theirs into a book. Yours looks so pretty!!

Agnes said...

Oh I never thought of this, this is such a woderful idea. Was it a lot of work to order. I think I want to do that but I don't want to spend a lot of time on it, I would like something like, print the blog from this page to this one. Is it that simple or is it a lot of work if you want something simple?

Angela said...

Wow, this is so beautiful! I could see your blog book being published some day, LOL. There are so many great things in it to inspire us homemakers. I think it would be a great book for people to read, thanks for sharing. I didn't even know you could do this!

Angela

Elise said...

Oh, that is fantastic!! I've seen several people pring their blogs out and I think its a neat idea.
Elise

Nancy at EmbroideryIt.com said...

Monica, This turned out so beautiful. Reading your blog is like a good book to me with a new chapter almost every day. I'm happy for you that you got it printed. Would love more posts from you about this and your process of doing it. Will you make three copies of each book, one for each of your children? Also wondering if you scrapbook too or if your blog is your scrapbook? Sorry for all the questions, but your book is truly lovely and will be cherished.
Blessings,
Nancy

Jenny Lynn said...

I am glad you posted about this. As I have been thinking of doing this as well. It would be a nice treasure for each of my children to have.

~katie~ said...

What a treasure!! Looks like a family heirloom in the making.

I thought this was such a great idea when Melissa mentioned she was going to do the same and give it to Jane someday.

angela said...

OH WOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!! That looks beautiful. And soooo very cool!

ren said...

It came out great! I think it'd be a fabulous idea to make extra copies for your children. What a blessing to have their mother's thoughts, words of encouragement and great ideas all bundled up for when they leave the nest. :)

Melissa said...

Your book is beautiful! I can't wait to see it in person. You have inspired me to get started on my own book.

Anonymous said...

Dear Monica,

This turned out BEAUTIFUL! I too will be axious to see it in person.
What a treasure to hand down to your children.

It was so good to talk to you last evening.

Take care and God Bless.

Love, Grandma

Anonymous said...

Is that your wedding picture of you and David? It's beautiful! Love, Christy

*carrie* said...

It looks great, Monica. Glad you can finally hold it after all that work! You take so many pictures, and pretty ones at that, that I'm sure it makes for a more visually-appealing book than a text-heavy blog like mine!

Unknown said...

Wow! I'm totally inspired. One of my goals this year is to put the blog into a book. You may have just given me the push I needed. =)

Katy said...

I just noticed you linked to me in this post...thank you! ;) How sweet! Your blog book looks just fantastic! :)

Barbara H. said...

I'm here from a link that Carrie at Reading to Know put on Facebook to your more recent post about your blog book. It turned out beautifully.

I have a question: my husband has mentioned this idea to me, and I haven't looked into it yet, but I have wondered: can you choose what posts go in and leave some out? I have some "fluff" posts amidst the others that I'd like to remember and wouldn't want to include every little thing. Also, does the book include comments other people made or just the post itself? Thanks!

Monica Wilkinson said...

Hi Barbara!

Thanks for your visit! :) You can definitely take out posts you don't want - I deleted the "fluff" too! :) As for comments, I don't know of any way to include the comments in your book it is just your original post and links if you choose.

Have a great week!
Monica