MySocialBook Review - Facebook Feed Printed as a Book

I think it was just 10 days ago that I came across someone else mentioning MySocialBook.com as a way to print their Facebook feed, and while I was traveling, my own version arrived in the mail.  I had been considering converting my personal digital memories posted online into print for a while, and had even started the process with a few other bookmaking services, but had never finished either because there was an error, it took too much design and layout tweaking, or it just wasn't the right price point for something that was basically just going to be a printed archive.  I may never write an actual book, but I've certainly written enough digital content to fill many books, and I wanted to make sure I could actually preserve it in printed form.

Once I began the process with MySocialBook, I found it to be so easy that I finished five books in no time, without any frustrations or delays.  They streamlined the process by providing options to print some or as much of your content as you want, organized by date range and by type of content like images vs. status updates.  Include what other people have posted to your wall or not, it's just a quick click to make that design decision.  You can add Facebook photo albums to your books, and you can change your mind over and over again while getting an updated preview of the book along with a count of how many pages your book will be with your current selections.  I ended up removing one post from a book that was going to be a highlight (when it was actually insignificant to me, but had received lots of likes), and changed the cover on a couple others.  It was so easy to make decisions with a new preview just a few clicks away- instead of getting bogged down by this process when trying other services.

I wanted to print as much as possible and I was able to squeeze my first couple years into one book (2007-2009, 2010-2011) but then my posting of Instagram images picked up big time and it became two books for my adventure year in 2012, and I haven't even printed the rest of 2013 yet because I want to fill as many pages as I can before I order another.  I was less concerned about each book being a specific time period and more concerned that as much of it gets printed as possible.  The books are limited to 500 pages and you can order in softcover or hardcover (for an additional fee).  Based on the number of pages, I went with a softcover book mostly for utilitarian purposes to make it easy and light to store, rather than as something to display or handle often over time.

The printing and paper quality is decent for the price, but especially for the speed of binding and delivery  (starts at $11 for 25 pages in paperback and up to 500 pages for $168 in hardcover, but follow MySocialBook on Facebook and be notified of 20% or 30% off specials)!  If your images were uploaded with enough resolution and they were sharp to begin with, they will appear in great resolution and sharp in the book.  If they were low resolution, the image will either appear very small, or you'll notice the resolution difference from one image to the next.  

I only have three very minor "meh" comments about the books (as of this writing, and I'm sure things will change over time):

1. In some ways it uses the old Facebook timeline style of jumping back and forth between columns on a page, and it carries the column on the left of one page to the left of the next page, rather than just continuing into the next column on the same page.  A minor reading annoyance that's easily adjusted to when you figure it out.  

2. Occasionally, an image is cut off on the bottom of the page, showing only the top portion of that image.  The bottom portion of the image doesn't print anywhere, it's just gone.  Since part of my archives are my images, this makes me a little sad, but since it only happens occasionally throughout the book, I'm not completely dissatisfied.  Hopefully they'll figure out how to prevent an image from running off the page soon.

3. The yellow book option with yellow text is slightly difficult to read due to its light color.  I like the yellow cover, but perhaps the yellow text inside could be a darker type of yellow to make it more readable.  If visibility is a concern for you, choose a different color.

Ultimately, I'll still print another book using this same service because the process was so easy and quick to complete.  Now, if MySocialBook could integrate blog feeds as easily as it does Facebook feeds, I'd use it to print my blog as well!

Here are additional images from inside my books:

Yellow Book, yellow text, page of instagram posts include the headings:

This is what it looks like when many people post "Happy Birthday" comments to your wall:

A mix of mobile uploads and status updates:

Status updates only:

A better view on green of those monthly highlight pages:

*This is a completely independent review and all books were purchased as a customer without any compensation or free product provided.

Zen Balance of 2013

When I look back at what I set out to do in 2013, I basically established a goal of not having any goals and just going with the flow, taking whatever comes my way and moving through it as gracefully as possible.  So, what happens when you decide to just take what the world gives you and not create too much of a plan on your own?

I was just coming off the adventures of 2012, and decided to go with the flow by taking all of the freelance gigs and last-minute opportunities that came my way, which meant many more headshots, portraits, and general event work that happened on weekdays, which gave me many more weekends to enjoy- though I still managed to shoot about 6 weddings in between my own and the weddings I shot for others. and delivered every wedding on time or EARLY!!  In fact, I'm pretty sure I delivered ALL client projects on time or early this year- which is a huge accomplishment in any business, but especially in a creative one.  My workload was well-balanced, my systems and backup systems were working well, my contractors and outsourcing companies all delivered as promised, and appropriate expectations were kept.  It feels SO good.

Since I didn't blog much of my work over the last year, here are a few images from a few of the shoots in 2013 (more were shared on my Anne Ruthmann Photography Facebook page, and still many others have only been seen by the clients who hired me):


When I met Meg Ruby, and she told me about her love of Yoga and Sound Healing, as well as her experienced level of performance as a pianist, I immediately had this image in my mind and knew that it needed to be created as a signature portrait to communicate her as an artist that crosses traditional lines of thinking.  Not all shoots are able to come together as I imagine, but in this case, they did- and then some. ;-)



When asked if I could take student head shots for a career fair, I initially estimated I'd make it through about 45 headshots in 3 hours with just me shooting and an assistant to proof the images on site, but by taking some systems I had created during my holiday photo booths and applying it to this situation, I was able to capture 60 LinkedIn worthy head shots in the span of 3 hours, with digital file delivery of all images 3 hours after the shoot.  Win!  No awkward head tilting or plastic combs neccessary.


I love community celebrations!  The Vietnamese New Year Party was so much fun to photograph, with tons of colorful cultural traditions and great performances- like all of the excitement and action of a wedding, but many more focal points.


I photographed more lovely families this year than I have in previous years as part of a midwest family photo tour I did in the spring, as well as having more family clients in Massachusetts.  I gained a serious appreciation for the Cianci family whose household immediately went from 2 to 5 people overnight!


I enjoyed covering the New England Music Awards where I got to hear a lot of emerging talent from the local area music scene.


I decided to make February a month of giving (in addition to the hired shoots I had), and I donated shoots to several people whose stories inspired me.  There was no contest to enter, no strings attached, just giving something special to several people whose love was inspiring.  I've donated my time and my services in some way every year, but often there's been an announcement and some kind of contest or submission process, so this was a bit different by seeking out people to give to, rather than having them seek me.  All of the people I donated to were a tiny bit skeptical and hesitant to receive of a photo session out of the blue at first, but I'm grateful they accepted so that I could capture their love and generosity in images.


Of the many great events I got to cover for UMass Lowell in their  2012-2013 year, I was very honored when requested to spend the day with Stephen King and document his interactions with the university community for their Alumni magazine and other PR materials.  All of the images I'd previously seen of King played up the stereotype of a cold horror writer, but what I found in my time with him is that he's as light-hearted, witty, and humble as he is thoughtful and deep.

There were many shoots I loved and didn't get to blog or write about, so they'll just have to be fuel for future posts.  I actively took a step away from blogging to help tone down my marketing efforts until I felt more settled in my new home.  Of course, the biggest change on both the personal and professional front of 2013 was moving to New York City.  That took a LOT of going with the flow and letting go of any expectations I had about staying in New England along with leaving lots of wonderful friendships, a great photography community, and gorgeous scenery (as well as all the furniture that wouldn't fit in a Manhattan apartment.)


Other notable moments were getting to spend more time touring Ireland's beautiful Ring of Kerry and Cork County, which was so lovely but ended on a not-so-lucky St. Patrick's Day by getting a sprained ankle at the top of Loughcrew and needing to hobble all the way down the hillside on a rainy (muddy) day.  Luckily, it was at the end of the trip and I had already taken all of the images I was hoping to capture- funny how those things seem to work out that way.  I also had oral surgery after moving to NYC, of which the pain and swelling lasted almost as long as the sprained ankle.  No amount of meditating or deep breathing was taking care of that pain, so I gave in to medicinal intervention until the pain was tolerable.  There were a few more painful things that happened in 2013 that I'm not sharing, but life is a balance between the painful and amazing moments.


More good memories from 2013 included celebrating my 10th wedding anniversary, seeing a brother-in-law graduate med school, and a brother graduate college.  I finally experienced what makes spending the weekend in Cape Cod so special and why everyone breathes a sigh of relief after crossing the Sagamore Bridge.  I got to explore Owl's Head, ME with some very lovely and talented female photographers, as well as revisiting Loon, NH with more amazing female photographers and even discovered America's oldest general store.  When I look back at it all now, the painful moments seem overshadowed by so many lovely moments, though I know that wasn't how it felt while in the middle of everything.  Thankfully, my documentation of those moments bring back everything that was good and eventually any physical or emotional pain I can recall will simply be replaced by the loveliness.

There's this moment after crunching numbers from the year, while doing my business income and expenses, that I get to take stock of what effect my approach to the year had.  Sometimes, during the year it can all feel very out of sorts as a freelancer and small business owner, which is why a healthy savings account can help maintain sanity, but when I look back at the year in numbers, it's never as bad as it seemed at the times I was worrying, mostly because it balances out with all the times I wasn't worrying at all.  My expenses show a direct correlation to my refusal to work from the apartment we had in Lowell (I was shopping for a new studio space until we found out about moving to New York), as evidenced by an almost daily visit to Starbucks, Brew'd Awakenings, and sometimes both in the same day!  Instead of studio rent, I was pretty much paying rent to the coffee houses, and when I wasn't working there, I was at LTC where it was much quieter.  Amazingly, not working from a home base didn't seem to have a big impact on my ability to be productive, since all of the projects were delivered on time.  I missed having interns to touch base with weekly, but I did meet a few more interesting people by working in public nearly every day, and there were some really good opportunities and connections that even helped me gain more work in New York.

Could I have been more profitable had I been more goal-driven with networking and marketing, or more frugal with expenses?  Certainly.  Would it have made me any happier?  Doubt it.  I'm lucky that all of my previous efforts and goal setting allowed me to have a year of just going with the flow, because it was only having everything else in play that allowed me to operate that way.  I wouldn't recommend it for everyone, but if you're normally incredibly goal-driven, there may be some personal and professional insights gained from letting go of the reins and taking whatever comes.  If you usually aren't in control and take whatever comes, it may be time to start setting some goals and taking control.

How was your 2013?  Did you blog about it?  I'd love to read about your 2013!

Amazing: World's Largest Gingerbread Village

On November 17, 2013, Chef Jon Lovitch was awarded the official Guinness World Record for Largest Gingerbread Village.  While my friends in Bergen, Norway may feel robbed by the standards for qualification, there's no doubt that Jon put a lot of hard work into creating this masterpiece that has been on display at the New York Hall of Science, and is to be given away piece by piece this Saturday.  Here are just a few of the incredible handmade items from this display:

Gingerbread Lane Fire Department, Van Dyke & Poole Mercantile, Chef Steve's Famous Cobblers


Cecil's Pies, Jon's Egg Nog Distillery, Snow Man Apple Cider Co.


Cinnamon & Nutmeg Railroad with Clock Tower


Sailboat & Lighthouse


How to Make A Gingerbread House Instructions


Gum Drop Row


Carousel Horse


There's even a Gingerbread Subway Station!!


Some lucky children will get to take home pieces from the display on Saturday!