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Article Published March 01, 2004 Tips for Self-Publishing a Family History Or Other Family Record Posted by:Rick Roberts, GlobalGenealogy.com Inc. Many family history enthusiasts are itching to publish a family history book or other heritage document such as a collection of letters or an historic diary, but are intimidated by the complexity and feared expense of self-publishing. Recent technological advances inprinting amke it much easier, and far less expensive than most of us fear. I responded to a reader's inquiry on the topic this week, and thought others might be interested in some of the hints and tips: Question:
Hi Rick: I'm looking for some suggestions regarding the possible publishing of an old diary dating from 1869 to 1899, belonging to my great-great-grandfather who was a farmer in the Seagrave (Ontario, Canada) area at that time. This diary covers his life on a daily basis and is quite interesting. A friend, suggested that you would be a good person to contact. The original diary is quite fragile, but has been recopied in its entirety by my Dad, but I would like to have it re-done into a one or two volume printed book. My problem is that I don't know what format would be required by a printer my friend thought that you had experience in that area and would be able to advise me. Obviously I would be using a computer and at present I am running Windows XP with my word processing program being Word. I don't suppose this book would be in great demand so I would think a limited amount of copies would be the way to go. Beyond family members and some genealogy groups (possibly a few libraries)...and genealogy buffs....I wouldn't think I would need to have a great many copies. Any advice & guidance you could give would be greatly appreciated! Thanks Mary Anne Richardson
Thank you for your note. The diary must be a treasure for you and your family. Putting it in print is a terrific idea and it can be done without breaking the bank. As recently as 5 or 6 years ago the cost of publishing a book that would enjoy a small distribution was out of reach for most of us. Today you can take a computerized file of your book to a printer and get a high quality printing job done for a very reasonable price per copy. Using your word processor to produce the book is a good idea. It gives you terrific flexibility in how you set it up, and provides a good tool for doing an index. Once you have the manuscript set up exactly the way you want to print it, save it as a computerized file and give it to a printer to print the paper pages of the book. The best advice that I am going to give you is to get a copy of Adobe Acrobat ... not the free Acrobat reader, but the software that will create a '.pdf' file of your book from your word processor. If you do not have the program nor have access to it, Adobe Acrobat costs about 250.00 but is worth every penny, even for just one book. By saving your file to .pdf (save at 300 dpi or better), you can take the book manuscript to any printer and they can print is off EXACTLY the way that you set it up. The printer doesn't have to do any setup work, so you save many times the cost of Acrobat in setup cost alone. The fonts stay the same as you chose in your word processor, pictures remain properly aligned, and the page count and index remain perfect (or as perfect as you made them). If you try to share a word processor file with a printer you will run into all kinds of problems and unexpected expense. Different computers interpret word processor files differently. The margins change which means that you get page roll-over, putting your index in jeopardy and potentially messing up the entire setup of the manuscript. .pdf is the answer. It freezes the manuscript exactly the way that you saved it, and can be read by any PC or Mac computer. Another important piece of advice is to have the printer print off a draft copy (loose leaf) so you can go through it and look for errors and omissions. If you have access to a proof reader, have them take a look at it to. It is very easy to miss errors in your own work. Let's say that you print 12 copies. Ask the printer to print it off with a colored piece of paper between each volume. An economical but durable and attractive option is to have the books case-bound (hardcover). It is much less expensive than most people think. There is a bindery in Smiths Falls, Ontario, Canada (Allen Hurdis 613-283-1981) who is happy to do short-run work at a very competitive price. You want to specify using Tanotex as the covering (durable, attractive) . Smith Falls Book Binding will also stamp the front cover and spine with the title and author etc. The folks in Smiths Falls will work with you via phone/mail, however there are binderies in most regions around the world that you can work with locally. Whether your book is set-up in 8.5 X 11" format or 6 X 9", the bindery will cut it to size at no extra cost. For cost planning, find a printer that will print for 3 cents per face or less. For binding, plan on about 10.00 - 12.00 per book for casebinding, and stamping. Soooo, if your book is 300 pages (faces), a ball-park cost would be about: 9.00 printing (300 pages X .03) 10.00 for binding _____ 19.00 /copy If you decide to use a flexible covering, consider using the new man-made spiral binding. It allows the book to lay flat (Smiths Falls bookbinding hardcover will also lay flat whicih is unusual in case-binding. They us the same process as for law reference books) If you decide to have your books spiral bound you can also design and print your own covers on whatever stock you like. Many printers can provide spiral binding.... it's about 2.00-3.00 per book. Spiral binding is only reliable up to about 250 pages. Perfect binding (softcover with a flat printed spine) is probably out of the picture cost-wise for short-run publishing. The covers have to be made in advance which means a significant setup and printing cost. The actual process of perfect binding a short runs is also expensive. It would likely be much cheaper to go hard cover. Hope this helps get you started. Our store recently got a new book in that helps a new writer with the basics of self-publishing. The title is Publishing Your Family History, by John Townsend. It's filled with good advice that will save you a lot of time, effort and money in the long run. You can read about it online or order a copy from our website or call the store (1-800-361-5168 9am - 5pm ET, Mon-Sat). The book is very helpful and inexpensive. Good luck with your project :) Rick Roberts Global Genealogy & History Shoppe* 13 Charles Street, Unit 102, Milton, ON L9T 4S2 website: www.globalgenealogy.com email: rick@globalgenealogy.com *Retail div. of GlobalGenealogy.com Inc. Shopping Cart & Order Desk Global Genealogy & History Shoppe 1-800-361-5168 ( 9-5 Tuesday to Saturday )
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