Author: Chris Stevenson

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Preserving Photos

Pictures add so much to family histories. I love pictures of people and places in the histories that we publish for people. Occasionally I am asked about preserving photos. Here is a great web site for different aspects of photo preservation. It includes organizing tips and a history of photography as well. There are a few tips concerning videos, too. If this is something that can help you, check it out. Here is the link:

http://genealogy.about.com/library/weekly/aa121000b.htm

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com

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Vacation Adventures

Summer is traditionally vacation time and so my thoughts are on getting away with my family. I thought that I would make a post about the adventures that can happen on vacations. I think that it would be great to include some of these in your family histories. Often when we talk about our vacations we mention the fun and normal parts of the vacation. But I think that the most interesting parts are when there are problems that we face and overcome.  I can think of the time when our family went camping at Bear Lake (a place that we love to go every year). We enjoy the beauty of the lake and playing on the great beaches. But the story that I think is the most interesting (and the one that my kids love to repeat) is the time when a neighbor told us of a different way to get there and we got lost. I was driving and everyone else was asleep in the van when I missed the sign that told me when to turn. I kept going, not knowing that I had missed the turn. It took us twice as long to get there because we ended up going all the way around the lake. It was quite an adventure.

The point of this story is to include problems, challenges and hardships in your histories. You will be glad that you included the real adventures in your family’s lives.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

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Genealogy Data

Many family history books contain a great deal of genealogy data (names, dates, and places). There are a few different ways to display that information in your book. The first way is to use a family group sheet. This method is convenient for the reader to find the information that they are looking for, but it takes up a lot of room in the book. If you have just a few pages of family group sheets, then you could go ahead and use this method. But if you have more than just a few pages then this could add quite a few pages to you book making it more expensive than it needs to be. Another way to display the data is to put all the information into columns. This works but is difficult to fit all of the columns  onto each line and can be hard to follow on the page. The method that I like best is called “modified register.” Many genealogy programs can organize and print the data in this format. This is especially useful for descendents and families. It is very easy to read the information and yet it is compact and fits on the page very well. Here is a sample of what it looks like.

modifiedReg

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

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Time Saving Computer Short Cuts

I have found that I can do some computer processes much faster by using keyboard short cuts. These work with almost any windows programs. Here are my favorites.

CTRL + C will copy text after it has been highlighted.

CTRL + V will paste text that you have copied.

CTRL + A will highlight all of the document for copying.

CTRL + X will cut text after it has been highlighted.

CRTL + Z will undo any change that you have done.

CTRL + ESC will bring up the Start Menu.

SHIFT + F3 will turn all capitalized text into lowercase.

SHIFT + DELETE will delete an item immediately without placing it in the Recycle Bin.

ALT + TAB will bring up a Window with a list of icons representing programs which are currently running on your computer. While holding the ALT key, press and depress the TAB button to cycle between each icon task.

ALT + ESC will switch to the next task running on your computer. Hold down the ALT before pressing and depressing the ESC key to cycle to the next task.

CTRL + ALT + DELETE will bring up Task Manager and allow you to end a process (terminate a program) if it has crashed or has stopped responding. Select the process which has stopped responding, and then press "END PROCESS”.

SHIFT + INSERT will paste any text that is in your clipboard. Your cursor must also be placed in an area that will accept keyboard input for this to work.

Try these out and see which short cuts will help you. I hope these help you to not only produce your book faster but make all of your computer interactions easier. If you have another short cut that you like, add it in a comment.

Chris Stevenson  cs@sgenealogy.com  www.sgenealogy.com

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The Table of Contents is Your Map

One of the first pages that I look for when I pick up a book is the table of contents. It quickly gives me an idea of what is included in the book and where it is located. It is like a map that provides easier navigation within the book. The table of contents is very handy for the reader not only when they first pick up the book, but each time they are looking for specific information or a certain story.

Here are some tips for a good table of contents page. Keep the style of your table of contents (margins, fonts) consistent with the rest of your book. Include all of the chapter titles and as many of the important stories or documents that would be helpful. I like to have a dot leader (several periods in a row) before the page number, but they aren’t necessary. By using a right tab stop with dot leader in your word processor, the page numbers and the dots will all line up. If you want, you can make a separate page that lists all the pictures in the book and their page numbers.

It is possible to “mark” your chapters in your word processor and automatically generate the table of contents with the page numbers on them. Some have been successful at this, but I suggest the manual method of making the table of contents. It is usually much faster and easier. Here is a step by step guide for the automatic generation in Word. Microsoft has templates that you can use. Here is a link to the template.

Here is a link to Wikipedia’s more detailed explanation of the table of contents for those that would like to read more.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com

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Fun with Fonts

There are so many fonts available so you can really have some fun with the design of your book. There are decorative fonts, plain fonts, and everything in between. So, how do you choose? Do you go for the “look” or “readability” or both? These are great questions that don’t have simple answers.

Don Campbell has done a great job of explaining (in easy to understand terms) the intricacies of fonts. I would suggest that you read it. Here is a link to his page:

http://www.athleticaid.com/yaquinapress/fonts/index.html

Don’s suggestion is a great one and I would agree with him to do the following test of the font that you want to use in your book. “Print a full page of text in the format of your book and at the page size of your book. Cut those pages in their final book size and place them into a book that is about the right size to see how they look and “feel” in a book. Scan your eyes back and forth and see how readable the text is. Test how easy it is to rapidly scan from the end of one line to the beginning of the next line. If you carry out this kind of text, varying the font, the font size, the leading and the book formatting you will start to realize that fonts which look fine in a small sample may be tiring or unpleasant to read in a book. In the end, the choice is yours and may actually affect whether your book gets read all the way through.”

The most common font that we see in the books we publish is Times New Roman. It is a very readable font. When you have chosen the fonts that you want in your book, you will need to make sure that the publisher can print those fonts or you can make a PDF of the file so it will print correctly. (See my post on File Formats for more information about this.) Happy font hunting!

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com

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Make the Publisher your Friend

As you work on your book, it is a great idea to contact several potential publishers. Talk with them and determine early on who you want to work with. They will be able to give you guidance and ideas to help improve your book that you can do while you are still in the editing process. This will help you produce the best book at the best price. If you wait until you are finished with your book to talk with them, it may be too time consuming or costly to make the changes to get the book the way you really want it. By making friends with the publisher, they will be a resource for you that you can call on when you have a question. It will give you one more person that will help you bring your family history to completion.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com

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Selling your Book to Family, part 2

This post is a continuation from part 1. Here is my suggestion if you are trying to sell your book to cover most of your costs.

I suggest that you include the family in several communications as you work on your book which will help a lot when it comes to collecting the money for the books. You don’t want to surprise them with a phone call saying that you have written a book and are going to print it next week and need $125.00 tomorrow for the five copies of the book for their family. Most families won’t be in a financial situation to react that fast and will decline the books even though they really would like to have them. But if you communicate with them several times along the way, everyone will be much happier and better prepared. Contact them in the information gathering stage and let them know what you are doing and the scope of the book (who and what will be included in the history). Ask them if they have any information or pictures that could be included in the book and let them know that they will be given the opportunity to buy some copies for their family when it is done. Then contact them again when you are writing and nearing the completion stage. Tell them that you anticipate printing the books in a few months and that the cost of the book will be about X dollars (you can get a ball park estimate from most printers that will help with this part). The next contact can be when you have finished the book and have the bid in your hand. You now know how much it will cost to publish and can estimate the shipping costs. Contact all of the family letting them know what is included in the book, the number of pictures and number of pages of the book. Let them know some of the key stories and important information that is included; this way the can see the value of the book. Then tell them the price of the book and the shipping costs. Let them know what date you need the money to be included in the advance orders. Then, here is a tip that I learned a long time ago, tell them that there will be a few extra copies of the book that will be available to purchase after they are printed and the cost is $5.00 or $10.00 more per book. People love to save money and they will be more willing to meet your deadline so they can save. You will still need to follow-up after the deadline with those that don’t order to see if they just forgot to order the books or if they really don’t want some, but you will have a much better response with this tip. (Be sure to read my post about printing a few extra copies.)

I hope you find this helpful as some of my other clients found in overcoming the financial hurdle that may be keeping you from moving forward.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com http://www.sgenealogy.com/

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Selling your Book to Family, part 1

There are three schools of thought when it comes to financing a family history project. First, you might be publishing it to sell for a profit. Second, you could be financing the whole project and are going to give copies away as a gift. And third, you are going to sell the copies of the book to try to break even or recover most of your expenses. I have worked with all three categories of people, but the most common by far is the third category, so that is the focus of this blog.

First, let’s take a look at the expenses of a family history book. They will include costs for gathering the information, such as buying certificates or mailing expenses writing to people who have the information that you need. There are expenses associated with writing the history like the paper and ink cost for printing all of the editing copies or maybe you bought a scanner to scan the pictures. Then there is the expense of printing and binding the book. And lastly there are the shipping or distribution costs. (You probably noticed that I left out the value of your time spent on the project. That is because if you are producing the family history to get paid for your time and effort then you would fall into the category of selling for profit, so I’m not covering that in this post.)

Typically, most people that I work with are only trying to recoup the cost of printing, binding and shipping. All of the preparation and writing expenses are a gift they give to the family. It isn’t too hard to figure out the amount of money that you need to cover the cost of printing, binding and shipping when your book is all ready to print and you have bids in your hand. But the problem is when your book is all ready to print you will want to do it right away and you will need to pay the publisher to produce the book.

In the next post I’ll give some suggestions to overcome this challenge that have worked well for others. (I’d include it in this post, but it would be too long. Besides this gives you something to anticipate for next week.)

To be continued …

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com http://www.sgenealogy.com/

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Old to New

Some days “change” seems like a bad word. It seems to me that things are changing at a faster and faster rate. Don’t get me wrong, I like the changes and the convenience of the newer software programs and the easier to use devices. I’m glad that smart people are figuring out how to make my life easier. The problem is not only learning the new programs (I understand that they are called apps now) and devices but converting all the old files to the new formats. (You may have guessed that I am going to focus on computer file changes for this blog.) Every now and then I need to look at an old file that I used years ago. The information is still valuable and it will save me a bunch of time if I can open the file and modify it instead of retyping the file. For word processing files, most of the time I am able to open the file and convert it to my latest version. For instance, years ago I used WordPerfect for word processing. I have hundreds of files in WordPerfect file format. Today I use Word 2007. If I need to open a file that is in WordPerfect 5.1 format, Word won’t do it. I first have to open the file in WordPerfect 9.0 and save it in that format, then I can open it in Word. My worry is, someday my future computer might not allow my WordPerfect to work with the operating system, so I won’t be able to access the information. The exact same problem could happen with my genealogy program. If I have a data file that is from PAF 2.31, I might not be able to open it in RootsMagic which is what I am using now.

The solution is to migrate the files with you as you move forward. I know that it may seem like a waste of time and you might be thinking that you will never need the file again. If that is the case, then delete it. But if you think that there is a chance of needing it, then set up a routine for changing all 0f the files to your newest version of software. My suggestion is to do this every time you get a new computer or each time you get new software. After you get used to using the new program or computer, then plan a time to methodically go through all of your old files to delete them or convert them. This is an investment in the future. Especially if you have gathered information for years for a family history that you want to eventually publish. If you are like most people who bring in their old program files to us and ask if we can still open them because they can’t, then you will be very happy that you spent the time moving the old to the new.

Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com