TIP #366 - SO YOU WANT TO PUBLISH A FAMILY BOOK - PART 3 This week well cover: III Software vs straight typing? A. Software programs B. What format for the book Since you are reading these tips it is intuitively obvious that you have a computer! Make it work for you. You can do it two ways 1. Using a software program that will print out all the family, including the index 2. Typing the material on a word processor and printing it off, adding your own index Until recently, I used the second step; now I am alternating between the two depending on what I want to accomplish. There are a lot of genealogy software programs available and the price has lowered tremendously. When I first started on the computer doing genealogy, I had to write my own program in Basic (and how I hated it!). I have used two different programs - PAF and Family Ancestors. I stopped using PAF many years ago because in their earlier stages, one was limited on the amount of data you could enter. They have upgraded tremendously since then. But, by then, I started using Family Ancestors and have stuck with it. I'm not trying to recommend one program over another - Family Tree Maker, Brother's Keeper - there are dozens of programs out there. When choosing one, just be sure that it will expand as your family tree grows. Also buy one that is user friendly, i.e., it doesn't take a college degree to figure out how to get the data out there! And, one with good support. (preferably with a toll free number!) If you are already using a genealogy program, you data is there, all you have to do is manipulate it a bit. With most of the programs, if not all, you have the option of adding notes and/or sources. Make full use of them if you don't want to have to type up additional information on a word processor --or you can use both. With these programs, you have many possible formats. You can print it in a book form, and can start each generation on a different page, or a continuous print out. You can run charts such as family sheets, pedigree charts, descendancy charts, ancestor charts, etc. You can pick your own type font and size and as mentioned last week, include photographs right with the charts. I am becoming quite fond of this type of publishing family books. The one criticism I guess I would have. If you don't have a spouse name, it will normally say "William Winker was married. It doesn't go on to explain that after 25 years you can't find the wife anywhere. It makes it a little more impersonal. The program will take all the facts that you have given it: birth, marriage, date, burial date and location, biographical and put it in a sentence format. This saves a lot of typing and you don't have to worry about too much else. This has really simplified the process of putting together a family book; it looks professional - all you have to add are all the little goodies I talked about i previous tips - the maps, historical events, etc. Our next topic is: IV Indexing A. Hand indexing B. Computer indexing C. Full name vs surname D. Places as well as people? A. Hand indexing sends chills down our back. Thankfully, by the time I got into heavy publishing, it was easier to index. I know that most word processors come with some sort of indexing function and many of you might be quite familiar with them. I hate them. That's just personal, if you can index rapidly right within the program, go for it! I started out just setting up a word file for every letter of the alphabet, going through the book name by name and flip flopping back and forth. Time consuming! Of course, if you use the indexing format explained above with a software program, you can skip most of this session. But whatever you do, be good to yourself and see if you can find an easier way! B. Computer indexing. As I mentioned above, you can index within a document, but to me, this slows me down terribly. When I started indexing the quarterlies for our local historical society, I needed something a LOT faster. Thankfully, I was introduced to a program called IXM. It is a stand-alone program which can be run under DOS or Windows. It was developed by Brian Harney of Frankfort, KY, and sells for $15.00. I always hesitate to plug a particular program but this one was an answer to prayer. You do have to re-type all the names in your book, but Brian has built in a lot of shortcuts. 1. When a surname is duplicated, you enter ,first name and it will pick up the surname from the line above. 2. If you want a woman's name to be indexed under both her married name and single name, you would enter: Jones,John ,Mary Smith / This will make an entry for John Jones, Mary Jones and Mary Smith. You can also print headings, numbered for you, set it to 2-4 columns, suppress leading zeros in page numbers, and sort it. After entering all the names, a debug program is run which catches all formatting errors. Then the names are sorted for you and printed off. When I upgraded my printer, I came to the stark realization that it would not run a DOS program. There is an easy way of switching IXM to run under windows which offers a bonus that I really like. I run the IXM program through the sort. Then I go in and find the sorted file and copy it to a word document. Once in a word file, I can change the print style to match the book, do my headings differently, change the layout any way I want it. For more information, you might check the following URL: http://members.aol.com/kygs/ixm/ixm.htm C. Full-name indexing versus surname indexing. Come on gang. You've worked this hard to create a masterpiece; don't blow it now. If there's anything I hate worse than a book with no index, is a book with a surname index. If you're a Smith or Jones, Black or Williams ..... there's nothing worse than flipping back and forth page to page to find the one you're looking for. Let's make this book REALLY great. Take the time to put a full name index in it. The readers will love you for it! D. Place index. This is fun; I seldom do it. When I am indexing a book for someone else and they ask for a place index, I will do it. Normally you will index towns and states, events (such was Revolutionary War, etc) .... whatever you feel is important. It does take longer and if you want to do it, it is nice. You can make a separate index or you can have it right with your name index. My only complaint on the latter is that it takes longer to read through the index finding a name when you have to go through a lot of unrelated entries. I will close out the series next week with the actual printing of your book. (c) Copyright 15 November 2001, Sandra K. Gorin, All Rights Reserved. sgorin@glasgow-ky.com Col. Sandi Gorin, 205 Clements, Glasgow, KY 42141 (270) 651-9114 Publishing: http://ggpublishing.tripod.com/ SCKY resource links: http://www.public.asu.edu/~moore/Gorin.html < >< God Bless America ><>