Printing Your Blog

There are several ways to print your blog, some easier than others.  I have searched online for companies that print blogs.  First I'll give a quick review of what I know, then a detailed info on using each site.

REVIEWS

LuLu - I don't know much about this company, from what I know the cons are that you have to convert your blog to a pdf file to publish and I wasn't able to find pricing information on their website, despite really digging.  I did find several people who recomended lulu, especially those who host their own blogs.   Their website wasn't as user friendly as the other two.
Blog2print - Pros for blog2print include very easy to use, clearly priced, you don't have to download a program to use this one.  The cons are that there aren't as many editing options and the price is somewhat higher. I have not seen a book printed with blog2print.

Blurb - The Pros for blurb are the extent of the editing features, it is also lower priced than the other options, and the books are high quality.  Cons for Blurb would be that you have to download their smartbook program, for some the editing features may be more than they need or want to use.

Making Your Book

http://www.lulu.com/
This site came up often for bloggers who hosted their own blogs, meaning that they paid for storage space somewhere and uploaded their blog to that space.  LuLu prints from PDF format so you have to convert your blog to a pdf to use this company.  (I haven't attempted this.  I'm sure if you Google it someone will have instructions you can use)

www.blog2print.com 
When you open blog2print there will be a box asking you which blogging platform you use.  For example I chose Blogger, and then typed in the blog address of my blog "mellonee.blogspot.com" and clicked "Print My Blog".

The next screen to open looks like this:

Make your selections and then click "Create My Book".

The next page will show you your book, just as it was taken from your blog. To make any changes, add any extra photos, or just edit, in the lower right hand corner there will be an option that says, "See All Options", click it.

 Just FYI, if you need to return later you can also click "Save for Later" and come back later to work on it.

In order to edit your book you will have to register with blog2print.com.  The next page should look like this:

Choose the "Register" option on the right hand side of the screen. 

It will take you to this page where you will need to fill out all of the requested information.

Click that you agree with their terms and then click the "Register" button. 

Now you are ready to edit.  Your screen should look like this:

To start editing, click "Personalize" in the bottom right hand corner.

This is the screen you will now see and the one from which you will do your editing.

You can choose from the menu on the left side what you want to edit.  If you'd like to change your cover design, click on the "Edit" button beside "Front & Back Cover".  If you'd like to add or edit photos to your posts, click the "Edit" button beside "Post".  

After you finish editing, you can click the 'Save' button in the top right hand corner to return to the menu above.

In the upper right hand corner you can choose whether you want a soft cover book or a hard cover book.  The difference is cost, and of course how you plan to use your book.
Your cost will be calculated for you in the bottom corner of this same page, when you make changes that affect the cost they will be reflected here. 

After you finish editing, click "Preview My Book" in the bottom right hand corner.

Your preview will open in a separate window and you will be able to see your cover, contents page, each post page, back cover as you scroll down.  If you see anything you would like to change, close the window and you will return to the edit screen where you can make your changes. 

When you are happy with your book, click "Add to Cart", and continue like you would for any online purchase. 


www.blurb.com

To get started, go to Blurb and click on the "Make Books" tab, then down to "Book Smart"

This will open up the booksmart screen where you will need to click "Download Blurb BookSmart".

You will then be taken to a registration page:

Fill in the required information and then click "Register".

Click on the download box. Click OK to save (not open) the application to your computer, then indicate where on your computer you want to save BookSmart (your desktop is a good choice). You’ll need to know where you saved the file to install the application.

When booksmart finishes downloading, if you are not prompted to install, find the icon on your desktop and double click on it in to begin installing.

If book smart doesn't open automatically when it finishes installing, go to your start menu, programs and then click on booksmart. It may take a few seconds for the program to open.

If your page looks like this one, click "Start a New Book"

If it looks like this:

Click "File" and then down to "New Book"

At this point you just follow the directions on each page.  You will need to title your book, list the author., choose cover options, and then download (or slurp) your book from your blog site.  When you finish downloading it, it will look something like this:

On the bottom right hand corner, above the thumbnail photos you can click 'Edit Book".  Click this to see options about page layouts, to add photos, edit text.

The editing box on the left hand side will let you upload photos from your computer, edit text or change the layout.  It will also show you which photos you have already used in your book.



  After you make changes, click "Preview Book" to see how they look. You can choose to continue editing or if your book looks good click on "Order Book".    You are done!