Publishing Your Family Tree

Having your genealogy research neatly organized in your family tree software, or in binders on a shelf is only somewhat satisfying, especially if you want to share your research with others.

Sure, you can swap GEDCOM files with people, but I think it would be much more impressive to have a printed book of your family research instead.

You might be surprised to learn that there are a number of specialty publishing companies that deal with printing personal genealogy research. You can actually have your family tree printed and bound. Now wouldn't that be lovely on the bookshelf?

Of course, you will want to make sure your files are as complete and error-free as possible before getting your work printed. If you are still struggling with a few branches in your tree, you could always choose to only have a couple ancestral lines included in the book.

Gateway Press - You can produce your genealogy book in either hard-cover or soft-cover formats, but you will need to have a minimum of 50 copies printed to use their services.

Family Heritage Publishers - These publishers will even handle the printing of a single book.

Modern Memoirs - Publish your genealogy book, or even dictate your own memoirs for publication. Capture your history in print.

There are a number of other print-on-demand publishers, but these companies above do specialize in handling family history and genealogy projects.

Get in touch with a printer to discuss your project. Different companies will offer different levels of editing and formatting assistance. Knowing your way around a word processor is helpful in order to get your project in usable shape for the printer's to accept.

A printed family history volume could make an excellent gift for relatives this Christmas, and could even become a valuable resource for future genealogists.

_{First posted at Suite101}