TimeTrackers - for British and Australian Family History research, teaching, publication and film making

Writing your book

It can be a daunting task, but many people want to write down their story and publish it in a book. We can help you through all aspects of the journey, from initial concept through to preparing everything for the printer. And with digital printing these days you can have as few copies printed as you like.

Here are some of the questions we'll need to think about when we talk to you about publishing. Obviously the more you can do of these tasks the cheaper it will be for you, and we can guide you through all the steps if you need help.

What research is required?

• Trace your ancestors?
• Timeframe? Where? Country/state/county/village?
• Specific facts, stories?
• Historical background? Time? Place?

What type of publication?

• Book or booklet? (Check number of copies, layout, colour/B&W, photos, maps, finish, etc)
• Magazine/newspaper A3 style (check as above)
• Presentation (e.g. Powerpoint?)
• Charts? Type? With text and pictures?

Structure of story?

• Chronological (how far back?)
• Follow lines (how many branches? How far? How to link them?)
• Series of anecdotes?
• Descendants of one person?

Budget?

• How is it to be funded? Family contributions?
• Projected sales? Provate or commercial?
• Separate costs for TimeTrackers input and printing (Printing at cost).

Timing?

• Any specific deadline?
• Turnaround times for proofing etc.

Who does what?

• Overall concept
• Writing (narrative)
• Data entry (genealogy info)
• Charts and diagrams
• Scanning of images
• Cropping, scaling, captions
• Editing
• Proof-reading
• Design
• Layout
• Final approval
• Pre-print masters (assume pdf files)
• Printing and publishing (is ISBN required?)

A couple of books we produced recently for clients