A lot of people I meet want to create a family history book and haven’t gotten started yet because they are not writers and don’t know how to publish a book.
The good news is that you don’t need to be a writer and you can print your book on a printer and simply distribute it (publishing problem solved).
However, you do need to develop the book as a project.
Who are you writing for?
Decide if you are writing for your nuclear or extended family, for generations yet to come or for researchers who might be interested in your family’s experience during a certain period in history.
Just Tell Stories
Figure out how to tell a story with the information that you have. When you have traced your family from another country and have stories adapting to a new country, you can tell a Coming To story. Entire families worked the railroads, ran locks on canals, founded towns and farms were the economy of rural communities. Your family’s story is anything but boring. You just need to find a way of telling it! And, remember, you can’t write all the details about everyone in your family, so just tell stories. It can be more than one story but stick to one line of the family tree.
For example, a young man came to the US and was apprenticed to a baker who also came from his home town in the old country. This man grew up, established his own bakery and brought over his younger siblings. He, in turn, also had an apprentice. A story can be told about growing up as an apprentice and the triumph of starting a business in an adopted country.
There are stories of hardship as well. A carpenter raised his family in a mill town. His son carved stone in a quarry and his grandson had to start working as a sweeper in the mills at the tender age of seven. The grandson never made much money in the mills and had trouble finding money to buy coal to heat his home when he grew up and had his own family. A story can be told of the factory culture which married the fortunes of many a family trapped them in the mill towns they lived in.
Pictures and Documents
Add relevant photos and documents which prove your story or add to it.
Details and Dates Appendix
Use appendices to publish dates and other details which do not naturally fit into a storyline. This is a great place to add pictures of descendants and other pertinent family documents.
What Software to Use
Your choice of software depends on what you have access to or budget. Here are some ideas:
Use free tools such as Google Docs to write your history.
Presentation software has a more flexible format if you are going to add a lot of photographs.
Affordable publisher software options such as Affinity Publisher are an option but you need to learn it.
Shutterfly allows you to design and print a book from your computer
Create your own scrapbook and scan it in color to make the most personalized family history book possible.
Share Your Family History
Give a copy to your cousins and send copies to genealogical and historical societies in the areas where your family lived. You may want to publish it to sites such as Amazon or Lulu or simply stay with companies that offering printing and binding.
Don’t wait to share your story. Start writing today.
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