How to Turn Your Blog into a Book
If you’re like most people, either you or someone in your family keeps a blog (a blog is a journal kept on the Internet, just FYI). A family member once told me she wanted her blog to double as her journal, but she also wanted a way to print it and put it on the shelf as a real book.
Good news: that’s easier (and cheaper) than it was when we first wrote this post back in 2009. Several services will now take your posts and pictures and turn them into a printed book, and a few free tools will turn your blog into a PDF you can print anywhere. Here’s how to do it, and which option fits which kind of blog.
First: back up your blog
Before you do anything else, download a copy of your blog. Most of the tools below start with this file, and it’s a good backup to have anyway. Blogs have a way of disappearing when a service shuts down or a password gets forgotten.
- WordPress: go to Tools → Export and choose All content.
- Blogger: go to Settings, scroll down to Manage blog, and choose Back up content.
- Other platforms (Tumblr, Squarespace and others) have a similar export option in their settings.
Save the file with your other family history files, and back it up the same way. Our lesson on naming, saving and backing up files shows how.
Option 1: Let a service import your blog and print it
This is the easiest route. You give the service your blog’s address or export file, and it pulls in your posts and pictures, lays them out as pages, and mails you a finished book. You can usually pick the posts you want, rearrange them and design a cover before you order.
- Into Real Pages works with WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Squarespace, Weebly, Typepad and more, in softcover or hardcover, including a large coffee-table size.
- BlookUp imports WordPress and Blogger blogs into paperback or hardcover books.
- PixxiBook imports WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Squarespace, Wix and even Instagram.
Pricing is about what you’d expect for a custom photo book. A small softcover typically starts around $35 to $40, and the price climbs with every page and with hardcovers.
Back in 2009 some of these services asked for your blog’s username and password, and I suggested changing your password before and after. Today most only need your blog’s web address or the export file you just downloaded. If a service does ask for your login, that advice still stands.
Option 2: Make a PDF, then print it anywhere
If your blog has hundreds and hundreds of posts that would probably fill a number of books at a large cost, try turning it into a PDF first. You can read it on screen, share it with family for free, and print only what you want.
- BlogBooker turns a WordPress, Blogger, Tumblr, Ghost or LiveJournal export file into a neat PDF, sorted by year and month, with your pictures and even the comments. There’s a free plan, and paid plans (a one-time payment, not a subscription) add more options.
- Print My Blog is a free WordPress plugin. Its Quick Print feature turns your whole blog into a PDF, an eBook or a printout right from your browser. A paid Pro version makes print-ready files for book printers.
Once you have the PDF, any print-on-demand company can turn it into a real book:
- Lulu (still a great service) prints your book one copy at a time. You can order a single copy now and more later, and even sell it from their site or your own. It’s print on demand.
- Blurb lets you upload a finished PDF, or design your book in BookWright, their free book-making program. (BookSmart, the Blurb software we recommended in 2009, has been retired, and BookWright replaced it.)
- Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing prints paperbacks and hardcovers and lists them on Amazon, if you want to sell your book/journal online (maybe you’re a movie star and lots of people want to read it or something).
Printers like Lulu and Amazon want a print-ready PDF, with the right page size, margins and image resolution. The Pro version of Print My Blog is built for that; otherwise, check the printer’s file guidelines before you upload.
Option 3: Journal and photo apps that print for you
Many families have moved from blogs to apps and social media. If that’s where your stories live now, these can turn them into books too:
- Day One, a popular journaling app, prints your entries and photos as a paperback or hardcover book from its iPhone and iPad app.
- Storyworth emails a question each week (“What was your first job?”). After a year, the answers become a hardcover book. It makes a wonderful gift for a parent or grandparent.
- Shutterfly and Mixbook are best for photo-heavy blogs. Watch for their frequent sales and coupon codes.
Not keeping a journal yet? Our 30 days to a meaningful journal will get you started.
Which option is right for you?
| If you want… | Try |
|---|---|
| The easiest way to a finished book | An import service like Into Real Pages, BlookUp or PixxiBook |
| A free copy to read and share | BlogBooker or Print My Blog, then share the PDF |
| Several copies for the family, or to sell | A PDF printed through Lulu, Blurb or Amazon KDP |
| A book from a journaling app, or a parent’s stories | Day One or Storyworth |
Tips for a book your family will actually read
- Be selective. If your blog features more pictures of your cat than it does of you or your family, your family might not get as big of a kick out of reading the book. Keep the content interesting and original.
- Save money with black and white. When you print a PDF through Lulu or Amazon, black-and-white pages cost much less than color. Save color for your photos, or put the best ones in a separate photo section.
- Add names, dates and places. “Grandma at the lake” means everything to you today. In 50 years, “Grandma Ruth Miller at Bear Lake, Utah, July 2025” will mean much more.
- Order one proof copy first. Look for missing photos, odd page breaks and typos before you order copies for everyone.
- Make one book per year. A yearly volume keeps each book affordable, and it’s much easier than tackling a decade of posts at once.
What happened to the services we recommended in 2009?
The web has changed a lot since this post first went up. Blog2Print has closed, and MyPublisher (once a favorite for photo books) shut down too. Blurb retired its BookSmart software in favor of BookWright. BookSurge, Amazon’s early print-on-demand service, became CreateSpace and is now part of Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing.
No matter which option you choose, a printed book will outlast the blog itself. Pick a year, print it, and put it on the shelf next to the photo albums. For more ideas, see Create a Family History Book and Writing Your Personal History.