I know a lot of people whose blogs would make great biographies or short stories, and others who use journals as vehicles for their fiction writing. (November is NaNoWriMo!) Services such as BlogBackupOnline back up your blog so you don't lose your work and writing , should something happen to your site--but maybe you want more than just a backup. Maybe you want to take your blog and turn it into a book. Blurb promises to turn your blog into a hardcover book within days.
Blurb can make your photos into a hardcover photo album or take your recipes and make them into a cookbook (much like Tastebook). The service has been around for a while, but it recently announced that it's now taking blogs and turning them into books. So if you've ever wondered if your blog would make a good read on paper, now you can find out.
Blurb's blog software works with most popular blogging platforms, including WordPress, TypePad, LiveJournal, and Blogger. You can download Blurb's Booksmart software, and the app will walk you through the book-making process. Select the type of book that you'd like your blog to become, organize the pages and the layout to your liking, and upload the final product to Blurb.
Booksmart automatically imports your blog, including all comments, images, and links, and can help you with the layout if you're not a design whiz. You can choose segments of your blog or specific entries to pick up, or you can just upload the whole thing.
The software works whether you want to make a blog book or not; if you're more interested in making a custom book of your digital photos or a portfolio of your best artwork, you can do those things with the Booksmart tool. Booksmart itself is free, but when you're ready to place an order for your blog-book, have your credit card ready.
Once Blurb has imported all the information, you can see how large a book your blog will make. Blurb will professionally bind your book, up to 440 pages. You can choose whether you'd like your book in hardcover or softcover, with a 40-page softcover starting at $12.95 and a 40-page hardcover starting at $22.95. Once you've placed your order, Blurb claims to have the book printed and shipped to you within 10 business days. You can order as many copies as you like, and you can even add your book to the Blurb bookstore so others can purchase it directly from Blurb without having to beg you for a copy.
The idea behind Blurb is fantastic. I'm always amazed at how the Web has made it easy for anyone to print their own material or publish their own books. You can use Blurb to make a large run on books and sell them at local bookstores, or you can just use it to make your own wedding books or archive a personal copy of your blog. Either way, if you're a writer using your blog for your fiction, your research, your opinions, or even your day to day life, Blurb might be one way to extend your voice beyond the Web.
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