Here is a audio podcast of an interview I had with the Taylors about how to use a timeline in producing a published family history. I hope you will find it helpful.
Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com
Category: typing
Justification
What kind of look do you want for your book? The justification that you choose will determine the look of your book. For history books there are two different justifications that look good, full or left. Full justification with both the left and right edges aligning straight up and down the page (like a newspaper column). Full justification will give your pages a clean orderly look but the spacing between words can sometimes look a little funny. With full justification, your headings could be either left, right, or centered on the page. Left justification has the left side aligned up and down and the right side is ragged. This gives a more conservative look to the book and the spacing between the words is consistent. If you have a book of poems, center justification will look great. The important thing is to choose one justification and stick to it. If you aren’t sure which way you want, look at a few different books to give you the feel of each style then choose the one you like best.
Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com
Hyphenation Howlers
If your book is done in columns or with a small page size, then it is usually better to hyphenate words. Your right hand margin will be more even and your page layout will look better. Most word processors will automatically hyphenate words for you, but you need to proofread your book carefully to be sure that the hyphen didn’t end up in an unfortunate place. There are a few words that when split in the wrong place make two separate words, like ‘the-rapist’ and ‘thin-king’. While these “howlers” could be funny to some people, they could be upsetting to others. It is better to be safe than sorry, so look for the hyphenation howlers before you approve that final proof copy.
Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com
What If I Don’t Type Very Fast?
Is it better to type my book myself or hire it out? This question could be changed to many different parts of the publishing process, but this post is specifically about typing. You might be the type of person that likes to do it yourself. But if you can’t seem to find the time to type up your book, you can easily hire that part out. If you’re not sure where to start looking for a typist, you could start looking in your own family. You can arrange for a relative to do it, if they are willing and have the time. You might check with a young married member of your family who is looking for additional income. Another place to look for a good typist is at a local college. You can find many students that want to earn a little money on the side who are very good typists. Even though you can turn the typing over to someone else, that doesn’t mean that you loose control of the content of the book. With red pen in hand, you can edit to your hearts content and rework the book over and over until it is just how you want. Don’t be shy about asking your typist to make the changes that you want. If you are excited about the end product, they will be happy to help you reach that goal.
Another option is to buy a software program that transcribes from your voice, like Dragon Naturally Speaking. For someone who is a very slow typist but still wants to do it themselves, this is a good option. I tried this program many years ago and it work fair, but I can imagine that they have improved it greatly since then. You could look into it and see if it will work for you and then leave a comment below to help others with this same problem.
Many publishers will have in-house or freelance people to help you with typing or other parts of the project that are just too overwhelming to you. The important thing to keep in mind is to overcome all of the obstacles that are in your way and successfully reach your end goal of publishing your history! Your history and your unique stories are too important to lose.
Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com
Reflow Problems
When transferring files from one computer to another, it sometimes changes the page layout of the book. The most common problem is called text re-flow. Re-flow is the sliding or shifting of text and pictures from the page that you had them on to a different page. Different font settings for various printers are usually the cause of this shifting, but there are other software reasons also. Sometimes the typist may insert several hard returns to finish a page and move to the next chapter instead of using a hard page break at the bottom of the page. Hard page breaks are inserted by positioning the cursor at the bottom of the page and pressing the Ctrl and Enter keys together. It is highly recommended that this be done when you reach the end of a chapter or want some extra white space at the bottom of a page. Hard page returns are not necessary when submitting a PDF file because PDFs won’t re-flow.
Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com
Type it Myself or Hire it Out
Is it better to type my book myself or hire it out? This question could be changed to many different parts of the publishing process, but this post is specifically about typing. You might be the type of person that likes to do it yourself. But if you can’t seem to find the time to type up your book, you can easily hire that part out. If you’re not sure where to start looking for a typist, you could start looking in your own family. You can arrange for a relative to do it, if they are willing and have the time. You might check with a young married member of your family who is looking for additional income. Another place to look for a good typist is at a local college. You can find many students that want to earn a little money on the side who are very good typists. Even though you can turn the typing over to someone else, that doesn’t mean that you loose control of the content of the book. With red pen in hand, you can edit to your hearts content and rework the book over and over until it is just how you want. Don’t be shy about asking your typist to make the changes that you want. If you are excited about the end product, they will be happy to help you reach that goal.
Another option is to buy a software program that transcribes from your voice, like Dragon Naturally Speaking. For someone who is a very slow typist but still wants to do it themselves, this is a good option. I tried this program many years ago and it work fair, but I can imagine that they have improved it greatly since then. You could look into it and see if it will work for you and then leave a comment below to help others with this same problem.
Many publishers will have in-house or freelance people to help you with typing or other parts of the project that are just too overwhelming to you. The important thing to keep in mind is to overcome all of the obstacles that are in your way and successfully reach your end goal of publishing your history! Your history and your unique stories are too important to lose.
Chris Stevenson cs@sgenealogy.com www.sgenealogy.com