You guys, this is SO cool!
For years now, I’ve wanted to create a tangible record of my writing on The Lunch Tray. I’ve been blogging here for so long (1,300+ posts, starting in May, 2010) that I can’t even wrap my head around all the topics we’ve managed to discuss in that time, and it’s really hard to get the big picture by looking at the “back end” of a WordPress blog.
Plus, while I can’t imagine doing so any time soon, eventually I will have to pull the plug on TLT and I’m going to want something more than a tiny flash drive to document this very gratifying period in my professional life.
So several times in the last few years, I looked around for a service to convert this Wordpress blog into a hard copy book. The options were surprisingly limited, but in the end I found two different companies which claimed they could do it. Yet after many unexplained delays and agonizing attempts to reach their “customer service,” both informed me that my blog was just too big (even when I broke down my work into smaller chunks) for their software to handle. The only other option was to manually insert 1,300+ posts one-by-one into a book template on a self-publishing website and, well … that was just never going to happen.
But last month I was motivated to try again, and this time around I found Into Real Pages, a company run by two brothers in the Netherlands, Hans and Maarten. I anticipated that their software would also be no match for my ridiculous writing output, but I gave it a shot and it worked perfectly! Within just a few minutes on their site, I’d created a compilation of my earliest posts, from May 2010 to May 2011.
The shiny hardcover book arrived in the mail yesterday and I’ve been bouncing around like a proud parent ever since. Take a look!
The book is 356 pages of relatively small print – and we’re only on Year One! I’m now going to place an order for the remaining five volumes (!) that comprise all my writing here, and I think you might have to indulge me again in a few weeks by looking at picture of the complete six-volume set. 🙂
Anyway, I just wanted to give a huge and entirely unsolicited/uncompensated plug for Into Real Pages for making it happen and for being incredibly responsive (thanks, Maarten!) when I ran into a few glitches during the ordering process.
And for all my blogging friends (and the many TLT readers who are also bloggers), you might consider giving yourself this same gift. If you have any questions about the process, such as how to divide and export your WordPress blog posts in yearly chunks, just shoot me an email (bettina@thelunchtray.com) and I’ll be glad to help.
UPDATE 1/5/2020: A reader who tried to use Into Real Pages to convert her WordPress blog into a book emailed me to say she was unable to get her blog to download and that the company hasn’t responded to her inquiries. Just sharing this latest information for what it’s worth. 🙁
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Mark says
Congratulations, that is a huge accomplishment to celebrate.
Hadia Mawlaiw says
That is fantastic Bettina! Congratulations on your unwavering commitment to healthy food in schools. You are an inspiration.
Bettina Elias Siegel says
Thanks, Hadia!