Yesterday was the big day! It happened! My first book was finally published. Titled Alfred M. Dicks of Crawford County, Illinois, this book is a genealogical study of one of my ancestors, from Gladys’ side of the family. The manuscript began as a proof argument for my ProGen Study group. Over the years, I have found little direct evidence of Alfred’s parentage, but I have uncovered lots of indirect evidence. So I finally put all the little bits of evidence together, and here it is!
The book also provided a good test run of the self-publishing process through Amazon.com’s publishing company Create Space. Overall, I would recommend the process. Because the book is more academic in nature, i.e. lots of footnotes, it doesn’t work well as an eBook so the only way to read the book is to buy a physical copy. Follow the link: http://www.amazon.com/Alfred-Dicks-Crawford-County-Illinois/dp/150330728X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1418429952&sr=8-2&keywords=deborah+sweeney
This spring I am hoping to repeat the process with the first volume of letters written by Roscoe and Gladys from 1942. I have several relatives who would rather read the letters in book form, instead of on the blog. In comparison, the WWII letters book will be a much larger volume with lots more details for me to “get right.” The first volume with contain over 300 letters.
I only have about three more months until I finish the ProGen program. My last major project is a kinship-determination report. I’ve already started organizing my family files in preparation for this project. This time I will be writing about one of Roscoe’s ancestors, Michael Schiele.
Genealogy Lady 
Congratulations!
Thank you!
I have two copies in my Amazon cart; will be able to place the order when one of the lockers that we use opens up (too risky to get delivery at our apartment building). And I will write a review soon on Amazon. 🙂
Gee Deb, what do you do with all your spare time? 🙂
Congratulations! Well done. ….now, how can we get this thing on the New York Times Best Seller list? 🙂
Buy lots, and lots of copies! I also need some good reviews….
Congrats and hope all future publishing projects are a satisfying process from beginning to end.
Thank you EmilyAnn! The process was enjoyable and I really want to do more, so that’s a good thing.
I got all excited when I saw Crawford County, but my ancestors were in Crawford Co. Indiana, not Illinois. Congrats on working your way through the publishing process. I hope to get there some day myself.
Sorry Virginia! There are too many Crawford counties! 🙂 and thank you!
Congratulations and well done!
Thank you! I’m happy with the project, and glad to move onto the next one.
So happy for you – congratulations.
Thank you Patty! Now I’ve got to get working on my next project!
Well done! Congratulations.
Thank you Donna!
Awesome! Congratulations!
Thank you!