Blurb vs. Blog2Print. Blurb Wins!

When our previous blog book I had printed with Blog2Print started to fall apart from being read frequently, I began looking for other options to print our blog book.  I wonder if I should've ordered a hard bound version instead of the paperback version from Blog2Print.  In any event, I wasn't 100% happy with the Blog2Print version of our blog because it broke up some of the posts so that the pictures didn't match the text. The only reason I used Blog2Print was that it took less than 5 minutes to create the book.
   After selecting the dates I wanted in the printed blog book, Blog2Print did the rest of the work. However, once it's in the book, there is no way to edit what was there. I couldn't move the pictures or resize them.  That was a little irritating, but at the time I was just happy to have our blog in book format.  Flash forward a couple of years, I have a little more time to make the printed book of our blog a little more to my specifications.
    Blurb does have an option to do it all for you similar to the Blog2Print version. They'll 'slurp' your blog with the dates you set. However, it broke up the posts and placed the pictures as small thumbnails along the sides. I opted to download their template and 'slurped' the pictures. I also customized the size of my pictures. Then, I cut and paste the text directly from my blog. It took almost 2 days over Christmas break to put the pages exactly how I wanted but I LOVE IT! In the picture below, the top book is the old Blog2Print book where the pictures are small.  The dance picture is separated from the text, which is on the previous page. The book in the bottom of the picture is the new Blurb version. Not only is the dance picture with the correct text, it is also greatly enlarged. Yay.

  I also looked into printing our blog book with Lulu.com but didn't like how each page would have to be saved as a pdf and then uploaded.  There are so many templates & each of them can be customized with Blurb.  There are several templates that I edited and saved as favorites. All I do is drag & drop the pictures and its done! What a timesaver. Being able to enlarge some of our favorite pictures is one of the features I enjoy.

I love, love, love the books which were printed by Blurb. (After I received my first book in less than a week, I quickly worked on another year to print. The second book also arrived in less than a week.) This year, once a month I am placing all the posts for that month in the Blurb book.  Love it!