How to Publish a Book of Family Memories with Blurb.com

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By Virginia Allain
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A family memory book ready to publish

Once you write down your family memories, think about turning them into a book. There are many print-on-demand sites that make self-publishing a memoir affordable and almost easy. This article focuses on one site, but you can apply the tips to others. You can do it!

Difficulty: Moderate

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

written memories of your life
family photos (optional)
BookSmart software downloaded from Blurb

Step 1

Hopefully you have the family memories saved online or in your computer. Read through them and decide on the sequence for the book. It can be chronological or arranged by topics.
If the memories are hand-written, type them into a Word document on your computer or in Google Docs online and save them.
Step 2

Run spell check on all the essays. Edit them for grammar errors. It's better to do this before putting it into the book software. The print is larger and easier to read.
Step 3

A vintage photo enhanced to use in the self-published book

Collect family photos and scan them into your computer. Ask family members to send you photos via email for use in the book. Use a photo editing software like Photoshop to enhance faded, older photos. I advise against cropping the photos at this point. The Blurb software lets you size the photos to fit the image boxes in the book.
Step 4

Sign up for an account on Blurb and download their software for BookSmart. This is all free. You'll be working offline, on your computer to layout the book.
Lulu.com is a similar site.
Step 5

Choose the size of book you want to make. The basic size affects the final cost, so review their book options with that in mind. Be aware that the postage costs will be added when people order the book. What your readers can afford may affect your choice of book size.
Step 6

Just click on GET PHOTOS

Import into BookSmart,from your computer files, the pictures you want to use. You can keep adding more as you need them. The photos are handy on the left side of the screen, ready to drag into your book and resize as you want.
Step 7

Choose a font size and style by clicking on SELECT STYLE next to the font listed. I find their default size (Georgia 9) a bit small, but it means you can pack a lot of text into the book.
Step 8

Fill in the cover details. Decide on a title, and subtitle. Put the author's picture on the inside flap and a short sketch of their credentials for writing this book. Use the back cover to describe the book or you can use the inside flap for this. Choose photos for the cover (front and back) and for the flaps. Choose the color for the cover. Don't worry, as you can change these further along in the project if you get other ideas.
Step 9

Bring in your text from Word or wherever you have it stored. Use the Paste Using Plain Text to avoid importing all sorts of varied fonts and any accidental html that might mess up the book.
The software will flow from one page to another if it's too much for one page.
Step 10

Try out various layouts to find the one that suits your combination of pictures and text. Even after the text and pictures are in place, you can experiment.
In this example, I enlarged a 1890s diary page and overlapped that with a photo of the outside of the pocket diary. The text was a little blurry due to the enlargement, but the effect was worth it.
Step 11

If you have hardly any old photos to use in the family memory book, there is a solution for that. Visit some local history museums in your area and take lots of photos. Often they have period rooms and display cases of memorabilia. Look for items and displays that would be a good match for your book's content.
Step 12

BookSmart keeps saving your work as you add and subtract and drag text and photos around. Once you have it all the way you want, upload it to Blurb. At this point, you are obligated to the purchase of one copy. Your friends, family and anyone else interested in your family memory book can purchase it online.