Here is my review:
Guide To Genealogical Writing: How To Write
and Publish Your Family History. By Penelope L. Stratton and Henry B. Hoff,
CG, FASG. Published by New England
Historic Genealogical Society; Boston, MA; 2014.
As genealogists we
live for the thrill of the chase so to speak but at what point do we stop
chasing and start writing? In multiple genealogy circles the question, “what do
I do with my work after I’ve gone?” comes up over and over again. It’s easy as genealogists to get so caught up
in research that we forget to create that which will last forever, The
Story. I recently read Guide To Genealogical Writing: How To Write
and Publish Your Family History, the latest book by Penelope L. Stratton
& Henry B. Hoff offered by the NEHGS.
According to the biographies, Penny is the current publishing director
at NEHGS and Henry has been a member of their staff since 1996.
Right out of the
gates this book says it’s “intended to walk you through the publication
process” and each chapter takes you step by step from the initial idea to the
end result. It suggests “shifting mental gears,” stop researching and start
writing, and walks the reader through the entire process; writing, layout,
illustrations and publishing as well as types of publications and how to get
published in different formats. It is
less than two hundred pages and includes a genealogical manual style guide as
well as an appendix for using MS Word for genealogical writing. The chapters are short and well
outlined. Each contains several examples
and highlighted tips, making the material easy to read and absorb.
As a genealogist
and a writer myself, it seems only natural to bring the peanut butter and
chocolate of my passions together but I wasn’t sure where to start. This book sat me down and said, “You are
going to do this.” The first half of the
book really gave me the diving board I needed to jump in and get writing. It held my hand and gave me the tools I
needed to start with a blank page and piles of research right down to showing me
how to use my word processor specific to genealogy writing. I am a very hands-on, visual person, so the
samples and pop up tips helped me see what my process and product should look
like and even explained past the writing to the publishing process. It thoroughly discussed layout and suggested
ways to use photos as illustrations. No
stone was left unturned in the creation process.
The second half of the book focused on
publishing and types of publishing. This
is where my eyes started to glaze over and I felt a bit in over my head. My impression was that writing and publishing
a family history would be something I could do on my own. I write a colorful account of family lore based
on my research and then print it off or send it to some publishing website and
voila, it’s topped off with a neat little bow.
This is not the case. You cannot
do the publishing on your own.
Publishing a professional account of family history will take time and
money. The publishing part felt a little
misleading since several times along the way the book says “whether you produce
the work yourself or work with a publisher,” when really most of what is within
the chapters is telling you to use a publisher.
It should really just say, when you get done writing call a publisher to
help with the rest and then explain what that will look like.
The last part of
the book is all about how to write articles for NEHGS and other similar journals
as well as how to write informal family histories. Overall, I do suggest this book to my fellow
genealogists both professional and hobbyists.
We spend years researching and collecting copious amounts of information
on family and sometimes forget, until it’s too late, how to pass our work on to
future generations. This book is the
perfect stepping stone, from research to writing, that will leave something
finished in a neat package for the next family historian to continue.
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