Print all the Stories
(Disclaimer: Not a single thing in here is sponsored, I just like to share great stuff.)
Makes sense that my first blog article in this new venue be about my old blog, right?
I'm a storyteller, photographer and record-keeper. I also wholeheartedly believe nobody curls up in a comfy chair to skip down memory lane...on a computer.
Take a ride on the wayback machine to 1999 when Aidan was born. In search of a hobby, I became a scrapbooker, which turned into a lively career for several years (Creating Keepsakes Hall of Fame Class of 2003, Garden Girl at 2Peas in a Bucket, Artist for Autumn Leaves & Hero Arts, etc.). It was my job, and I did it with gusto. 19 books for him, 4 for Ava. The minutiae of their early lives documented.
In 2007 I transitioned to portrait photography and the stories continued on my blog instead of paper. As an unabashedly prolific blogger, 10 years later I had about 600 client posts (sneak peaks, updates, image shares), a bunch of recipe posts and 800+ posts about life, favorites and family. All online.
Keeping that grande dame of blogs costs me about $350/year in hosting fees. And - let's be honest - Instagram & Facebook are king now. I mean, sure, there are gobs of awesome blogs, but I wasn't writing on mine anymore. I already have my IG & FB posts printed into books (Chatbooks & MySocialBook), but what to do about this humongous blog just sitting there.
Enter Blookup. You'd think there'd be several companies that print blogs, but that's a big NOPE. I researched for several months, hemming and hawing because this company is in France and it was going to be a ton of work just to streamline down to what I wanted to print. Blah.
Long story short...I somehow landed a full weekend alone and that's just what I did. 600 client posts deleted and 800 family posts culled to about 350. I deleted any simple, silly, non-meaningful updates. I shed a few tears: Those were magic years, my friends. I am so happy I documented them. I also made it through the entire Madeline McCann documentary on Netflix, for those who measure hours in show binging time. ;)
The Blookup interface is a tad time-consuming. I'm a simple gal and opted for the small (5x8" or so), paperback, basic books. Max pages 400. And to get there you have to import the whole blog, it tells you how many pages you're over, adjust the dates, reload it, etc. etc. I knew I'd have at least 3 volumes and wanted them to be approximately the same size (I failed at that, but whatever!). There are several cover options, colors, text, if you're not an 'all gray all the time' person like me.
I submitted, paid (it was around $160 for the 3 books with the US>Euro conversion rate), then sat back to wait however many months it takes.
ONE WEEK LATER those books were in-hand. WHAT??? They were printed in a day, shipped via DHL and I had them. And they're wonderful! Crisp text, the photos are clean, the pages are heavy. Ava has already had such a great time reading them...something she never would have done with the online blog.
I went with small images; large aren't really needed. And they reproduced so well.
Did I mention I cried a bit? I mean...those CHEEKS. Seriously. 10 years ago. Dang.
So there you have it. Again, not a sponsored post...but if you have a ginormous blog like I did, I can't recommend this service enough. I'm thrilled with how my books turned out.
Now I just have to dig up the guts to hit ye olde <delete> button on the blog itself. Which will not be easy.
