What Is A Journal Book And Why Should You Make One?

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The past couple of years has been difficult for everyone. Historical, life-changing events like the pandemic teach us vital lessons and points of improvement for both ourselves and for future generations.

If you’re the type who likes to journal, you know the importance of having personal records of such historic times. In fact, The New York Times previously called on its readers to start COVID diaries in 2020.

It takes more than simply writing your experiences to make a difference, though. To truly make an impact with your work, you should consider transforming it into a journal book. Here’s why.

What is a journal book?

Journals are generally made for yourself or for your own consumption. These informal writings can cover anything, from your daily life and your travels to your reading adventures and even your self-healing journeys. On the other hand, journal books are published versions of journals that can make one’s personal insights ready for friends, family, and strangers alike to read and enjoy. Some popular examples include The Unabridged Journals of Sylvia PlathDirty Blonde: The Diaries of Courtney Love — and, of course, Anne Frank’s The Diary of a Young Girl.

Why should you make one?

Journaling alone is a kind of organized documentation that can help relieve stress by removing some uncertainties from your train of thought. Meanwhile, actually publishing your journal can go beyond boosting your mental health. Journaling opens up new prospects for your writing career by honing your writing skills, which are valued in many industries. Authors or writers thus have the opportunity to do everything from writing books or screenplays to dabbling in marketing and trying their hand at research. Publishing a journal book further gives you the chance to inform, inspire, and engage readers.

How can you get started?

It’s relatively easy to master the habit of journaling. However, journal books need to be in a more engaging and readable format. This is where our daily journal tool comes in. To make your content more eye-catching, it allows you to insert images into your text. And whenever you need a copy, your entries are securely stored and easy to compile. You can even transform it into a bookstore-quality publication with professional printing and bookbinding services. This way, you save costs usually spent along the traditional publishing route — and you can simply and conveniently share your work with others.


Journaling and crafting journal books are both rewarding processes not just for yourself, but for others who may read your work. Hopefully, this quick read inspires you to help yourself — and the world — be better. 

Written for bookemon.com by Nadia Mallory

Have a book “Talk”

Self-Published Authors Can Now Make Their Books Talk

Photo by @felipepelaquim on Unsplash

Bookemon.com, the free printable book creator, now offers enhanced digital versions of their authors’ creations, which can include audio component for extra reader enjoyment.

As part of Bookemon’s publishing process, an ebook in PDF format is automatically generated to supplement print copies. Ebooks are ideal for readers who want to read on their laptops, tablets or mobile phones. Even better, new innovation now means each ebook will be able to carry URLs for audio or video, accessed on the page via QR code. Readers only have to scan the QR code, like they do for other types of purchases in their lives, to hear audio or watch video components.

For writers creating and selling their books through Bookemon, this exciting addition will be a double bonus. Not only will they be able to provide readers with a handy ebook copy, but they can also offer them the many benefits of audio that make their works unique. Audio in ebooks can be tailored to whatever the author wishes to share with readers:

  • Story narration or audiobook option
  • Background music
  • Messages, wishes and blessings

We see this as a fantastic development for both authors and book buyers. With readers more on the go than ever before, the ebook innovation lets them take their favorite books along wherever they travel. And the audio and video elements bring their books to life. Authors can create a special atmosphere with music, include demos and personalize their works. Sharing among family and friends is easy and quick, without the time delays or extra costs usually associated with print production and delivery.

Talking books aren’t just for busy people when they’re away from home. They’re perfect for children learning to read, auditory learners, bedtime relaxation, listening during exercise or chores, and people whose first language is not the same as the book’s.

To make ebooks easier for buyers to find, Bookemon will be displaying them on a dedicated webpage on the Bookemon.com website. Readers will be able to see them all in one place, and promoting books will be simpler for authors. Plans are in the works to make special showcased books a feature for Bookemon members. All authors can sell their ebooks with no upfront costs, which is a huge boon to break-out writers. They will have greatly increased visibility, which is key for authors seeking to grow their readership and bring their voices to the public. 

Contact: 
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Cupertino, California 95014
Ph: (408) 414-6321

Give the Gift of Memories this Holiday Season

create your own memory book as gift
Create your own memory book

What was the first winter holiday celebration you remember? The magic of the glitter, the scent of the tree, the heady smell of candy wafting up from your stocking? It still brings a smile to your face, no matter how busy you get!

When that time of year rolls around, we dust off our old photo albums to remember those moments. Your kids, too, enjoy hearing about how you celebrated the holidays when you were a child. No doubt, your grandchildren (and their children) will want to hear your stories, too.

You may not have the time, though, to write stories on all of the backs of the photos in your albums. And what about the ones you inherited from your great-grandparents? You know, like that Depression-era photo that shows Grandma’s awestruck wonder when she saw a doll under the tree at a time when her parents could barely afford shoes.

Digital Photo Book Format Saves Time and Preserves Memories

Good news! You can tell your holiday stories and those of your ancestors – and you don’t have to write on the backs of every photo in your albums to do it. Today, new technology allows you to scan the most important photos and save them forever in digital form. Your grandchildren, too, can discover the story of their ancestors with an easy-to-make photo book.

Remember the Past Year with a Photo Calendar Book

Those stories can record your most recent memories, too. Create a photo calendar book with photos of you, your family, your pets, or your home to remind you of the good times. In just a few minutes, you can make your own photo calendar to give to friends and family–a most thoughtful, yet practical gift.

Preserve Your Stories and Photos in One Easy Process

Just choose the photos whose stories you remember best. Then, scan them into your computer. For each photo, type the story of each photo into your word processor. Next, collect all of these photos and stories in one book with Bookemon’s user-friendly program.

The best thing about these personalized photo books is that they’re preserved in a digital record. If your family grows, or if you lose the printed version, you can bring these stories back to life again with the touch of a button.

Give Your Loved Ones the Gift of Forever

Just think, you can give your family the gift of forever this holiday season. Memories – preserved for generations to come.

To create your own easy-to-make holiday photo book, simply go to Bookemon’s “Create a Book” page to start your journey. This holiday season, you can give a gift that lasts for a lifetime and beyond.

Your children (and theirs) won’t have to wonder, “Who’s that little girl with the awestruck smile in that old photo?” They’ll know that’s their great-grandmother–and that she overcame poverty to raise a successful family. Your family heritage. The gift of forever.

 

 

A Book of Love – Create Your Own Unique Intimate Gift

Most of us have people on our holiday gift list that seem to have everything. Maybe you struggle with what to get someone in your family or a dear friend. Well, your gift buying woes can be put to rest because now you can create your own personalized books.

Custom books make the perfect holiday gift for anyone. They can be made for people of all ages, from babies to great-grandparents. All it takes is a bit of creativity on your part, and you will be giving a gift that lasts a lifetime.

create a book as unique gift
create a book as unique gift

(Image by Pixabay)

The possibilities for custom made books are endless. Let’s look at some fun themes from which you may want to choose:

Book of Memories

This book is perfect for any family member or friend with whom you have created memories. Gather pictures of your memories together and write a little about each one. Some may have been hilarious, others sentimental; tell your story.

Vacations and Travels

Family vacations make a great subject for a book that the entire family will enjoy. If you have a vacation that tells a story, the book can be all about that one particular trip. Alternatively, you can make a book with some vacations from over the years.

Record of a Child’s Growth

Any parent, child, grandparent or grandchild would be tickled to have a book that shows how a kid has grown over the years. Then again, perhaps an annual book showing growth for the current year. You can do a book every year making it a holiday tradition.

Family Album

This book would be particularly special for a grandparent or great-grandparent. Your book can start with telling a bit about what they mean to you and the family. Then go down their lineage including the entire family tree.

Recipe Book

What better way to pass on your family recipes than putting them in a book?

create a recipe book as a gift
create a recipe book as a gift

(Image by Pixabay)

Recipes are family treasures. Nearly everyone has a few favorite dishes they can remember their grandmother making when they were young. Maybe it’s mom’s Christmas Eve dinner that everyone wants to be able to recreate over the years. Putting these traditional recipes in a book makes a special gift that will be passed down for generations to come.

If you have time, start early and take some pictures of meals you have made and would like to include in your book. If not, you can always add photos of family gatherings where everyone is partaking in a meal together.

You may want to consider a book that is specifically for holiday recipes. Then you can do another with everyday recipes too. Family favorites that are not only your creations but those that have been passed down from your ancestors.

These are just a few ideas; the possibilities are unlimited. You will have fun making your stories unique to those you are presenting them to.

Creating books is not just for the holidays. These books make great birthday, anniversary, wedding, baby shower, and all occasion gifts. They are perfect for anyone, even those who are difficult to buy for.

Unlike any gift you buy off a store shelf, these books not only speak from the heart, but from your heart. They are the perfect way to tell someone that you think they are special.

Try Your Own Memory Book Now!

 

Encourage Children to Write a Book and Shine Like a Star

write story book
book, creation, kids, star

A book creator is a fantastic tool to encourage young writers to write their own stories in the classroom. Children have great imaginations. With some help and encouragement, most young people will be able to formulate a story with real characters, a plot, dialogue, and a beginning and an end.

Inspire with Bookemon’s Book Creator Package

Bookemon’s book creator package can bring their story to life, helping them to add some wonderful illustrations. It is also an extremely useful aid for entering them into young author fairs and creative story writing competitions. Announcing a competition is a fantastic way to get young ones writing. Give them the tools to make their stories look as though they were written by a pro and you could well have the next prize-winning story appear right in front of you.

Enter Your Students into Traditional Young Author Fairs

Many school districts have annual young author fairs in which students can showcase their writing, with the winner having their poem or story exhibited in a printed book. With Bookemon’s book creator, the administrative headaches associated with numerous entrants and competitions are all but eliminated. You will be able to keep track of all your entrants, and who entered which competition and when, because the information will be logged online. You will even have a complete copy of their work so there is no chance of it getting lost or going astray.

Writing Their Story in the Classroom

Bookemon’s Educator Program enables educators to create their own secure EdCenter, so that all their students have their own access to Bookemon’s Book Creator software. Children can create their own storybook, free, from a choice of more than 30 different themes. There is nothing to install and the software works on any device. Once children have written their story, there is no obligation to buy their book. An ebook edition of their story is free for them to use and share as they like. If you do decide to print any of the stories, special discounts are available for educator members.

A Happy Ending!

With Bookemon, no competition entrant need be disappointed; even if they don’t win this time, they can still choose to have their story made into a real, quality book to take home and keep forever.

Capture Life’s Most Precious Moments: Create a Memory Book

Capture Life’s Most Precious Moments: Create a Memory Book

Think back on a time that you felt the embrace of someone who loved you without condition, a time when you met your best friend on the first day of school, a time you snatched victory out of the jaws of defeat, or a time that you realized that the person right in front of you was the one with whom you wanted to spend the rest of your life. Don’t you wish you could preserve each and every one of those moments?

Now you can. You can create your own book online that will help you remember the way you felt during each moment. With Bookemon’s state-of-the-art platform, your memories will be as fresh as the day they were made.

Create your own book online or Mobile
Create your own book online or Mobile

Preserve Valued Memories for a Lifetime

Talk to anyone who has recently gotten married, who just sent their youngest child to their first day of school, or someone who has lost their mother during the past year. They’ll tell you how much they value their memories—and wish that they could have preserved them in such a form that would bring those memories to life again.

There will come a time when you need to see that loved one or schoolmate once more, or when you want to call up that treasured memory of your little one, now starting her own family. There will come a time when you need to know that you can conquer that huge challenge you face. There will come a time when you need to remind yourself just how much your partner means to you.

Put Your Memories in Print With a Budget-Friendly, User-Friendly Process

Whether your memories are best told in a photo book, a memory book, a travel journal, or a combination of all those things, you need to get them into print. With Bookemon’s user-friendly method, you can customize your book in any way you want, so that your memories will stay fresh in your mind long after the events in it took place.

Though your memories are invaluable, your budget has a limit. Bookemon’s software, as you’ll discover, makes it easy and affordable to preserve your memories with a book in either print or digital form.

A Few Hours Collecting Memories, and Voila!–Your Book’s Ready!

Jot down your thoughts about those precious moments. Collect some photos or hand-drawn pictures that help you relive those moments again. Then, go to Bookemon.com to create your account. To start, you don’t even need to download the software. In just a few minutes, you can begin to preserve those memories in a book that looks like it came off the shelves of a big-name bookseller.

Don’t lose your memories to the fog of time. Preserve them in your own custom book for generations to come.

Your Memory Book–Like a Hug from Afar

Your memory book. It’s like a hug from afar. Go to Bookemon.com on your mobile device or computer to start preserving your memories today.

 

Create Comic Book and Show Students Where the Movies Come From

Comic books are fun for kids to read and create.
Create your own comic book

Comic books are fun for kids to read and create.

One way for teachers to build interest in reading and writing is to help students to create a comic book in which they write about the stories and characters that interest them most. Many students develop an interest in comic book characters and stories as they grow up seeing them portrayed in the movies. Savvy teachers can use these characters and stories to accomplish their academic goals as they build on information students already know.

Language Arts Skills From Comic Books

Doing a comic book project with your students can teach or reinforce many different language arts skills in a fun and creative way. Students need to write a story as part of their comic book, and combining pictures with words can make the storytelling process easier for even the most reluctant writers. When the story is their own, students are highly motivated to spell and punctuate correctly, so these skills are reinforced.

You can teach specific story writing skills through a comic book project. With younger students, you may teach chronology – that stories have a beginning, middle and end. With older students, you can teach plotting elements like conflict and the plot triangle that almost all stories use (rising action, climax, falling action). You can also teach character development with the added aspect of using images to show how characters look and act.

In telling a story, students will need to understand the concepts of genre ( the type of story), dialogue, and other elements which can be taught at different levels for students of different ages. One of the great things about comic books is that they can be adapted for use with every age group K-12.

Kids of all ages can be creative as they create their own comic books
Create your own comic books

Kids of all ages can be creative as they create their own comic books.

Ways to Incorporate Comic Books

One way to use a comic book project is to have students create a comic book to summarize a book they read in class or for a book report. Students will often choose books based on movies (or the other way around) when given a choice. Having to come up with an alternate ending is another good way to approach creating a comic book. There are tons of options to choose from, and you can pick several to offer your students a focused choice.

Creating a comic book can be complicated for some students, but you can make it easier by allowing them to choose between drawing on paper or using a computer graphics program. Bookemon can use a variety of formats to create books for students. Even photos can be used if students want to use this medium for their comic books. Offering students one method of creating their comic books while being open to other ideas is usually the best way to approach the project.

Younger students and students with learning challenges may be able to collaborate on a comic book, working together as a class or with a small group rather than individually. For group projects, teachers should be vigilant about making sure each group member contributes ideas and that all ideas are considered respectfully.

Educators interested in Bookemon can try it out for free and see how it can enhance their classroom projects.

How to Create a Book with Your Students

With some guidance, your students can create their own books.
With some guidance, your students can create their own books.

With some guidance, your students can create their own books.

Teaching young students how to create a book is a great interactive lesson plan that will get them thinking about the process of reading and writing as well as give them a chance to be creative. It can seem like a huge task for kids to create their own books, but you can help break it down into steps for them and make the task manageable and fun.

Choosing a Topic

The first step to creating a book is usually choosing a topic. Younger students can get overwhelmed by a lack of structure, so you might consider tying the book project to a particular unit and narrowing the topic so it fits into that unit, or just choosing a general topic for them. Older students may be able to choose a topic that fits into their existing interests.

Telling a Story

Not all students will have an easy time telling their story, so you can introduce one or more ways to do so. Telling the story chronologically makes the most sense for younger students, while older ones may be able to use flashbacks or incorporate multiple points of view if you show them how and give examples.

Whether students’ stories are simple or complex, encourage them to be descriptive by using words related to each of the five senses, and encourage their creativity and progress. If possible, write a book alongside your students to help model creativity, your excitement for writing stories, and the process of writing for your students.

Students can learn many valuable skills through the process of creating their own books.
Students can learn many valuable skills through the process of creating their own books.

Typing in Text

Younger students may find typing their stories time consuming and cumbersome if they haven’t yet developed keyboarding skills. You may want to have the more proficient students help the others, or maybe you can type in the stories for those who really struggle after they hand write them. Bookemon accommodates PDFs, Word documents and also provides custom templates kids can use.

Adding Artwork

Students who enjoy drawing will probably spend a lot of time making a cover and illustrations for their book. Most schools are equipped with a scanner for importing students’ own drawings or with software students can use to create their own digital illustrations. Bookemon makes it easy to upload photos and other files. For kids who don’t enjoy drawing, there are plenty of royalty-free images on sites like Pixabay that they can use instead.

Ebook or Printed Book?

Bookemon offers free saving of ebooks and the ability to purchase printed copies for publishing options that fit every school’s budget. Books can be used as part of a student’s portfolio and shown, even projected on a big screen, at school and district events to showcase students’ abilities. Printed books are bookstore quality and will become family keepsakes. Teachers can use the books at parent-teacher conferences to talk about student writing.

Get started today in helping your students become published authors with Bookemon.

Attention: How to Keep Students Focused in the Classroom

Keeping students engaged can be a challenge.
keep students engaged in the classroom

Keeping students engaged can be a challenge.

The quality of students’ learning depends a great deal on how well they stay focused in the classroom – and getting students to pay attention is no easy task. After a steady diet of television, video games and social media, your lesson may not seem so interesting, and some of your students may tune you out or even try to disrupt the lesson. It is possible to keep your students focused, however, even when learning disabilities or developmental difficulties present challenges to students’ capabilities.

Use Nonverbal Communication

Of course, teachers need to clearly tell students what they need to do (and not do) in the classroom, but don’t ignore the power of nonverbal communication to focus students’ attention. Hand signals, eye contact, and other nonverbal cues can bring students back to attention in a moment rather than needing to raise your voice over all of theirs.

Routines Engage Students

When your classroom is focused around well-taught routines and procedures, students know what to expect and are engaged in responsible classroom behavior that facilitates focused teaching and learning. These routines should be established at the beginning of the year, but can be adjusted and built on as the year continues. When students don’t know what to do in specific classroom situations, chaos inevitably results and focus is lost. But when procedures are clearly taught, the classroom almost runs itself.

Build in Accountability

Students often need motivation in order to focus on classroom tasks effectively. Teachers should explain how their focus and participation will be graded so that they are encouraged to give their best effort. Apps like Class Dojo offer positive reinforcement by awarding points for good classroom behaviors like staying on task or participating. When students know they will be held accountable for staying focused, they will be more likely to do so.

Enforce Discipline

Many students have difficulty focusing in noisy classrooms with frequent disruptions, so it’s a good idea to deal with disruptions early on by carrying out your discipline plan calmly and consistently. It’s up to you to give your students a calm, orderly place to learn and work; letting disruptions go in the hopes that they will go away on their own is not likely to be effective. Taking the time to talk privately to students that disrupt class or calling parents can help to deal with any disruptions before they become patterns of behavior that are hard to break.

keep students engaged in the classroom
keep students engaged in the classroom

Interactive technology is one way to keep students focused.

Use Active Learning Techniques

Do you enjoy sitting still and listening to someone speak for an extended period of time? Most people don’t, and kids are no exception. Interactive lessons allow kids to actively engage their bodies and minds in the lesson, which will help them focus better. Group investigation activities where kids work together to find out information, experiments, and lessons that use props or technology are all ways to get students actively engaged in their learning.

Here’s an active lesson plan idea: students can write and publish their own books with Bookemon. You can try it out here.

3 Tips for Teaching Children to Write Well

Teaching good writing skills is not as simple as it may sound. Though there are some basic structural components that educators typically focus on, everyone knows that good writing involves something more.

Tapping into student creativity is a vital part of unleashing that hidden potential. But how, as a teacher, do you do that? There are no lesson plans to tap creativity, right? Well, maybe there are.

According to research, the most effective methods to improve student writing are fairly simple to do, but many teachers are not using them.

Create your own storybook!
Create your own storybook!

There are three tips found to improve student writing. Allowing students to type their story is one of them.

The Study

Steve Graham, a professor of education at Arizona State University, monitors the numerous research studies conducted to evaluate the best methods to teaching writing. He recently studied the results of 250 separate writing studies to compile an overall synopsis of best practices for teachers.

“We have confirmation of things we know that work, but are not applied in the classroom,” said Graham.

3 Tips for Teaching Kids to Write Well:

1) Practice, practice, practice: Like playing a sport or anything else, the more one practices the greater their skills become. This applies to writing too. Research from five different studies, which examined exceptional literacy skills in students, discovered that great teachers ask their students to write frequently. In nine experiments conducted with students, adding 15 more minutes of writing time per day in grades two through eight produced better writing. Seventy-eight percent of studies testing the impact of extra writing found that students’ writing quality improved. Other bonuses were that more writing time improved reading skills and other academic performance as a whole. Studies show that kids who learn how to write their own stories well, also develop methods to better organize their thoughts, and even communicate better.

2) Type it out: Though many educators are adamant that writing by hand improves comprehension, 83% of the studies focused on word processing concluded that student writing quality improved when typing on a computer rather than writing by hand. The idea is that the easier it is for students to edit their sentences, the more likely they are to do so – improving sentence structure, word choice, and clarity. The study results were most clear when it came to middle school students.

3) Focus less on grammar, more on writing more: Teaching grammar often doesn’t translate to quality writing. Six studies of children grades three to seven concluded that students who had been taught traditional grammar scored lower than those who did not. Graham believes the reason for this may be that, for younger students, grammar lessons are often separate from writing. But largely, the lessons seemed to get in the way of writing quality. What did work, in three different studies is teaching kids how to combine two simple sentences into a single complex sentence.

Create your own storybook!
Create your own storybook!

The more students write, the better their skills. Add at least 15 more minutes to their writing time each day.

What Can You Do Right Now?

The takeaway here is that writing should be encouraged, made to be creative and fun, and done much more frequently in the classroom. Add at least 15 minutes to each day of classroom activity and you will see results down the road. Make it a fun project, like publishing their first book at easy to use, free sites like Bookemon.com. There you will find resources and you can create your own educator account to Try it out (for educator-related articles) for free!