Yaffa Eliach's Tips For Publishing Your Holocaust Story
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1. Make an index of all names and places 1a. Post the index you created of names and places on the Internet with a link so that people can purchase the book if they want. (Not sure of your towns exact name / spelling? Click Here) (Put all variant spellings in the index) 2. Pictures! Make LOTS of pictures. 2a. Pictures should be scanned at a resolution of 300dpi. For directions on how to do this click here 2b. Old Pictures should be cropped to cut out the messy edges. 2c. Make the picture look as clear as possible. Pick up the color if possible to bring out the humanity of the person in the picture. 3. Spread the pictures throughout your book within the story. Pictures tell 1000 words 4. Write about your families life before the war. Their parents and grandparents, what they did, how Jews lived then. Stories, maps, documents and pictures of life at that time. Weave your pictures into the story. 4a. Maps. Put maps that give us an idea of where you were. Put the maps in your story. 5. Draw on the maps your route of travel. 6. Tell your story chronologically. Your story should progress with time. 7. Begin your story with your parent's life. What they did, their religious life. Etc With pictures of the town and life there. 8. Give your families history going back as far as you can. 9. Delve into the religious life of your family before the war. 10. Discuss any famous Rabbis or religious groups your family was involved with 11. Stop the story / book with a happy ending! 11a. What means a "Happy Ending?" (see below for discussion on this) 12. Try and have the book published by a company with the widest circulation 13. If you cannot type, tell your story into cassettes. Then give these to a typing service to type up and give you back a file on CD. If you shop around you can find reasonable typing services. (ask a lawyer. They use typists all the time) 14. Your computer is able to type what you speak into a microphone. Dragon-speak and other companies sell software that will allow you to "type by talking". 15. Try to have your story / book printed in installments by some magazine or publication. 16. After publishing your book, have someone convert it to be an "ebook" which someone can purchase off the Internet. 17. Sell your privately printed book on Amazon.com. Private book publishers can list with various Internet book sales sites and market their own books. 18. If you are religious or you come from famous religious personalities, try getting one of the large religious book companies: Artscroll, Kehos, Feldheim, Mesora, etc to publish your memoir 20. If a publisher wants to reorganize or restructure / edit your work. LET THEM! At least your story will get out. Insist however on an index. Push for tons of pictures. This makes the story more interesting and puts the reader more in your shoes.
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I will discuss the rationale for the above (if you are interested) In other words, people buy a book because it has an appeal for them. Today, we have a glut of book readers. For your story, there is a huge religious Jewish market very interested in your family's story. As well, Family historians buy books like yours that they can use for research and connecting families. Hence, your book will be bought by the widest possible audience. What Does a Happy Ending mean?
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