Let us help you tell your story.
We provide research, writing, and editing services, and our creative team of designers produces the highest quality graphics. We manage all printing functions from pre-press to printing and binding.
Read more about our process below or give us a call so we can discuss your book project directly with you: 201-532-9834.
For a quick ballpark estimate, tell us more about your needs here.
Interview, Writing, Editing
Our process begins with one or a series of interviews. In advance of the first interview session, we provide a list of questions that help our clients recall memories and organize thoughts. We then meet to record an oral history that will be transcribed.
An outline for the history takes shape as we review resources that help us tell your story – family albums, diaries, documents, clippings.
Next, our writers create a flowing, cohesive narrative from the transcript. Anecdotes and memories are drawn out and transformed into a compelling narrative. We establish a framework for the book – chapter breaks, subsections, and supporting material. We create a rough draft for you, and then edit and proofread for print-ready copy.
Organize and Digitize
Our clients often come to us feeling overwhelmed by the thought of organizing all their memories and photographs into a cohesive story; the many photographs, scrapbooks, clippings, and other treasured memorabilia accumulated from past generations and from their own rich lifetimes. We bring order to your project, no matter what stage you find yourself.
We gather all the resources that help us tell your story – family albums, diaries, documents, clippings. We digitize everything, and then we devise a framework for organization. We create a digital databank and begin to lay out your story.
One client commented that she hoped, ‘the pictures of the times, places, and people of the past would shed light, if even only a little, on my family’s ever-evolving present.’
Research
Often, in the telling of your story, gaps or inconsistencies in memories and materials are revealed. Our team can conduct further research of your genealogy to support the most thorough telling of your story.
Using secondary materials and public records, we can work to fill in any blanks you may have encountered in your own recollections and research of a time or place. We also research and design family trees, as well as maps, which might delineate a family’s migration, or geographic ancestral origins.
Design
Whether you have already written your history, memoir, family or individual story, or are beginning from scratch, we offer complete design services.
We work with you to create the design aesthetic customized to your vision. We then create two to three design samples, which includes the front cover and templates for sample interior pages.
Once you have selected a style, we create a title page, table of contents, introduction/dedication pages as well as the closing pages, based on the materials you provide.
Illustrations
Whether you are looking for the right illustrator for your children’s book or would like to create illustrations of times gone by to incorporate into your family history – instead of, or in addition to photos – we can find the best illustrator for you. We work with a group of talented artists, illustrators, and graphic artists to assist you in bringing your words to life.
Photo Enhancement & Restoration
We can take photos, newspaper clippings, family documents, or letters that are worn with age or otherwise damaged and restore them to their former states to preserve and digitize them.
Printing and Binding
We walk you through the various printing and binding options and help you make decisions based on your vision and budget. We work with several print shops, with both digital and off-set printing options. We love working through the decision-making process for your book, reviewing options for hardcover or softcover, dust jackets, cloth covers, foil embossing, end sheets, headbands and paper selection.
Publishing
Most of our clients are creating books to share with family, friends, or organizations, but we do also help clients publish their books for a wider audience. We offer all the tools you need to take your manuscript from the page to a published, bound book, ready for circulation.
We guide you through the process of copywriting your book and obtaining an ISBN, bar code, and registering your book with the Library of Congress. We then review and determine distribution and sales options and make recommendations for finding a professional who will help you take your book to market.
Pricing
Our pricing structure is precise but depends upon the scope of your particular project. Costs related to research, organization, writing, editing, as well as to materials, including number of books printed, papers and bindery expenses will all be calculated after the initial consult. We provide an estimate with our proposal.
In our 15 years of experience, we find that the costs for our services range between $2,500 to $50,000. The one side of our scale reflects projects that involve no writing, research, or digitization, whereas the upper side of our fee structure reflects the full breadth of our services.
We look forward to discussing your book project.