Subject: Family History Book Costs From: Gary Wilbanks Date: May 08, 2000 Message text written by INTERNET:[email protected] > You mentioning a "book on your family" brings to mind another question. >What is up with all the books being written? Are people doing this for >money? Silly girl......of course.....oh great, now genealogy has me >answering my own questions. > Some one wrote a book about my line and wanted my information about my >grandmother to put in their book because they didn't have it and then wanted me to buy the book, huh?.......okkkkk.< Another person gave me a book on another part of my family and it was huge >and I was grateful BUT I would only use it as a source. If I saw something >I thought might fit I would go looking for documentation..... *************************************** The cost of professional printing is very high especially in the very limited numbers requested by authors of a family history book. These books are usually printed in numbers of a couple hundred to a couple of thousand at most, unlike the major publishers of popular books that print in the hundreds of thousands and are able to reduce costs through the total volume of books printed. I hope to have a book on my Wilbanks/Mayfield family of South Carolina published in the next few years. A family member in the publishing business gave me an estimated price taking into consideration a family discount. The estimated discounted price about six years ago was around $5000 for a limited run of 500 copies. The cost could be higher with photographs and even higher with color. The costs have increased substantially since then, possibly even doubled. To break even on publishing costs six years ago would mean charging $10 per book. This does not cover research costs, travel costs, long distance calls, mailing costs, photograph duplication costs, etc. I have already spent over $3000 duplicating pictures that were lent to me by relatives. I have also spent over $5000 in plane fares, hotel room expenses, rental car expenses and auto expenses. The author of a family history book is not going to make money on the book. They are doing it because they want to share and preserve the family history. If you want to make money on a book, you will have better luck with a novel! I will be indebted to literally hundreds of people that shared information with me on their families when I publish my book. If I gave everyone a copy of the book for free that shared information with me, I wouldn't have but a handful of people left to sell it to. Would it be better for me to borrow the $5000 or more to publish the book and then just give the book away to everyone that shared information? How should I try to recoup the $5000 or more in publishing costs and the many thousands in research costs? Personally, I have chosen to eat the research/travel/labor costs. That will be my cost for partaking in what I consider an enjoyable hobby. Luckily, family members (even those that shared info) at my Wilbanks/Mayfield Family Reunion realize this and are impatiently waiting for the chance to purchase a copy when it becomes available. My plan is to try to keep the price of the book as close as possible to the actual publishing cost to keep the book affordable. Many of my relatives are low-income and will not be able to afford a book of $40 or more a copy. I'd like to keep it around $15-$20 a copy so that everyone in the family can afford the book. There is a lot more to publishing a book than most people realize. I have yet to meet anyone that recouped all of the expenses involved in publishing a family history book. Most people actually lose money, as I will. You may want to take some time to think about what the author had to contribute in time, money and effort to preserve your family's history and make that book a reality. Gary PS I do agree with you about documentation. Most family history books are not to be used as the final source. They are used to find clues, open doors to research opportunities, etc. The exception is the book that publishes the actual source documents and where they were found. Even then, you should examine the original documents yourself. Go To: #, A, B, C, D, E, F, G, H, I, J, K, L, M, N, O, P, Q, R, S, T, U, V, W, X, Y, Z, Main |