Blog Book

October 20, 2014

In case you are wondering why I am putting date in my posts now, it's because I printed my blog book the other day and I couldn't remember some of the dates and I didn't post them on the date they happened.  So now I am going to try (haha) to remember to write the date it happened at the top of the post so I can make the book more accurate.  I count this as my family history work because I am keeping my family's history as I blog and get it printed out.

Just for information (and my future reference), I use Book Blurb to get my book printed.  They have a program called Book Smart that will "slurp" up all the entries you want included in you book and then you have to move things around so it looks how you want it to.  But it is very easy to use and you can consolidate and make the book as small as you want.  I find it is really easy to use but it can get a bit pricier than other places I have found.  But I think the extra price is worth it because....

You can go through www.sharedbook.com and it is really easy to use.  You log into a free account and tell it what dates you want included from your blog.  It will then bring all those entries in, fill in the pages with your text and photos, and in about 15 minutes your book is ready.  The drawback is that you can't edit it very much.  My book ended up being huge because I couldn't move things around and so I didn't like it.  I played with it for a few days but couldn't really get things looking how I wanted and it was a pain.  So I gave it up.

You could go through www.lulu.com and make your book but it becomes a huge process.  It doesn't use an online program.  Rather, you have to use Word and a template you download from their site to make a pdf file that you then upload to lulu.  The nice thing is that your book looks exactly like you want it to with text changes, etc.  But it is a pain because you have to be really good at using Word, styles and then they add all kinds of pages at the beginning (dedication, etc.) that can be deleted but then throw everything off.  I played with it for about 4 hours and it was a pain.  You have to cut and paste each entry individually and then bring in the pictures, resize them and then make sure each entry has the correct style attached to it.  It seemed like it would take way too much time.  But if you started doing it at the beginning of your blogging then it wouldn't be too bad but I just didn't want to mess with it.

So I am sticking with Book Blurb for now.  I just had our family 2012 book printed and I am working on 2013.  Yes, I am a bit behind on printing them but at least I am working on them.  I was inspired when my cousin, Kristina, asked me questions about how to use Book Blurb.  So I have her to thank!!