If you’re like most dedicated family historians, you’ve accumulated a great deal of information on your family. You’ve got stacks of photocopied documents on your desk; binders bulging with genealogical data; photo albums with portraits and snapshots of kids, grandparents, uncles and aunts; a treasured family Bible; even transcriptions of oral histories. You’ve learned the histories and cultures of your immigrant ancestors’ homelands and have used that information to add detail to the sparse documents you have on your more distant ancestors. In short, you’ve done research you’re proud of, and you want others to have access to your findings.

The idea of publishing a family history has undoubtedly crossed your mind—perhaps even lingered there at times—but you might be overwhelmed with the prospect. Gathering and organizing your family data is one thing, but producing a quality publication you can be proud of is another. You’ve asked yourself: How much will a family history cost to produce? And how do I go about getting it printed? What about distributing it? Am I really up for the challenge?

The good news is that with the latest advances in digital book printing, getting your work printed is easier than ever and can be done at minimal expense. With a little planning, you can leave the printing to the people who know the business, and focus your energy on your family history—the stuff you’re already an expert at.

1. Who is your audience? If you are writing for yourself and your immediate family, you will not need to print many copies and maybe a trip to your local copy shop will be sufficient. But if you are planning to distribute your finished product to the many members of your extended family, you’ll need to choose a printer that can handle more volume. In other words, if your book is intended for the world to see, it should be written differently and produced differently than if it is intended for your personal use and the use of your immediate family.

When determining your audience, remember to be sensitive to the living members of your family. Your book may be read by many people and could be truly harmful to the private lives of your family. If your stories have the potential to hurt or humiliate (even if they are the truth), or encroach on privacy, it is best to leave the information out.

2. What is your scope? Will you include the descendants of your maternal grandparents or those of your great-great-great-grandfather, a famed Civil War hero? The greater the scope, the greater the potential audience—and the greater the amount of work.

It might be best to keep your first book project fairly small. Perhaps you could limit it to one set of your grandparents and their children. Tell the stories of their life (if some members are still living, this is a great opportunity to interview them and include transcripts or passages from their oral histories). In the appendixes, you could include your family charts of grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

3. What is the approximate length of your book? If you think your manuscript will become a 120-page softbound book with a few halftones (black and white photos) or a 400-page hardbound with pages of full-color family photos, your printing options will be vastly different. Determining the type and length of your book up front will give you more flexibility when deciding which print shop or press to use when it comes time to print.

Once you’ve determined your audience and the scope and size of your book, contact a few printers to get an idea of what you’ll need to provide when the time comes, and how much it will cost. If you’ve already determined the specifics, you’ll have a much easier time getting the information you need.

The printers you contact will need to know the approximate size, page count, and binding preference of your book to give you an accurate pricing. Also, ask your salesperson what file formats the press can use and what the specifications are; he or she will be able to provide you with a detailed list and information to get you on the right track from the beginning.

Your word processing software will be sufficient if you are sending your manuscript to the local copy shop, such as Kinkos, for printing and binding. If you’re printing your family history at a press, you may be planning to work in Word or WordPerfect, or maybe you’ve got a professional desktop publishing software program on your PC, such as QuarkXPress, Adobe InDesign, or Pagemaker. Regardless of the application you use, make sure the printer you’ve selected can handle the file format you create. Since .pdf files can be created from most word processing applications, you may want to ask about submitting your book as a .pdf file. Many presses accept .pdf files that are made to their specifications. 

Consider these things before you get too far into the writing portion of your project. All of these issues will impact your project, and it will be helpful to you if you go into it knowing exactly what you need to do.

Undoubtedly, you already have many ideas on getting started and perhaps you’ve already written some or most of your book. Many genealogy software programs have options for exporting your information into basic story format. This may be the best option to get you going if you haven’t begun and need a good jump-start. Then it’s just a matter of filling in the human-interest stories of your family history to complete the bulk of the book. Of course, every published family history should include source documentation. Your genealogy software program will likely have an option for exporting this information as well.

Consider also including the interviews of relatives you’ve transcribed, timelines of the key players in your family history (including both life events and historical events to show context), as well as some of the favorite family photos in your collection. These additions will be valuable to the family history you are compiling and are likely already a part of your family data so they won’t take much more work to include.

When you feel like you’ve got a good manuscript, hand it over to a friend or family member to review, offer comments, and perhaps even proofread for grammatical errors. Unless you feel like your writing really needs a professional editor and you can afford it, you probably don’t need one. Just be open-minded to the suggestions and opinions your reviewer gives you. At this point, you will undoubtedly have read through your manuscript several times and will need a fresh set of eyes to see some of its major problems.

Once your manuscript has been reviewed and you’ve made any changes, it is time to begin the layout process.    When formatting or typesetting your manuscript, determine an easy and logical hierarchy for chapters, heads, and subheads. If done correctly, your readers will be able to grasp the organization of your book intuitively. Keep it simple. Be sure to include, as needed, a table of contents, index, appendixes, a list of illustrations, footnotes or endnotes, etc. You may want to consult the Chicago Manual of Style, 15th ed. (Univ. of Chicago Press, 2003) for a detailed guide to putting your book together.

For a short print run with a professional cover and binding, save your completed manuscript as a .pdf or other acceptable file format, burn it onto a CD-ROM, and take it to a local digital printer that offers “print on demand” (POD). The concept of POD is to print small quantities of a book so there is no need to keep a warehouse or basement full of books. The digital printing process eliminates the need to go to a traditional printing press, which is very expensive for small print runs. And compared to a local copy shop, POD gives you much greater quality, print, and cover options. Unfortunately, when comparing POD to a traditional press, some of the quality, especially with photos, is lost. You’ll need to weigh the costs against the benefits to determine if this is the best way to print your book.

If you’ve decided to go with a traditional press, you’ll find that a range in quantity (e.g., 500, 2,000, and 5,000) will help you determine the best price break. For example, if you print 5,000 books, the cost per book will be much lower than if you print 500. And if you’re willing to look at the price break between 150 pages and 400 pages, as well as hardbound versus softbound, your price will vary significantly as well.

For presses that are devoted specifically to family histories, you’ll want to explore the offerings of Mechling Bookbindery, Gateway Press, Inc., Trafford and Anundsen Publishing Company, among others. You’ll find that each of these companies offers a variety of printing and distribution services designed specifically for the needs of family historians.

If you are seeking broad distribution of your book as well as marketing and have more money available for the project, look into online resources such as I-Universe and Exlibris. Both companies offer reasonably priced printing and marketing packages that could be just what you need.

Once you’ve got your completed book in hand, consider donating a copy of it to your local genealogical or historical society, your local library, and the LDSFamily History Library. Check with each archive individually to learn the best method of donation. According to FamilySearch.org, donations to the Family History Library will be accepted as long as they are useful to researchers (they must be readable and help researchers find names, dates, and places), add new information to the library’s collection, and don’t violate current privacy and copyright laws.

Perhaps the most important thing to remember when you begin the task of writing and printing your family history is to take your time. If you have a family reunion you want to take your book to, take a copy of the manuscript instead for comments, corrections, and pre-orders. You’ll be glad you didn’t rush the project and compromise its quality. Your family history is just too important.

1. Use only one font for the main text or body of the book. It should be a serif font with a bold and italic style (such as Garamond or Times).

2. Determine a font for chapter titles, photo captions, and subheads. You should use no more than three different fonts in the entire book.

3. When setting up the page layout, keep plenty of space (approximately one inch) on the top, bottom, and outside margins. You’ll need an additional 1/8 inch or 1/4 inch on the inside to allow for binding.

4. White space is easy on the eye. Don’t cram the text to save pages. Consider placing a photo, sidebar, genealogical record, highlighted quote, etc., every few pages to break up the text.

5. For highest print quality, make sure your photos are 300 dpi TIFFs. If you are scanning your photos, simply scan them at 100% and choose 300 dpi in the settings. Your photos shouldn’t be scaled any larger than the original, this will maintain the image quality at the press.

Before you ask for a bid from a printer, you’ll need to decide the page-count and size, and whether you want a one-color or four-color cover. If you decide to print a hardcover book, you’ll also need to choose a color of leather or cloth and have a foil stamp designed.

Questions for the Printer
Your experience with printing representatives will be better if you have a few educated questions prepared when you contact them. (Always consult several print houses.) Requesting an estimate for a family history without any particulars will frustrate both you and the printer.

1. What paper would you recommend? Most presses have a house paper that is good quality and usually less expensive. Be sure you ask about it. Also, when meeting with a printer, bring some books from home that have paper and cover stock similar to what you’d like for your own book.

2. Can I get a paper sample?

3. What types of files can you handle? Camera-ready (a high-quality printout from your home computer) or digital?

4.What are your terms? Most presses require at least partial payment in advance.

5. What is your turnaround time? Remember that it can take three to four weeks for traditional offset printing of a softbound book, and six to eight weeks for a hardbound. If you have a deadline to meet, be sure you plan for the extra weeks for production.

6. Can I get an estimate and a quote? A quote is an actual commitment to print your book at the stated price.

7. What are your fees for corrections and changes once the files have been submitted?

8. Will I receive proofs of the book (including any corrections I make after the files are initially submitted) before it is printed?

9.How do I submit cover materials?

10. Do you offer design services for covers?

Suggested Reading
How to Get Your E-Book Published: An Insider’s Guide to the World of Electronic Publishing. Richard Curtis and William Thomas Quick, (Writer’s Digest Books, 2002).

Producing a Quality Family History. Patricia Law Hatcher, (Ancestry, 1996).

Successful Self-Publishing from Manuscript to Market. Ann Lloyd, (Know More, 2002).

So You Want to Self-Publish: How to Avoid the Pitfalls, Experience the Joys, and Make Money at Self-Publishing. Steve Meyer (Meyer, 1997).

The Self-Publishing Manual: How to Write, Print, and Sell Your Own Book, 13th ed., rev. Dan Poynter (Para, 2002)

The Complete Guide to Self-Publishing. Tom and Marylin Ross (Writer’s Digest Books, 2002).

Jennifer Browning is the senior editor of Ancestry magazine. She has been involved in the editing, typesetting, and production process of the books and magazines at Ancestry Publishing for several years.

Return to the January/February 2004 table of contents.

Return to the May/June 2003 table of contents.

Return to the All About Publishing series.