SAMPLES
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Grandma's Book:
A good memoir reads like it is an oral history -- a story being told to you in person. That's why it is important for a memoirist to be able to match the style of a client to make it sounds as if the client is telling the story to you personally. The first chapter of "Grandma's Book" was written by my client, but when it was time to talk about a very dark period in her life, she was unable to do it. As an experienced memoirist, I was able to gently extract the information and produce a fine story using her words, as she told her children about the horrors of growing up in war-torn Holland. The book was printed on an archival quality off-white linen stock to give the appearance of age without permitting any of the deodorizations caused by the aging process. It is a book designed to last hundreds of years. The client requested one book in hardcover and additional Pro-Click bound copies for her children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. All About Mary: An important part of a memoirist's job is asking the right questions. This talent is what makes stories come alive. The right questions are also essential when relaying the details of a culture that are foreign to newer generations. In "All About Mary", Mary's great-great grandchildren learned what it was like growing up in "Old Southwest", the Jewish part of Washington, DC, at a time when chickens were caged and sold from the sidewalk within sight of the U.S. capitol. Mary was so happy with her book, that she decided to commission another volume that covered the rest of her life and included all of her old family photos and portraits, taking the time to talk about each of her ancestors pictured in the photographs. A memoirist can help you with any or all phases of production. Mary's daughter-in-law printed Mary's memoir on an inexpensive home printer using archival inks. A good memoirist is knowledgeable about papers and inks, and can guide you if you prefer to self-publish. "All About Mary" was printed on an archival quality blue-grey laid paper that complimented the artwork chosen by the client. Ameighable Ancestors: A family
history is book about a family's genealogy-based history. Though
it can
consist of family lore, it can also be a complex
compilation that extracts interesting data from a
genealogy file (gedcom) and presents the most interesting parts in
readable form that even young people can appreciate. If you
already have a collection of stories, the rates for a "memoir" apply.
Because size and quality of a gedcom file can vary
significantly, rates for
family histories are on an hourly basis only.
What follows is my own Ameigh family history (With the Ameighable Introduction and Ameighable Appendix deleted to protect the identities of my Ameighable family), and I post it here in chapters rather than in a single book so that other amateur genealogists who are searching for my ancestors may see the results of my own research, and perhaps benefit from it. When publishing this type of book, you may want to consider "perfect binding" for some copies. Here's why: As time passes, you will find that more and more family members will learn about your book and they will want copies for themselves and their children. I have several options that may help you deal with this situation.  |
Chapters
2 - 4 written by The Memoirist. (PDF)
ALL ABOUT MARY Chapter One:
Fred and
Bessie:The First Generation
Chapter Two: The Ameighs Chapter Three: Willcox Chapter Four: Jan Janzoon and The Barbary Pirates Chapter Five: Southard Chapter Six: From New England to New York Chapter Seven: Colemans and Comforts |
