Are you planning to publish your research as a printed book, to a website, or as an e-book? It's one thing to collect and manage the information you've gathered, and a completely different thing to make it available for others to read and learn from.
Publishing revolves around two main components. First, there's the creation and management of the source content; this usually involves some type of authoring tool, but it's also important to put thought into the organization of the source files. Second, is the creation of the deliverable, or the output of the publishing process (PDF, HTML, or other). It's important to take the time to have a plan for both of these components so there are fewer problems later on.
The tools and processes I've used for many years in tech, can be used to create beautiful and professional-looking output for genealogical or historical content. Some of these tools are not common outside of tech, but I can make it understandable and available to those who may be a little tech-averse.
The benefit of using these tools is that it allows you to own your content, and not be held hostage to needless and inconvenient software upgrades. You'll be able to produce HTML output that can be uploaded to a website, or e-book (EPUB) output that people can read on their mobile devices or e-readers. You can also produce professionally formatted PDFs that can be uploaded to print-on-demand platforms to create real, print books. And, you can create all three of these deliverable formats (and more), from the same source! One more benefit for those who may want to publish in multiple languages is that these files are much easier to localize.
■ I'm available to help you with some general consulting so you're aware of the pitfalls and possible trouble spots. Or I can take your content and set it up for printing and provide you with a PDF that you can upload to one of the print-on-demand services. Let me know how I can help.
My Authoring/Publishing Philosophy
Whenever possible, I prefer to use open source tools and file formats that don't leave you locked into a proprietary path. Note that this doesn't just mean "free," but it will typically mean that there are free or low cost components. Mostly it means that you maintain greater control of your content, meaning flexibility and options in the future. That rules out (for me) using cloud-based tools like Google Docs. While this can be really handy for sharing access to documents, you'll find that you don't really own the content; once you're in one of these environments, it can be difficult to move your content to another platform. This also rules out using proprietary programs like Word, which are fine for simple documents, but will become a nightmare to manage if you're planning to create a "real" book.
■ If you're interested in trying something new and possibly much more efficient, I can help. I'm in the process of putting the finishing touches on some new tools to make the publishing process easier. I will be looking for beta-testers; please contact me if you're interested in being involved.
Please let me know how I can help with your publishing efforts. Contact Scott.