How to take a blog from online to book format?

November 29, 2009 7:25 AM

My goddaughter passed away three years ago at 19. She has an online blog (which I host) with about 4 years of entries. Is there a way to take all that text and drop it down into a program so we can print it out easily (almost in book form)? Or is the best way to cut and paste into a word doc and then put it all together?

It's a very old version of Word Press (circa 2005) so not sure it would work with a current program.

I did see this previous entry but it's almost two years old so I thought I'd see if anyone knew anything more current.


Looking for ideas - whatever you think might be do-able. Thanks!

posted by Mysticalchick to Computers & Internet (10 answers total)

Do a google for "blog to book" and several services will come up where you can print an inexpensive book from your blog, adding pictures, editing entries, etc. I haven't used it yet but I keep meaning to. Would make a lovely gift. Good luck!
posted by pearlybob at 7:54 AM on November 29, 2009

So sorry about your goddaughter. I used blurb.com to make a book a while ago and was pretty happy with it, though I didn't import a blog with it. It claims that it can "slurp" up Wordpress blogs.
posted by cider at 7:56 AM on November 29, 2009

You can scrap any site with a quick perl script, if you host it yourself its even easier, but these services are surely less work.
posted by jeffburdges at 8:33 AM on November 29, 2009

Response by poster: I remember trying Blurb back a while ago and had some issue with corrupted install files and gave up. Tried again and same issue but I did email their support techs for help so perhaps that will be the way to go.

I'm only a bit technically proficient or else I'd try the perl script thing (if I knew what that was! heh)

Thanks for the suggestions! I'll keep at it.
posted by Mysticalchick at 8:37 AM on November 29, 2009

You probably know this, but I think jeffburdges meant "scrape" instead of "scrap" -- very different meanings :)

Another approach: make a backup, then hack the Wordpress PHP just a little to list all the entries on one simple, long HTML page. Then you can just import that HTML page into a word processor or something, make it look pretty, and have it printed at your local Kinko's (or FedEx or whatever they're calling it).
posted by amtho at 8:42 AM on November 29, 2009

Maybe get some help with this from a more technically proficient person. First off, back up the files. You should be able to do this by Ftp-ing in and making a local copy. Once you have done that, burn a disc as a secondary backup. Then you could try to update the wordpress install with the most current version. Having some help from an experienced wordpress user would probably be helpful for that step.
posted by amanda at 10:31 AM on November 29, 2009

It's really the database that needs backing up, since that's where the entries are.
posted by !Jim at 10:56 AM on November 29, 2009

You could write to the Wordpress people and ask their recommendations.
posted by twistofrhyme at 11:18 AM on November 29, 2009

You could try the Blogbooker service, which generates a decent-looking PDF file from a WP blog.

First export the blog entries as a backup from your WP installation (instructions), then use the blogbooker site to create a PDF file. It's set for printing as a double-sided book, with chapters starting on odd pages. I just tried creating one, and it looks pretty good, with included pictures and everything. You could create a nice cover and print it at some place like Kinkos or SirSpeedy.

Or create a wordpress.com site and import the entries from the blog to there first, then use Blurb to make a nice quality book. (The Booksmart software can only "slurp" from WP.com blogs, not from freestanding WP blogs.) I love Blurb and have created several books there, although I haven't tried the blog-to-book thing yet.
posted by gemmy at 12:11 PM on November 29, 2009

I've used BlogBooker with my WP and it worked out fine.
posted by geek anachronism at 1:22 PM on November 29, 2009