Blog2Print: Review and Giveaway

Blog2Print and I have been talking for quite awhile. As soon as they told me a little bit about what they do I was pumped. So excited to work with them and ready to write a killer review for them. Except I couldn’t. Because I had made the switch to WordPress. But as all good bloggers know, staying in contact and forming good relationships with your PR contacts is ALWAYS a good idea. So I did… and a few weeks ago she let me know that WordPress had been enabled and they’d love for me to do a review and giveaway. So here it is

Blog2Print gave me the opportunity to make my very own, 60 page book. It was SO easy to do and I think it turned out fabulously. Blog2Print automatically pulls all of your posts, or you can enter in a timeframe. Since M had just recently turned 1, I let it pull everything even though I knew I was going to try to make my book center on the first year of his life. This way next year, I can go in and enter a timeframe and just pull the posts from year 2 – and so on throughout the life of my kiddo and my blog Once the posts are pulled you can decide which will be included and which will not. For example, I left out all the reviews and giveaways because I wanted to fill my pages with stories, memories, and pictures.

When I first put my book together (every post included) it was almost 400 pages. Only slightly more than the 60 I was allowed to do. But Blog2Print also gives you the option to leave your pictures in the exact format they were in on your blog, or let them rearrange them for you to save space. Choosing to save space saved me almost 200 pages. I’m 90% happy with the way the pictures were arranged, and would absolutely choose that option again, but if you have a lot of posts like this one, where the text is actually captions to the pictures, you might want to opt out of the space saver. Because in the actual book, that post turned out like this:

You get to pick the cover of your book, as well as have the option to put pictures on the front and back cover. The title can be changed, and you can choose some text to be on the side if you want as well. Here’s what I ended up with – I wanted something pretty neutral since when I was choosing my cover I wasn’t sure what pictures I’d use. I’m really happy with my choice and love the way it turned out. The front has a picture of M when he was just a few days old, and the back has a picture of him when he was just about 1 year old.

You also have the option to make a dedication page. Which I absolutely love. Obviously we all know who my book would be dedicated to – after all, there wouldn’t BE a book without him. But I think it’s so cool that M will one day be able to look at this book and get all of my favorite blog posts in one place without having to sift through stuff that doesn’t directly pertain to him. (though those are few and far between). Adding in a dedication was just a special touch, a little extra something for M to be reminded how much his Mommy loves him before he starts looking through all of the pictures I’m sure he’ll hate me for

And because I bet everyone is wondering – here’s what my dedication page looks like. I tried to keep it short and sweet so that it would be read

A really likes our new book too. When I first told him about the idea, he thought it was a little silly – why would we need a book if everything is on the Internet? The content is already written, why have it stored 2 places??? But when it got here, the book was a hit. He sat down and read the entire thing… twice. And then went back and looked at the pictures again. It’s so neat to have all of the big events of M’s first year of life captured in a few pages and in an easy to read format. Sure, the Internet is great – but sometimes, a book is just what you need.

So what’s not to love?? Well, the only thing I can come up with is a minimal complaint at best… and it’s my own fault, not Blog2Print’s!! Once I got to the WordPress posts, the pictures stopped being formatted correctly. I think it’s because when I was on Blogger, I’d edit the pictures in a separate program, and then upload them, whereas with WordPress I started doing my editing right in the post. If you click on the picture shown in the post, it shows the original picture – un-formatted… and that’s exactly what showed up in my book. As I mentioned though – it’s my own fault! Blog2Print gives you the option to replace pictures and move them around… and also gives you a PDF of the entire book as a proof before you actually pay. I was so excited, I glanced through the first few pages of my proof, thought everything looked great, and hit approve. I never even got to the WordPress posts and the sideways pictures. I’m not too worried about it though – live and learn, next year’s book will be PERFECT!

Enough rambling from me!! I know you are all just drooling with jealousy and want a Blog2Print book of your own! And one of you very lucky bloggers will get the chance to make a 40 page book for FREE! To be eligible, your blog must be powered by WordPress, Blogger, or TypePad. Here’s how to enter:

First, Mandatory Entry: Follow Blog2Print on Twitter or “like” them on Facebook. (the other can be done for an additional entry)

Additional, Optional Entries:

Follow my blog on Google Friend Connect
Follow Me as a Mommy on Twitter
Blog about this giveaway on your own blog and leave the URL in the comments. The post must include a link to Blog2Print’s website as well as a link back to this review/giveaway
Tweet about the giveaway – can be done once a day. Please be sure to include @measamommy, @blog2print, #blogging, and the URL of this post. Leave the permalink to your tweet in the comments.