How to choose a service that prints your texts as a book
Before you pay anyone to print your texts as a book, these are the questions worth asking. Our own answers are under each one.
What does it cost, all in?
Ask for the price of the book you want, in the binding you want, with shipping. Ask whether a longer conversation costs more.
At read receipts, the Unabridged is $49 in paperback and $85 in hardcover. The Anthology is $89. The digital edition, a PDF and an ebook, is $15 by itself and is included with every printed book. US economy shipping is free.
Is there a page limit?
Ask what happens when a conversation runs past the limit: whether it is cut short, split into more books, or charged extra.
The Unabridged prints every message, however long the conversation is. One book holds up to 780 pages, and a longer conversation is printed as numbered volumes. Each volume after the first is charged, at less than the first, and you see how many yours makes before anything prints. The Anthology is 48 pages.
What happens to photos?
Ask whether photos are printed, and whether that costs more.
The Unabridged is words only, and shows a small note where a photo was sent. The Anthology prints your photos in colour, each beside the moment it belongs to.
Who reads your messages?
Ask whether a person reads or edits the conversation, whether anything is rewritten or summarized, and how long the messages are kept.
No person reads your messages. Nothing is rewritten. Software sets the pages, the same way for every book, and you look through every page before anything prints. The privacy policy says what we keep and for how long.
Which apps does it take?
Ask whether your app is on the list, and whether you need a computer to get the messages out.
We take iMessage, WhatsApp, Instagram, Messenger, Discord and Telegram, and read exports from Signal, Slack, Snapchat, LINE, Google Chat and SMS backups. For iMessage you need a computer, a Mac or a Windows PC. WhatsApp and most others can be done from the phone.
What if your file cannot be read?
Ask what the service does when it cannot read what you send.
We guarantee we can read your conversation, whatever app it's in. If we can't, you get all of your money back, no questions asked.
How long does it take, and where does it ship?
Ask for the time from approving the pages to the book arriving, and whether your country is covered.
Printing and free economy shipping take about two weeks once you approve the pages. We ship within the US only for now.
If our answers suit you
How it works has the three steps, and the questions page has the rest. You choose the book and pay, and we email the steps for your app.