The short answer
Decide the format first: hardcover or paperback, page size, black and white or color, and how many copies. Then choose a printer. A copy shop can bind pages within a day or two. Print-on-demand services such as Lulu and Blurb print one copy or many from your file. Photo-book services suit picture-heavy books, and some memoir services include a book. Page count, color, binding and copies set the price. You need an ISBN only to sell through stores.
On this page
You can print your life story as a real book, even a single copy. Decide what kind of book you want, choose who prints it, then get the pages ready. Each step is below, along with what drives the cost.
Decide five things before you choose a printer
The look and the price of your book come down to five choices. Make them first, because they decide which printers fit.
- Hardcover or paperback. Hardcovers are sturdier and cost more. Paperbacks are lighter and cheaper. Some printers also offer coil binding, like a cookbook.
- Page size. For a book that's mostly words, a standard book size such as 5 by 8 or 6 by 9 inches looks familiar on a shelf. For a book full of photos, a larger page such as 8 by 10 or 8.5 by 11 inches gives the pictures room.
- Black and white or color. Color usually costs more per page. If your photos are mostly old black-and-white prints, black-and-white printing may be all you need.
- How many copies. List everyone who should get one: children, grandchildren, brothers and sisters, plus a spare or two. Many printers lower the price per copy on bigger orders.
- How the copies reach people. Decide whether every copy ships to you to hand out or goes straight to each relative. Shipping is added on top of the printing price.
Ways to print it, with the pros and cons
There are five main routes, from a copy shop job you can pick up the same day to a hardcover from a book printer.
Print and bind at a copy shop
A copy shop or office store can print your pages and bind them. FedEx Office, for example, offers coil and comb binding and says most orders are ready the same day or within 24 to 48 hours when you order online and pick up in the store (FedEx Office binding). Save your document as a PDF before you upload it or take it in, so the pages print the way they look on your screen.
- Good for: a few copies quickly, or a draft for relatives to check before you print the final book.
- Drawbacks: it looks more like a report than a book, with no hard book cover.
Use a print-on-demand service such as Lulu or Blurb
Print-on-demand companies print bound books from your files, one copy at a time or hundreds. Lulu prints paperback, hardcover, coil-bound and saddle-stitch books in black and white or color, and offers free page templates for Word. Blurb prints paperback and hardcover books of 24 to 480 pages and has free layout software called BookWright.
- Good for: a book that looks like one from a bookstore, in any quantity, which you can reorder later.
- Drawbacks: you or a helper lay out the pages and design the cover, and the files must meet the printer's rules, such as photos at 300 ppi.
Use a photo-book service for a picture-heavy book
If the book is mostly photos with short captions, a photo-book service is simpler. You place pictures into ready-made layouts in a web browser, even on a phone. Blurb's photo books, for example, can be made in its online editor (Blurb photo books).
- Good for: albums with a few lines of text on each page.
- Drawbacks: little room for long chapters, and premium paper and lay-flat pages raise the price.
Use a memoir service that includes a book
Some memoir services email or text you a question each week for a year, then print your answers as a hardcover book.
- Good for: people who want a weekly prompt and don't want to design anything.
- Drawbacks: the book is built from the service's questions and layout, so you have less say over how it reads and looks.
Order The Book from Biographer
If you tell your stories with Biographer, each one goes into The Book as you go. You arrange the chapters, add a dedication and download a PDF whenever you like, all for free.
Once you have 30 or more stories, you can order The Book as a printed hardcover: 6 by 9 inches, up to 300 pages, in black and white or full color. It costs from $39 (full color from $79) plus shipping and tax, and ships within the US. See the printed hardcover for details.
- Good for: people who would rather talk or type their stories than lay out pages.
- Drawbacks: you need 30 stories before you can order a printed copy, there's one size, and it ships only within the US.
If the book is for a parent or grandparent, you can give Biographer as a gift and pay $129 for their printed book.
Get the pages ready
Whichever printer you use, the same preparation makes a better book.
Choose a plain title
Your name and what the book covers is enough. For example:
- Ruth Carver: My First Eighty Years
- Growing Up on Elm Street
- What I Remember, by Frank Ostrowski
For the cover, pick one clear photo: you at any age, or the family together.
Put the chapters in order
The simplest order is by time: childhood, school, work, marriage, children, later years. You can also group chapters by theme, such as the houses you lived in or the jobs you held. For more on shaping chapters, see how to write your life story.
Add a dedication
One or two lines on the page after the title is enough.
For my grandchildren, Ella, Sam and Noah. These are the stories you kept asking me to tell.
Some people also put a letter to the family at the front. See how to write a legacy letter.
Add a page of names
If the book covers several generations, a simple family tree or a list of who's who near the front helps readers keep track. Include maiden names, nicknames and the years each person lived, so a grandchild can tell Great-Aunt Mae from Aunt Mae.
Get the photos ready for print
Photos need enough detail for the size they'll print at. Lulu asks for images at 300 ppi (Lulu's file guidelines). A small, low-resolution image stretched across a whole page will print blurry.
Put a caption under each photo with names, place and year. For scanning settings and labeling, see what to do with old family photos.
Proofread on paper
Read the whole book aloud, slowly. Then ask a relative to check names, dates and spellings, and that every photo has the right caption. Order a single copy first and read it before you order the rest.
Decide whether you need an ISBN
You don't need an ISBN for a book you print for family. An ISBN matters if you want to sell through bookstores or online retailers, or have libraries carry the book. Lulu notes that retailers and libraries won't accept a book without one, and that you don't need one to sell copies yourself (Lulu on ISBNs).
What drives the cost
Five things set the price of a printed life story: page count, color, binding and size, the number of copies, and shipping.
- Page count. More pages cost more, and photos take up pages.
- Color. Color pages usually cost more. At Blurb, as of October 2026, each extra page in a 6 by 9 inch book costs 4 cents in standard black and white and 16 cents in standard color (Blurb pricing).
- Binding and size. Hardcovers cost more than paperbacks, and bigger pages cost more than smaller ones.
- Copies. Ordering more at once can lower the price of each copy. Blurb's discounts start at 10 copies, and Lulu offers volume discounts on bulk orders.
- Shipping and tax. These are added on top, so check the total before you order.
Lulu and Blurb both have pricing calculators on their websites that show the cost for your exact page count and size.
Common questions
How much does it cost to print a book of my life story?
It depends on the page count, color, binding, size, number of copies and shipping. As one example, as of October 2026 Blurb's price for a 6 by 9 inch hardcover in standard black and white begins at $18.99, plus 4 cents for each extra page. Printers such as Lulu and Blurb have pricing calculators that show the cost for your exact book. A printed hardcover of The Book from Biographer starts at $39 plus shipping and tax.
Do I need an ISBN to print a family memoir?
No. You need an ISBN only if you want to sell the book through bookstores or online retailers, or have libraries carry it. Copies you give to family, or sell yourself, don't need one.
Can I print just one copy of my life story?
Yes. Print-on-demand services such as Lulu and Blurb print one copy at a time, and a copy shop will bind a single copy. Printing one copy first is also a good way to proofread before you order more.
What size should a family memoir be?
For a book that's mostly text, a standard book size such as 5 by 8 or 6 by 9 inches looks and feels like a regular book. For a book with many photos, a larger page gives them more room. Blurb, for example, suggests 8 by 10 inches for family albums.
Should I print my memoir in color or black and white?
Choose color if you have color photos you want to show well. Black and white usually costs less and suits a book that's mostly text or has old black-and-white photos. Some printers, such as Lulu, offer a premium black-and-white option with heavier ink for books with black-and-white images.
