Placing a Value on our Family History

Coming from a professional career background in economics and finance, it has annoyed me for years that some activities are valued commercially and count for something, but other activities count for nothing. In particular, much of the work of women in families and the work of volunteers in various community roles is not counted as ‘valuable’ because it is unpaid. Even if it represents ‘good deeds’ and is a serious work commitment, it is not taken seriously. Family history is a case in point, often written off as a retirement or hobby activity, whose proponents must be humoured in their funny little obsession. What’s more, family history has the reputation of eye-glazing boredom for anyone not belonging to the family concerned. As a writing genre, it is too easily dismissed.

For reasons such as these, writers of family history tend to be a bit apologetic about what they do, yet their work can hold great intrinsic value. Once the basic needs for human survival – food and shelter - have been satisfied, people move up through Maslow’s hierarchy of needs and eventually crave understanding of their roots and where they came from. The person who can commit a family story to the page in an interesting way will capture the reader’s attention and earn the undying gratitude of current and later generations. Unlike many other forms of communication, a book remains accessible for hundreds of years, so one’s work can have lasting value.

Family history writing can be good writing, and is rewarding when it generates praise from readers such as ‘I really feel as if I know that person, my forebear’, or ‘thank you, I can feel proud of my heritage now’. The Writer’s Circle of the Genealogical Society of Victoria offers feedback, encouragement and some opportunities for skill development to those trying to write their family stories. The Alexander Henderson Award of the Australian Institute of Genealogical Studies fosters a professional approach to writing and publishing family histories.

But how should one place a dollar value on one’s efforts? State governments, for example, have no qualms about valuing their information- they charge prices ranging from $17.50 to $41 for a single historic birth, death or marriage certificate. Yet the tradition among amateur genealogists is that information is exchanged for nothing.  However some people have done more work than others, sometimes a lot more, so what is a fair exchange?  I myself don’t do much actual sharing, mainly because I don’t want incorrect information being circulated in my name but outside my control. I prefer to wait until I have finished my research and have developed a coherent and hopefully factually-correct story– then I share everything via my published book.

Publishing books costs money, so how much should one charge? If one were to try to recoup the years of research time and out of pocket expenses, the recommended retail price (RRP) for a family history book would be prohibitive. The RRP for any book needs to fit within the overall pricing structure for the wider book market, itself changing rapidly with the internet and the forward march of the digital era. Yet for a family history book there is a difference – in marketing parlance, it has a ‘long tail’. It does not require a massive publicity splurge to maximise sales in a particular month before pulping what does not sell. A family history book may continue to sell long after publication as the ripple of awareness spreads to ever more distant branches of the family.

So a wider market may exist, but family histories rarely benefit from the cost savings of mass production, making them expensive to print. Apologetically, publishers of family histories hope that buyers will pay at least enough to cover the printing costs of the book.

Should the buyer pay more? Definitely.

Consider the mindset in other fields of cultural endeavour. An artist I know invests heavily in framing her paintings, as the right frame is the key to selling a picture. Since the gallery then takes one third of the asking price as commission, she bases her asking price for a painting on a multiple of three times her framing cost, in order to make for herself at least as much as the framer makes from her work. A book often represents years of time, not hours or days as for an artist, so how much more relevant is this mindset to pricing family history books? The true cost of production (the afore-mentioned research time and out of pocket expenses) can never be recouped, but the author should surely expect to make at least as much as the printer, the book retailer and the post office (if the book is mailed).

Continuing the art analogy – artists traditionally use a gallery owner to promote and sell their work. What can a family history writer do, especially when commercial publishers show no interest? Self-publish, and self-promote through the internet, of course is today’s answer.

Self-publishing is looked down upon in the traditional world of publishing, but it is beginning to overturn the old publishing model. The advantages are obvious for a family history book. Self-publishing 500 copies of a black and white publication, at a production cost of $10 and RRP of $30 per copy, for example, generates for the author a net return equivalent to 3,300 copies sold on the basis of a 10% royalty.

Self-publishing means that you set up the whole book yourself, with or without help, save the document as a PDF file and take it to a printing company specialising in book production. Such companies will usually handle technicalities such as the cover.

Self-promotion using the internet means setting up your own website as your shopfront, and/or using the online bookshop facility offered by ‘print on demand’ companies such as BookPOD in Melbourne. Customers of online bookshops pay by credit card or Paypal and the book arrives in the mail. Passive marketing of this type can be supplemented by Googling to find specific marketing opportunities and directly contacting potential customers by email.

In this way, you can manage the whole process, including deciding the size of the print run, determining the retail price and controlling where the book is sold. It is a way of valuing oneself. Don’t give away your family history work for nothing!

© Louise Wilson. Please obtain permission to republish.
This article formed part of a talk given by Louise Wilson at the GSV Writers’ Circle on 1 September 2010. It was first published by Genealogical Society of Victoria in 'Ancestor', Vol 30, Issue 5, Mar 2011. Also published by Western Australian Genealogocal Society in 'Western Ancestor', Vol 11, No 12, Dec 2011