In which case I’d create a Word document, do a decent stylesheet, print it out duplexed, take it to Kinko’s (etc.), and get it velobound or spiralbound. I just paid a bit less than $4 to make my bound copy of Cites & Insights v.6 last weekend (velobound)…

I’d still wonder whether such a collection would make a good book, but it’s at least a possibility. Blog Slurper wouldn’t be the tool (but it wouldn’t be difficult to assemble such a text–the tough part, in addition to building an index, would be getting copyright clearance from all of the bloggers, each of which would have to be contacted).

[Answering the first question would take someone half a day or so for the 60-odd carnivals so far: Basically, running a word processing program and copying-and-pasting each post with citation information...then looking at the results and coming to some conclusions as to book-form publishability.]

Dave T.: In a way it’s sad to have an essay that substantial and well thought out hidden in comments on my blog…it deserves its own post!

Anyone else remember flipbooks?

What does this say about turning blogs into books? Those diaries were written for personal rememberances, and in the historical context, those personal rememberances have become valuable primary research sources. Today’s blogs may have the same impact at some point in the future. In 100 years or so, researchers wanting to know about the development of an area could review blogs on that topic and watch as thoughts and ideas developed. The reason that we have those old diaries is that someone saved them. Reasons for saving vary, but usually it was the sentimentality of a family member. Blogs are archived automatically, but someone will need to save them if they are to be later used as diaries of contemporary thought.

Could some blogs be turned into books today? As Walt indicates, some of the text of some blogs could be used to create a book. But very few blogs lend themselves towards a transformation into print. Blogs are a communication medium, where ideas are thrown out with abandon, and readers can comment and add their thoughts (as I am doing now on this one). Blogs live in the moment and when that moment is past, most have moved on to something else. Books are carefully edited, logically consistent packages of information that (hopefully) stand the test of time.

I am sure that there are a few writers who create their blogs in such a way that they could be directly transformed into a book (maybe one in one million). For most, the thoughts and ideas could form the kernel of a book, but not a book itself.

Funny thing about being an independent when it comes to ebooks vs. books: There seem to be some folk (never including either of you!) who really do seem to think that I believe everything works better in book form. Which doesn’t even make a good caricature of my actual position.

A full year of a blog taking up >120 pages? (I’m assuming full pages…) That’s not prolix. That sounds “about right.” And I know that See Also… isn’t too prolix for my taste; it’s one of those (quite a few) where I almost always find my reading time has been amply rewarded. (Yeah, you too, Dorothea.)

I’m in the Crawford camp, in that:

(a) blogs ain’t books and

(b) if you just want something printed, it would be easy enough to make a blog template that lists all your posts in normal chronological order (like I did for See Also here: http://library.coloradocollege.edu/steve/all.html ), or even organized by category/date, then write a nice clean print stylesheet, then print & bind it.

Prolix bloggers such as myself will want to check the price, too: Year One of See Also comes in at over 120 pages

Fan me. I may faint.

Just kidding.