SENDING out microblogs and sharing stories with friends on the Internet is no longer enough for many young people in the city. The latest craze — publishing a microblog collection.

    Netizen “Tianxiewen” is a young mother who made a book of her microblogs. “I started writing microblogs about my son when he was born. I wanted to record his growth in an interesting and permanent way,” she said. “My friends told me there were people who could turn my microblogs into a book. It sounded very exciting. I made one immediately. It is easier to read and will become a good present when my son grows up.”

    “Tianxiewen” made several copies of the books at more than 500 yuan (US$81) each and gave them to her relatives. “They like the books very much. I think in the future I will make more. When my son grows up, he will have a collection of stories from his childhood,” she said.

    According to weiyin.cc, an online book-making website, clients from Shenzhen accounted for more than 10 percent of its business nationwide.

    “Shenzhen has many young people who are more open to new things. They also have relatively higher incomes and can afford such services,” said Zuo Yongjiang, operation director of the website.

    Zuo said that most of the clients were young mothers, university graduates and people who like to travel. They want to remember special moments in a new way.

    According to statistics, the number of users at Sina Weibo and Tencent Weibo reached 500 million this year. Every day, 100,000 new users sign up to share their lives and thoughts with others through the microblogs.

    At present, there are several websites and online stores at taobao.com, the country’s largest online shopping website, which offer publishing services, with prices ranging from a dozen yuan to more than 500 yuan. Compared with traditional publication, making a book like this is much easier and cheaper.

    “It is not difficult to develop software to help users make their books,” said a Shenzhen-based online shop owner, identified as “Aidegaobai.”

    He began his business when one of his colleagues who liked traveling said that he wanted to make his travel diary into a book, but it was too expensive to find a professional publisher willing to make just a few copies. “I majored in design, so I told him that I could help him make a book. When he and his girlfriend saw it, they were so happy and excited. This inspired me, so I opened a shop at taobao.com,” said “Aidegaobai.”

    Some shops provide fixed stencils for clients to choose from. Clients can edit their own books following the template.

    Shops also offer Internet services where clients can make their own unique layouts according to their wishes. This type of services is cheaper than the first one but requires higher editing and computer skills.

    As many netizens move their microblogs over to WeChat, shops and websites are preparing to launch services to publish these microblogs as well.

    “We have already solved the technological problems for making WeChat records into books, and we are now waiting for WeChat to give authority for us to start our business,” Zuo said. “We already have customers waiting for the service. In the future, we will soon offer books for other social networks such as renren.com and douban.com.” (Wang Yuanyuan)