How To Publish A Family History Book | Publishing For Genealogists

Today we are going to take everything you have researched and everything you have learnt about your family history and compile this, into your first ever family history book. I have written and published several genealogical books and there are no rules in what you have to cover. It’s purely down to you. You may wish to compile a book showcasing several or more lineages, or follow one single family line, you may also decide to create a standalone biography about one family member that really stands out for you. You can even create a book that showcases family photos, documents or even old family records that you have painstakingly transcribed. Perhaps even a book that showcases all of your known military or maritime family. Even a book that covers the churches or family homes associated with your ancestry are great ideas. There are so many paths of exploration to consider when publishing a family history book, if you can’t decide. Why not work towards writing and publishing more than one book. All of the ideas just mentioned are wonderful ways to safeguard your research, they are not an exhaustive guide either, so have a good think about what direction you wish to go, I have either penned or published books that include most of the ideas mentioned. After all, this is your research and a bound book or volume of your works is an incredible way to preserve and share all that hard work. Think about all of the research, family stories, photos, periods, events, people, documents, and memorabilia you might include in your book. There truly are no rules about what a family history book must look like. What would you like yours to be? Consider the scope of your book. If you are dealing with the distant past (5+ generations) you are likely to have facts and documents about those ancestors, but few stories or images. You’ll have to supplement with period research. If your scope is nearer to the present, you will have more, or too many, stories and images. Select a realistic scope for one book. Your book’s style may start as a collection of documents, a summary of your research. The result: a reference book. Which Readers can then search and select parts to read. The other style is a story-based narrative, which is read like a novel, beginning to end. The best family histories combine these two styles. When you have decided on the scope and style of your book, gather and sort your relevant research. Use index cards or sorting software to move ideas around and see how they fit together best. Then develop an outline. Save yourself some time and detours: only begin writing after your outline is complete. Write a rough draft of your book. Your audience is usually your family, friends, and future family researchers. What is most likely to be interesting and important for your readers? Use a good style sheet for source documentation. Then choose the photos and documents you want to illustrate the book. Scan your images at a high resolution (600 PPI or more) and save them in a designated folder. Keep your text separate from your images. Don’t try to design your book in your word processing program as you write. Simply note in your text where you want to place the images. It is much easier to change as the book changes. Hear more about How To Publish A Family History Book, by watching the video. Links - Blurb - https://www.blurb.com/ Amazon KDP - https://kdp.amazon.com/en_US/ Ingramspark - https://www.ingramspark.com/ Google Books - https://play.google.com/books/publish/ Nielsen Book Shop / ISBNS - https://www.nielsenisbnstore.com/ Nielsen Book Data - https://nielsenbook.co.uk/ Vellum - https://vellum.pub/ #publishabook #howtopublish #familyhistorybook *** If you enjoy our content why not support our creative process on Patreon, buy us a coffee or use the special thanks button beneath this video. Yhana and I will mention your support in one of our upcoming videos. *** 👉 https://www.buymeacoffee.com/stephena... ** 👉   / stephenandyhana   **