My Quilt/family history book published using Lulu.com

In the past month or two, genealogists have posted on G+ about their experiences with online publishing. A couple of times people asked about Lulu.com.  I said I didn't want to say anything until after Christmas.

Well, now that it has passed Christmas and so I can share what I wrote over the past few months as my present for my children and siblings and a some Dakin cousins: Quilts in our Family.  I documented the family quilts, most done by "Mother Dakin."  I photographed all of the quilts I could locate.  I wrote about Mary Alice Smith Dakin (Mother Dakin) who was born in Kent CT in 1855 and died just over the town line in Gaylordsville CT in 1931.  I included information on the Richardsons who used those family quilts and then I told the story behind each of my family quilts.

As a bonus, when researching Mary Alice Smith and her husband Edward Dakin, I found another DAKIN cousin and her sister -- such a bonus!!  I wrote about that in another post on this blog:  A fortuitous post found in spam


I found Lulu.com a wonderful choice to use to self-publish.  If you want the services of a publisher, you pay for them.  If you're on a budget, you can "do it yourself" with help from their techs who patiently answer questions via e-mail once you actually start the project.  They are a print on-demand company with a quick turn around on the delivery of the order.  They will print a run of one book to an order of thousands.  You do not need to buy large numbers upfront.  I chose to order a few books to use as gifts.  I made it available publically, just in case another DAKIN cousin emerges in the future and wants a copy.

I would recommend that if you were going to self-publish with Lulu.com, to download the format for the book before you start writing so you work in the format rather than adapt your already existing manuscript to their formats.