Contact Us

Use the form on the right to contact us.

You can edit the text in this area, and change where the contact form on the right submits to, by entering edit mode using the modes on the bottom right. 


Silver Spring, MD
United States

888-577-9342

Stories To Tell is a full service book publishing company for independent authors. We provide editing, design, publishing, and marketing of fiction and non-fiction. We specialize in sophisticated, unique illustrated book design.

Stories To Tell Books BLOG

Answering Questions About Family History Books

Biff Barnes

Friday and Saturday we will be appearing at the Northern California Family History Expo at the San Mateo Event Center in San Mateo. We’ll be teaching two classes:

  • ·  How to Plan and Organize a Family History Book at 3:30 p.m. on Friday
  • ·  Family History Books: Editing, Design and Publishing at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday

We also offer authors working on family history books free consultations at our table in the exhibit hall. Our goal is to help people navigate the winding road into print.

We know that writing a family history book can be a daunting challenge. That’s especially true for a first time author which many family historians are.

A family history book presents an author with a number of choices which can take it in vastly different directions. To begin with, a family history is often rooted in extensive genealogical research and the author must decide whether her goal is simply to organize and publish that research or to turn it into a narrative that brings her ancestors to life by telling their stories. Should the book's style be factually reportorial or should it employ the tools of creative nonfiction to make the story more dramatic and entertaining? Should the book be organized chronologically, topically, as biographical sketches, or as a combination of all three?

And that’s just the development of the manuscript. Does the author want an illustrated book with photos, documents, and charts? If so, which ones and how should they be placed in the text? What should the cover look like?

Finally, who will publish the book? If the author wants to self publish, how does she go about choosing the best self publisher for her book? Are there ways to share the cost of getting a book published?

We hope that our knowledge and experience as editors, book designers and people who have worked with many different publishers will help the folks we meet at the Expo answer some of these questions.

If you are planning to attend the Expo, drop by and see us, and bring the draft of your manuscript, finished or not. We can help you get it into print.