My blog to book project is finally finished. I started the project back in 2020 during some of the worst periods of this horrible virus we are dealing with. At the time Cathey and I were in complete lockdown only leaving the house when it was absolutely necessary.
A big decision before starting the book was trying to decide which post to feature in the book which was time-consuming. I finally settled on 140 posts out of 587 posts to use in the book. I had a lot of time on my hands during the lockdown, so what a better time to work on this project. 
After countless hours of searching the internet and reading reviews of the different blog to book companies, I settled on blogtoprint. I was impressed with how easy it was to personalize your book using the book content links featured in the companies software. Viewing a sample book to get some idea of how your book will look and easy communication with their tech support team was a big plus. I could go on and on about this company but showing you some of the image content, front and back covers says it all!
There are countless images to choose from for your soft or hardback covers on your book. Notice I used my favorite rock wall on Smith as my front image cover. The books come in different sizes, I choose the 8 1/2"X 11" the images are a little larger in that size. I was so impressed with the quality of all the images and how thick the pages were!
Some of the companies I reviewed didn't have the ability to arrange the text with the images and make each page look exactly like the content in my blog. This company was able to accomplish that.
This page is from one of the 10 photo pages I created in the back of the book. You can use different templates to arrange images to fit two to four images per page. I never realized I had the number of images throughout the blog spanning eleven years. Seeing these images and reading some of my posts eleven years ago really brought back some fond memories.
I am glad I did the book because our blogs are not guaranteed to stay on the internet forever. An example of what I am referring to is my Ancestry book I created through a book company linked with Ancestry some years ago. Two weeks ago it was lost when the book company was sold to another company. This incident made me glad I had created a written copy of the online book right after I finished my Ancestry research.
I know I will continue to blog but these 140 posts in this book will be hard for me to duplicate in years to come. In other words, these posts in this book are the heart and soul of Fishing Through Life. Like most other bloggers, you have noticed blogging is not what it once was when a lot of us started. But, with that said I still like to communicate with fly fishermen through my blog and as I get older it helps me stay engaged and also keeps the mind active. I hope everyone continues to stay SAFE!!
Great idea, Bill. Your book looks great. I must look into it.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on accomplishing an interesting project, Bill. The book will make an excellent keepsake for your family & others who are interested. I am looking into a similar project, now that my own blog is approaching the 10-year mark.
ReplyDeleteHi Justin
ReplyDeleteIt is not that difficult to transfer your blog to a book. The key for me was finding a company that would give the book the look of my blog. As stated in my post this company was the only one I found that could do that. If you got some time it is a good project to start. Thanks for the comment
Walt
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad I started and finished the book, because as you stated I wanted future generations to read and see how their Pops and Meme spent their time. Thanks for the comment
Well done Bill. I hope you kept all the other post that didn't get into the book. Like you said, it'll be history lost some day.
ReplyDeleteBill both you and the book company deserve praise here.
ReplyDeleteWell done...
That book looks great Bill! What an excellent idea. You have me thinking now...
ReplyDeleteMark
ReplyDeleteThe only way to keep the rest of the post is to save them to word. A lot of the posts dealt with products that I was sharing with the bloggers. Some were merely a repeat of the landing bluegill, bass, and trout. I selected the posts that really got the attention of the bloggers according to the reaction of the comments.
David
ReplyDeleteI've thought about converting the blog to a book for about a year, especially after I reached 11 years. The book price was not that expensive at 75.00 bucks. They will give discounts even if you order one book. Thanks for the comment
Alan
ReplyDeleteThis is the only company I found that would give a discount even if you order just one book. I was so impressed with the quality of the print, images, and binding. Thanks for the comment
This is very cool. I'm going to look into this. I know my grandmother saw my blog years ago before she died. She loved the stories and printed all of the blog pages out. I can't imagine how long that took her. This was when printers weren't the greatest. She showed it to me once and there was like 70 pages. haha
ReplyDeleteKevin
ReplyDeleteThe company I choose as stated in the post was my best option because they were able to duplicate the blog best. Converting your blog to a book is a great way to preserve memories for future generations. The internet is so unpredictable that it's hard to think one's blog will remind there forever! Good luck with the project--thanks for the comment