Self-publishing via email

With Life Trackers, turning life experiences into a published book is as simple as sending an email. While self-publishing is nothing new, Life Trackers makes it easy to pull together travel journals, memory books and other keepsakes from just about anywhere a user has internet access. Best of all, there’s no cost to join, and customers can get a printable PDF of their book for free. Here’s how it works: after a customer signs up, they’re given a personal Life Trackers email address. To add content to their book, they simply send an email to that address with the text in the body of the message. They can add the address to their email distribution lists for big announcements, such as an engagement or birth. Copy it in on personal correspondence about a trip or big event. Forward meaningful replies from friends and family – or better yet, share the email address with them to collaborate on a book. In addition to sending text, users can attach up to three pictures with each message. Besides obvious applications like travel journals or memoirs, Life Trackers suggests using the service to keep track of love letters, messages from college, or emails about a new baby. “Each year, hundreds of thousands of people send dozens of emails about their child’s first year of life to friends, family, parents and grandparents, and they receive dozens of replies. Now, you can collect text and images from yourself, and from friends and family, about your baby’s birth, first month at home, first smile, first food and first step. Just send everything to your Life Trackers account.” When they’re ready, users can view, edit and publish through the Life Trackers website. Publishing options include a printable PDF document, softcover book or professionally bound hardcover. Great example of a company cashing in on the life caching trend, simply by building on existing behaviour, letting consumers publish texts they already produce and receive on a daily basis, but might not have considered material for a book. Clever! For more on self-publishing, see our piece on Blurb, which makes it easy to turn blogs into books. Spotted by: Laura Winkleblack