So, your family history or biography is written, edited and ready to be published. You’re probably sick of reading it, looking for mistakes to correct or ways to improve what you have written. If you aren’t rushed, it’s good to take a break and set it aside. Go back in a week or a month with new eyes and read it again. When you’re satisfied, then it’s time to publish your work.
Now what do you do? Hopefully before you started this project you decided how you planned to share your history with your family and friends. The main options for publishing are: (1) a printed book, (2) sharing online and/or (3) viewing as a computer, video or audio file. I prefer to always make a printed book with an attractive cover and binding, but it’s your decision.
You can print your history on your own printer. If you want more than a few copies, I would recommend having it done professionally at a copy center. No need to use up all your expensive ink cartridges plus wear out your printer. Most colored pages are about 29-79 cents/page while black and white copies are around 6-7 cents/page at a copy center. It is cheaper to print out colored copies at home, but at some point you’ll want help binding your story.
When you take your computer file to be printed make sure you’ve back it up or stored a copy somewhere safe off your computer. Always convert your .doc file into a PDF portable document file. (For those who are computer illiterate, find someone in your family to help you with this process.) A PDF saves all your formatting and placement of photos, so it looks like you planned it. If you give a copy center your original doc file, their computer can change the formatting of your file and move things like words and photos around, which can be disastrous.
I like PDF files because I can view a copy of my complete story with my photos IN COLOR on a personal computer, but if I have my story printed off I can print the colored photos in BLACK AND WHITE for less expense. Save color printing for an attractive cover. With a PDF file, it’s possible to email a copy of your finished history as an attachment to others to print their own copy to read.
Reading is the hardest part. I read every I post for over 2 weeks before posting it. And this is reading on a daily bases and sometimes I still feel its not perfect.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post, Lin. Good ol' PDF. I think come what may, keep a print copy in a fireproof box. Data storage changes forms so frequently, it's hard to know what disk will be readable in the coming years! I have so many useless 3.5" disks that I thought were my ticket to having some documents forever. Alas, no!
ReplyDelete