For part 2 of this series, Karen Ray of Rememberingthetime.net partners with author of funwithgenealogy.com and the Acadian genealogist behind MyManyMothers.com. Karen and Sindi are both professionals with books and client work as background leading into this talk. Each has also contributed projects and programs to our Projectkin community. Part 1 of this series was held last week and featured Karen in conversation with Projectkin member, :
During RootsTech 2024, both Karen and Sindi gave special talks for the community:
Karen Ray » Asking Your Loved Ones for the Stories
Sindi Terrien » Fun with Genealogy!
Tap the word “Transcript” above to access our event's full transcript.
Resources
Quickly capturing some of the key messages of the talk and useful resources for you:
Make sure your presentation fits your target audience:
physical versus digital end product.
Print shop vs. publishing house, self-publishing, blogging
Karen & Sindi mentioned a few publisher examples, including:
staples.com — an example of a print shop
lulu.com, Kindle Direct Printing, kdp.amazon.com, and Ingram Direct ingramcontent.com
Examples of Niche topics – small projects are great, too:
One person, autobiography, one event, one era, one family, a house, an heirloom.
Multiple generations, a family line, a migration
Be sensitive to your tone – important to fit this to your audience as well:
Young, contemporary, or appropriate to an older generation Story format
Is your tone appropriate to your story format, or is it historical, factual, fictional, instructional, professional, or familiar?
Getting your manuscript ready:
Editing. Resources included fiver.com and Alignable.com
Artwork. Resources included unsplash.com, Rawpixel.com, wikimedia.org. If you’re using public domain or Creative Commons licensed work, consider visuals carefully and review how others have used them. Tineye.com can be your friend.
Publishing options: From writing and editing to artwork and marketing
if you’re the publisher, you own everything
Guy Kawasaki’s book APE: Author, Publisher & Entrepreneur,
Dozens of resources for writers on Substack.
Marketing ideas ranged from blogging to asking to be on podcasts, library and bookstore book talks, and press releases.
Plan your work relative to your motivation: don’t give up.
If you’re working with a publisher, push them for what they can offer and what they’ve promised.
Ask for samples; take out what you don’t need.
Collaboration control
Asking for contributions from others takes time and control
Permission to use photos, quotes, other materials
Contributions – photos, recipes, etc.
This is such an important topic that we’ll be circling back to it many more times for twists and turns in family history. Feel free to drop your comments, suggestions, and questions below. ~
Your indulgence, please?
Like the best of our programs, this series resulted from a discussion among Projectkin members. If nothing else, we’ve learned to pay attention. Using a new feature from Substack, I’ve discovered that I can now ask for feedback, too. Will you help with answers to three short questions? There’s also space to share your thoughts:
But wait, there’s more!
Finally, consider joining us for another special program about telling your story. Next week, we’ll be featuring Australia’s
in “Beginning, Middle, and End” on May 1 at 4/7 PM PT/ET and 12 AM GMT, May 10 in the Asia/Pacific region at 9 AM AEST, 7 AM AWST.
All of our upcoming events are at Projectkin.org/events.
How to Actually Get Your Book Published » Self-Publishing + Family History