How To Make a Family History Book
If you've always wanted to put together a family history book but weren't sure how to get started, here's how:
Create an outline: First, you'll need to decide which stories you'd like to preserve. This is the time to consider whether you'd like to include two or more sides of your family's history or follow just one family name. Once you've chosen a direction for your book, consider how far back in time you'd like to go. You'll need to decide whether it's important to include stories from past generations or focus on your own. Next, you'll need to organize your family history to create a flowing storyline. And while it may seem most straightforward to lay things out chronologically, keep in mind that some of the most engaging storylines aren't always linear.
It's time to write: Begin with whatever comes naturally to you. If you prefer to work backwards, that's fine. Starting at the beginning is not always necessary as long as you start somewhere. Following your outline, organize your stories into sections or chapters to approach them individually as you remember people, places and events. Prepare a rough draft first and then work on refining it later.
Organize your photos: After you've completed your first draft, identify where you'd like to include photographs, documents or graphics to help tell your story. Make notes throughout your text where you'd like to place these images. You will need to go through your old photo albums and boxes to assemble all the pictures you'd like to include in your book.
Archive and restore your photos: Take all the photos and documents you collected and have them professionally scanned. We recommended scanning everything at the highest resolution possible for the best print reproduction. There are many scanning services available online. Your local photography store or portrait studio should have a few recommendations or may offer a scanning service themselves. Some scanning services include photo retouching and colour correction. However, I would be cautious with photo retouching and recommend you ask to see samples beforehand. Unfortunately, it's a common practice to apply quick filters, which simply blur your photos to remove dust and scratches. Therefore, if preserving the photo details is important, find a service that offers hands-on (human) retouching. However, expect to pay a lot more for that as it can be a fairly time-consuming process, depending on the restoration work needed.
Start editing: While your photos are being digitized, begin editing and proofreading your text. Because it's human nature to make mistakes, I recommend having at least two other people proofread the text before finalizing it.
Prepare your book layout: Once your photos and documents have been scanned in and your text has been proofread, you can start preparing your book's layout. You'll need to decide on the final print size and whether your story is best displayed in a landscape, portrait, or square format. We create all of our layouts in Adobe InDesign. However, you can prepare your book's layout using an online book-making platform or even format it using a basic desktop application.
It's important to note that making a family history book is an incredible undertaking. Depending on your schedule and availability, your book project could take many months, or even a year, to complete. Therefore, if you plan to have your book finished by a specific date or event, allow yourself enough time to get it done.
On average, the books we make for our clients require 250 hours of work, with at least three people working on the project.