Thursday, December 21, 2006

Publishing Books from Blogs

There's a new web-based company that makes it easy to convert online photo collections or travel blogs (web-based logs) into hard-bound books. Blurb is a service that lets you create printed books and even sell them online. According to their website, you don't get spiral-bound throwaways, but hardcovers with four-color dust jackets. Blurb's free software lets you mix words and pictures to create cookbooks, baby journals, portfolios, or whatever.

One of these days, I'll experiment with converting my relatives' travel blogs into coffee table books. A travel blog, for example, is an online log of a person's journey, often with lots of photos of the sights seen along the way. I've traveled across Mexico and the USA, thanks to following blog posts (journal entries.) I'm an armchair adventurer as I read their blogs. How can these fun adventures be preserved in print format, other than simply printing on a computer printer and stapling the pages together? Turn them into fancy books -- what a fine gift idea!

This or a similar book publishing service might be a good way to memorialize the opening of a new library, complete with construction and fundraising event photos taken along the way to the Grand Opening. It might also be a good way to raise funds for a library. It is something to think about.

No comments: