Publishing Your Genealogy for Amateurs Program Recap

Thank you to Caryn Alter, Stephen Cohen, and Lew Meixler for sharing their experiences related to publishing different books related to genealogy. A great way to save our genealogical research and share it with others is through published works, but the process can be daunting for those who are new to the publishing world. However, there are a few tips that can help on that journey.

Finding a Publisher

Picking the right publisher for your specific needs is extremely important and can take some time. The most important things to remember when looking for a publisher are persistence and patience. Caryn and Stephen were specifically looking for a Jewish publisher as their book was a children’s workbook for discovery their Jewish genealogy. They contacted several publishers through written cover letters and provided writing samples, including an Introduction, Sample Chapter, and Table of Contents. By adding the writing samples, this gave publishers a clear picture of the book they wanted published and demonstrated the amount of work that was already put into the project. However, they had to fund the printing themselves and the publishing company did not do any marketing for them. Additionally, the publisher only made the work available through their website as well as Amazon.

Lew Meixler wanted to publish his father-in-law’s memoir, keeping the original memoir written by his father-in-law unchanged. An academic acquaintance of Lew’s, who would previously self-published a family member’s memoir, recommended AuthorHouse. Lew felt AuthorHouse was a great fit because:

He retained copyright, with rights to sell book as a movie
Mother-in-law received royalties and annual statements of sales
Obtained ISBN number and secured retail through Amazon and Barnes and Noble in addition to publisher’s website
Very knowledgeable and friendly staff that worked closely with Lew and his team

Copyright

Including images, maps, and vital records can be a great way to add flavor and context to your published genealogy work, but can also result in many copyright considerations. Items from family and friends are still considered copyright materials so it is always best to obtain written permission to use them, regardless of how positive your relationship is with them. Some published works may be in the public domain, depending on their age and therefore are free-to-use. However, it gets very tricky when it comes to items pulled from online genealogy resources, such as Ancestry or Family Search. While the document itself might be in the public domain, the scanned image is copyrighted and you will need to contact those companies to obtain copyright permissions. You can always consult a copyright/patent lawyers for more information or solicit help through your publisher.

You should also consider the copyright of your work when looking to the future. Lew was able to get the original memoir copyrighted in his mother-in-law’s name. He now felt comfortable circulating it to other people for review without worry that his father-in-law’s memoirs would be stolen or used without their permission. A copyrighted material can also help you secure a publisher.

To hear more about their stories, you can view a recording of the program at https://youtu.be/huq2NdTcQMM. Additionally, you can download a copy of Lew’s “Comments/Suggestions on Publishing a Family Memoir” at https://www.njstatelib.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/Comments-on-Publishing-a-Memoir.pdf. If you have any questions, please reach out to the panelists at their email below: