Self-publishing your family stories with Blurb

IT'S NO SECRET THAT I AM PASSIONATE about recording family stories. But what is the best way to preserve and share them? In spite of the wonders of the digital age, I am still a believer in print. 
 
There is something magical about holding a tangible object in your hands, words and photos imprinted on a page. No matter how big or small your storytelling project may be, I think that there is value in having a hard copy to read yourself and share with family members. 
 
In 2017 I decided to write the story of my 2nd great-grandmother, Renate Fooken Pedersen. She died in childbirth in Sims, North Dakota around 1901, but we had no records to back that up. A few years ago, I obtained a photo of her from a distant cousin; she stands outside in a muddy farmyard, tenderly holding a baby, and gazing out to the viewer. Her photo has sat on my living room side table for many years, and every time I looked at her I wanted to know more. My quest was to piece together the story of her life as best I could, using her photograph as a jumping off place.
 
I spent several months doing just that, weaving together the facts I discovered into a non-fiction narrative essay, and when I finished writing her story, I wanted to share it with my family members. I chose Blurb.ca as my self-publishing choice and was pleased with the results. My writing was essay length with photos, and so a 7 x 7 inch photo book fit my needs exactly.

---

Sample pages from Remembering Renate (7 x7 inch Blurb photo book)

​Here are some of my tips to help you with your project:
​

• Order one test copy. Before spending a lot of money on multiple copies, order a test copy to make sure that everything appears how you want it. It is possible to download a draft PDF version of the book, but I find it easier to find layout mistakes when it is bound.
• Save money.Take advantage of Blurb’s frequent promotions to get discounts or free shipping. The code can usually be found on the top banner of their website and you just type into the Promo Code box when you place your order.
• Download the free software.  There is an online platform to work from, but I found it much more stable to download the free software and work directly on my laptop. 
• Look at sample projects.  I get so inspired by seeing other people’s creativity. Check out sample projects on the Blurb site; I guarantee that you will get ideas that you never thought of for layout and design.
• Don’t cram too much on a page.  Leave lots of white space so it is easy to read and pleasing to the eye
• Small details make a big difference in appearance.  Look at a similar professionally published book when making decision about font, justification and margins. For my Remembering Renate book I used Garamond font and justified the text.
• Copy and paste into the software. As tempting as it is to create in the actual software, it is much easier (and safer) to create a final draft in your favourite word processing software and then copy and paste it over in small batches once you are done editing. If you do need to make changes, don’t forget to save them in both places.
• Include sources and footnotes.  I am a strong believer in the importance of including citations in family history writing. Not only will your reader know that this is not a work of fiction and be able to go to the original source, but YOU will also have a record of where the information was found. Blurb does not have an automatic way of inserting footnotes, but my work-around is to manually type in the numbers and shrink the font like this: [1]Then, at the end of the book I copy and paste each of the sources in from the word document. For a longer book you may wish to include the sources at the end of each chapter. It’s a bit painful, but worth it in my opinion.
• Make it available for online purchase. The wonders of print-on-demand mean that you don’t need to order 500 copies and try to collect money back from family members. You can make the finished book available online, let family members know, and they can pay online and order it directly from Blurb (or Amazon if you prefer). It will get shipped directly to them and you are not on the hook for thousands of dollars.
• Use the Help Centre. There are challenges that you may encounter as you create your book. If you have a question, I can guarantee that someone else had the same one too. Search the Help Centre for tutorials and solutions.

 
When I received Remembering Renate in the mail, I was so excited. It is the best feeling to open up your package and seeing the final tangible product of all your research, writing, and design.

Let me know if you publish your family’s stories and how you decided to do it!