Take a look at the following information to get an idea of what you should be thinking about, whether you design your book yourself or hire a professional.
THE PARTS OF A BOOK
Books break down into 3 sections: frontmatter (title page, copyright page, dedication, table of contents, preface, etc.), main text (Parts and chapters with your text and images), and the endmatter (Glossary, Bibliography, Index)
FRONTMATTER
(pages numbered with lowercase roman numerals)
Half-title (page i)
In most books the first right hand page will be what’s called the half-title. The title and subtitle of your book appear on this page in the same typeface chosen for the title page, but they set smaller. You do not put the author information on this page.
Title Page (page iii)
Your title page should be inviting and provide the title and subtitle of your book along with your name. Since you are self-publishing there is no need to put publishing information at the bottom of the page. You can, however, add information if you choose to call yourself a publisher. If you have a website or blog consider putting the address on your copyright page or below your name on the title page. Note that the title page can include the facing left-hand page.
Copyright (iv)
On this page the printer will allow you to put some personal copyright information which may include a small image. The bottom of the page is reserved for the printer’s official information.
Dedication (v)
Do you want to dedicate your book to someone special? Your dedication should go on the first page following your copyright page. If saving pages is an issue include your dedication copy above your copyright information.
Table of Contents (vi)
The table of contents is to help your readers easily navigate your book. On this page you will list your Part Titles, Chapter Titles, and first level of heads, if any. Each one of these elements will have a corresponding page number.
Preface, Acknowledgements
You might wish to add a preface in which you describe how you started your research and why you are now publishing it. An acknowledgement page would allow you to give thanks to anyone who helped you along the way doing your research. To save pages it is fine to add your acknowledgements to your preface.
List of photos and charts
If you have a lot of photos, tables, and charts in your book you might want to add a list in the frontmatter which, like a table of contents, will have corresponding page numbers.
MAIN TEXT
(page numbering begins with number “1”)
The main text will make up the bulk of your book. It typically is subdivided into parts and chapters.
Here is when you must really begin to organize your data.
As an example:
You have created a family history of your paternal and maternal lines. Perhaps you make part one about your paternal line with the 2nd part about your maternal line. You then proceed to break the parts into chapters, each about a different family member.
You may find it useful to organize your chapters with a variety of heads and subheads (see the example images below). To understand the concept of heads think of them as an outline. Remember the outlines you had to create in school? These heads provide a way to organize the importance of your information.
You have created a family history of your paternal and maternal lines. Perhaps you make part one about your paternal line with the 2nd part about your maternal line. You then proceed to break the parts into chapters, each about a different family member.
You may find it useful to organize your chapters with a variety of heads and subheads (see the example images below). To understand the concept of heads think of them as an outline. Remember the outlines you had to create in school? These heads provide a way to organize the importance of your information.
Other main text items: lists (bulleted, numbered, lettered, and unnumbered), tables and charts, photos/figures along with their corresponding captions. If you wish to call out figures or photos from within your text it is best to give each photo/figure a number. These items should appear as close as possible to their reference within the text.
ENDMATTER
The most common endmatter is the index. An appendix is also considered endmatter. Some books include a glossary, bibliography or notes section, and perhaps biographical information about the author. Note that creating an index is not for the faint of heart. If you do not have software that accurately generates one I recommend hiring a professional indexer.
Blank pages at end of book
You know how sometimes you find blank pages at the end of a book? That’s because the publisher/author did not have enough copy to fill-up all of the pages in a signature. Books are made-up of signatures which are basically a single sheet of paper folded many times then cut to form the pages of the book. Sometimes the editor will print the word “Notes” at the top of the page pretending that they’d meant to have those blanks. Well, in your case blanks might be a very nice idea. Think of those blank pages as a place where family members can write comments or provide updated information about births and deaths which have occured since you originally published your book. Pages like this make your book a living document.
PHOTOS AND ART
In doing genealogical research you often have to take what you can get when it comes to images: photocopies of newspaper articles, downloaded images of census records, low resolution photos. Try to get the cleanest copies possible. And keep realistic expectations about what they will look like when reproduced in a book. If they look bad to begin with there’s only so much that can be done.
All photos to be used in your book need to be scanned at a high resolution. This means each image must be at 300 dpi, not the usual 72 dpi people are used to using for the net and email.
ENDMATTER
The most common endmatter is the index. An appendix is also considered endmatter. Some books include a glossary, bibliography or notes section, and perhaps biographical information about the author. Note that creating an index is not for the faint of heart. If you do not have software that accurately generates one I recommend hiring a professional indexer.
Blank pages at end of book
You know how sometimes you find blank pages at the end of a book? That’s because the publisher/author did not have enough copy to fill-up all of the pages in a signature. Books are made-up of signatures which are basically a single sheet of paper folded many times then cut to form the pages of the book. Sometimes the editor will print the word “Notes” at the top of the page pretending that they’d meant to have those blanks. Well, in your case blanks might be a very nice idea. Think of those blank pages as a place where family members can write comments or provide updated information about births and deaths which have occured since you originally published your book. Pages like this make your book a living document.
PHOTOS AND ART
In doing genealogical research you often have to take what you can get when it comes to images: photocopies of newspaper articles, downloaded images of census records, low resolution photos. Try to get the cleanest copies possible. And keep realistic expectations about what they will look like when reproduced in a book. If they look bad to begin with there’s only so much that can be done.
All photos to be used in your book need to be scanned at a high resolution. This means each image must be at 300 dpi, not the usual 72 dpi people are used to using for the net and email.
Scan your images larger than your final book trim size. If you start out with a small image you can’t enlarge it more than 10% without degrading the quality. If you start with a large image you have the flexibility of resizing it to a smaller size without losing the details.
Do you have vintage ephemera to add to your book to provide visual information that might not be in your text? Old post cards of where your family lived? Old letters that provide a feeling of what the people were like? There’s no reason your book needs to be just dry facts. Add YOU to the book and the people you’ve been researching and writing about come to life.
Be aware of copyright laws. Do not use copyrighted material in your book.
COLOR
You are not limited to using just black and white in your book. A full color (4 color or 4 CMYK) book done through POD at Blurb is the same cost as one in black and white. This means you can have text in color as well as images.
Do you have vintage ephemera to add to your book to provide visual information that might not be in your text? Old post cards of where your family lived? Old letters that provide a feeling of what the people were like? There’s no reason your book needs to be just dry facts. Add YOU to the book and the people you’ve been researching and writing about come to life.
Be aware of copyright laws. Do not use copyrighted material in your book.
COLOR
You are not limited to using just black and white in your book. A full color (4 color or 4 CMYK) book done through POD at Blurb is the same cost as one in black and white. This means you can have text in color as well as images.
If you have certain colors you wish to use in your book please let me know. I will try to match them as close as possible. Please be aware that what you see on your computer screen will not exactly match your book. This is one of the problems with all printing, but specifically print-on-demand.
Note that you must be very careful when choosing a color for any text. Some colors simply won’t work because they are too light and others too dark so that they end up looking like the black text. You also want to use color sparingly so as to provide emphasis to certain copy such as chapter titles and heads.
SUGGESTIONS
Consider doing one main volume with separate volumes about different family members if you have too much information for one book. A nice series of volumes on your shelf would be eye-catching.
Take a look at books on your shelves or at your library and bookstore. Try to imagine how your text will fit within the parameters of a book. Be creative, but remember that your message must be clear to your readers. If the book is visually confusing your readers will be less inclined to look at it and find it useful.
Consider creating other items to go along with your book. I can provide you, for additional charges, with art that you can use at places such as Cafe Press to create mugs, t-shirts, greeting cards, and calendars to give as gifts along with your book.
