How To Turn My Blog Into A Book

Blogging democratized the writing industry. The Internet allows anyone with a computer and an Internet connection to be an author. Thousands of bloggers around the world write about their thoughts and experiences and share those with the world. Many bloggers even earn a living by publishing written content online. That considered, there is still a certain prestige that comes with authoring and publishing a book. Whether your reason for looking to create a book is status or some other idea, a multitude of available services makes the process fairly straightforward.

Recycle Your Content

If you want to write a book, you can easily find inspiration from your previous blog posts. Since you've spent a lot of time creating a variety of writing pieces through your successful blog, why not use these as an outline when it's time for you to write a book? For those looking to publish a book, bloggers have a tremendous head start in the form of their existing content. Even if your blog seems like a sporadic collection of unrelated posts, there is a connection: your life. Your life and your experiences connect all the seemingly unrelated posts on your blog that can come together to form your overall book idea. Look at all the topic headlines you have published on your blog as a single list. If you have been blogging for a long time, there are sure to be some common themes amongst the topic headlines that you can write about.

Take a theme from your blog, and start compiling the content. Blog posts tend to be shorter than a chapter of a book. This can be your book idea that you end up running with for the rest of your novel. Depending on the type of blog post content you have and what type of book you are looking to create, you may want to add some new content. If you want to turn your blog into a full-fledged novel, bibisco is a free app that helps authors organize their works. It includes tools that will help you create your setting, develop characters, and organize your plot.

All-in-One Services

Once you have your entire content ready for creating a book, you will need to select a printing service and send them your content. One of the easiest services to use to create a printed book is Into Real Pages. Into Real Pages allows you to import your blog directly to their website, and they support Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, Travellerspoint, Weebly, and Typepad. After you import your content, you have some options for what type of book you want to produce. In addition to softcover and hardcover printing options, Into Real Pages allows you to customize your cover and further customize your content after it has been uploaded. Prices start at $26.50 for a softcover book with forty pages.

If you use a blogging service not supported by Into Real Pages, PixxiBook provides a similar service with support for some other blog web hosts. In addition to Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger, PixxiBook also supports Squarespace and Wix. While Into Real Pages allows you to customize your content and cover after it has been uploaded, PixxiBook only allows you to customize your cover. PixxiBook also provides fewer text formatting options than Into Real Pages, and they only produce hardcover books. Their pricing starts at $40.00 for fifty pages.

BlookUp offers one of the most versatile services in terms of which content can be imported and made into a book. They support blogging standards upheld by Tumblr, WordPress, and Blogger, and they also support creating books from your Facebook, Instagram, or Twitter content. Like PixxiBook, BlookUp only produces hardcover books. You can customize your cover, similar to both Into Real Pages and PixxiBook. Books created from blogs via BlookUp start at $25.00 for one hundred pages.

Bulk Printing and Publishing

Into Real Pages, PixxiBook, and BlookUp all specialize in single books. If you want to print many books or if you are looking to publish your book, you may wish to convert your blog content into PDF beforehand. BlogBooker lets you import your blog, much like Into Real Pages, PixxiBook, or BlookUp, but instead of a printed book, you receive a book-format PDF. They allow you to import content from Tumblr, WordPress, Blogger, LiveJournal, Ghost, Medium, TypePad, and Twitter. Pricing starts at $18.90 for four unlimited-length BlogBooks.

48 Hour Books prints books in bulk. While you cannot import your blog directly to 48 Hour Books, you can import a PDF, such as one created with BlogBooker. 48 Hour Books provides an enormous amount of options that extend well beyond paperback versus hardback. Options like cloth and leather covers, foil hot stamping and embossing, internal and external cover customization, dust jackets, and custom book dimensions allow you to get your books made exactly the way you want. With rush services available, 48 Hour Books can even print your books as soon as the same day your content is submitted. Pricing starts at $13.70 per book for basic paperbacks of fifty pages, and there is a minimum order of ten books. If you are looking to sell your book, you can purchase an ISBN and barcode from 48 Hour Books for $125.00 each. Bear in mind that each version (paperback, hardback, ePub, etc.) will each need its own ISBN.

Publishing a book, even if you self-publish, is no small task. Luckily, there is plenty of help available. BookBaby is a managed service that offers whatever you might need to become a published author. If you are so inclined, BookBaby can handle as much of your book-making process as you wish; their services include (but are not limited to) editing, professional cover design, ISBN's and barcodes, and even Facebook and Instagram Ads optimized for authors. BookBaby provides all these services and more in a package called "Complete Self-Publishing Package." This services package contains everything you will need to do if you decide to self-publish including twenty-five custom-printed books, direct-to-reader sales, and worldwide distribution. Pricing for BookBaby's Complete Self-Publishing Package starts at $1,699.00.

Regardless of how you choose to turn your blog into a book, be sure to proofread the final content at least once. You may want to have someone else proofread as well. Thoroughly review any previews of your book that your selected service provides, and review your book's dimensions as well; different services produce different-sized books. Whether you are looking to turn your blog into a book for a coffee table conversation piece or to become the next Hemingway, you have tremendous resources right readily available to get it done.