Tag: ISBN

52W Mark II – Week 52: Me, Myself, and I

After posting last week’s entry, in which I wrote about being my own cousin, I realized that it very well could have fit in with this week’s theme of “Me, Myself, and I”. However, to mark the last (!?!) week of Amy Johnson Crow’s 52 Ancestors Challenge for 2023, the thing I will share about myself is how I have used the challenge to the fullest.

I wrote a family history book!

I originally signed up for the 52 Ancestors Challenge for 2020, but did nothing afterwards. I signed up again for 2021, for which I also did nothing.

Somehow third time was the charm. I know there was something that spurred me on to actually do something for the 2022 challenge, but now for the life of me I can’t recall what that was!

For years I had vaguely pondered a genealogy blog, but really couldn’t think of a niche that wasn’t already being addressed by dozens of other genealogy blogs. However, the 52 Ancestors Challenge was the catalyst to creativity that I needed. So a quarter century after blogging was cool, I created this blog as a means of participating in the challenge.

At the same time, I set up a second Twitter (I refuse to use the “new” name) account that would only be used for genealogy, also named Deck of Ancestors. I’ve since created namesake accounts on Mastodon, the now defunct Pebble, Mastodon, and Bluesky. I’ve largely abandoned Mastodon. I’m active on Bluesky, but it doesn’t seem to be gaining the traction I thought it had when I first joined.

It was hard at times, but I was successful in posting something for all 52 weeks of the challenge. With this post, I’ll be successful for a second year in a row. The second year was more difficult. It felt harder to come up with something I hadn’t written about before and some of the weekly prompts were not easy for me. Nevertheless, I persevered! I’ve signed up for the challenge again for 2024. Looking at the prompts, it looks like it will be another difficult year, but I will try to rise to the challenge.

However, what I’ve always wanted to do is create some sort of family history book. However, I was reluctant to churn out one of those dry tomes that’s just a bunch of pedigree charts and a BMD narrative. I’ve started and stopped all sorts of drafts and have the works in progress still sitting in a folder on my computer.

My real first genealogy book!

Moreover, like a lot of family historians, I had lots of ideas for genealogy-related Christmas presents, but kept putting it off until it was too close to the holiday to get it done.

Thanks to the 52 Ancestors challenge, I inadvertently hit upon what I thought was a winning solution – the blog posts were essentially a book! I had the foresight to start working on this project in the summer, which began with reformatting the blog entries into a book format. The other problem was figuring out how to print it.

Luckily, this year I discovered Lulu, an online self-publishing site. I had used others before, but none worked for this project. In September I ordered a test copy. It passed muster, so I ordered enough copies for my Christmas gift giving – my parents, our kids, my siblings, and my nibblings, plus copies for the Library and Archives Canada. (It may be nerdy, but I was really excited to get an ISBN for the project!)

A Stack of Ancestors!

So here it is, my family history book, A Deck of Ancestors, consisting of my 52 posts for the first year I participated in the 52 Ancestors Challenge. One of my sisters and her kids opened theirs early, as they went overseas for the holidays. I just made it a Hanukkah gift instead. The reviews were great. On Christmas Eve, my sister-in-law sent me photos of my father reading the copy I gave my parents. Seeing that was really special. While my father used to be a voracious reader, he doesn’t really read much anymore since his vision has deteriorated terribly over recent years. What I was most excited for was to see our kids open their copy. I was happy to come downstairs on Boxing Day morning to see our eldest engrossed in his.

In addition to the print version, I created an expanded digital edition (with its own unique ISBN, of course), which I sent to everyone after they opened their print copy. Among other things, I added an Ahnentafel, a 17-generation pedigree chart, and a full index. (I hate non-fiction books without an index!) It would have been extremely expensive to include all that in a print version. Plus, the digital version has all the hyperlinks, which are pretty hard to click in a print edition!

So thank you Amy Johnson Crow for creating the 52 Ancestors Challenge and helping me fill the one gap in my years of genealogy practice – writing!

52W Mark II – Week 46: This Ancestor Went to Market…

[Disclaimer: This post largely relates to the law in Canada. The applicable law and requirements for obtaining an ISBN and depositing a work with an archive will vary by country. This post is also only a general commentary on the law, it does not constitute legal advice.]

For many genealogists and family historians, creating a family history book is the dream. Most of these works are self-published, either in print or in digital form. Some genealogists only give away a small number of copies amongst family and friends. Others might create a family history book and make it available for purchase to a limited set of family and friends, often through online self-publishers (e.g. Blurb, Lulu, Shutterfly, etc.. Others will take their books to market and make them available for purchase to the general public and world at large.

My teaser trailer. 😉
[By the way, for the life of me I cannot figure out why images won’t centre for me anymore. I thought I had figured out the fix in my last post, but it seems that was a one-time thing. Sorry!]

What a lot of genealogists might not realize is that in certain – but not all – circumstances it is mandatory to obtain an International Standard Book Number (“ISBN”) and to deposit a copy of the publication with Library and Archives Canada.

An ISBN is a unique globally-recognized 13-digit numerical identifier assigned to a publication. An ISBN is used to identify each edition and format of any given work for use in distribution and marketing. I say “publication” because the requirement applies not only to print books, but also to graphic novels, picture books, digital and ebooks, audiobooks, DVDs, pamphlets, and brochures, among other things. A separate ISBN is assigned for every unique iteration of a work. This means that the same work published as a hardcopy print book, an audiobook, and an ebook will have three different ISBNs.

ISBNs are overseen by the International ISBN Agency. Assignment of ISBNs from country to country are through an affiliated agency. In the case of Canada, Library and Archives Canada is the designated ISBN agency.

The legal requirement for assignment of an ISBN to a publication originates in section 10 of the Library and Archives of Canada Act, S.C. 2004, c. 11. Further detail is set out in the Legal Deposit of Publications Regulations, SOR/2006-337. The statute mandates “legal deposit” of published works by qualifying publishers with Library and Archives Canada. As part of this process, Library and Archives Canada requires the publisher to obtain an ISBN for the publication.

Under the legislative and regulatory scheme, a publisher subject to these rules is one who make a publication available in Canada, publish from an official place of business in Canada, have 75% of their employees based in Canada, and are authorized to reproduce publications or productions and control the content. For self-published materials, these rules apply to those who reside in Canada.

For print publications, publishers must deposit one copy if they produce 4 to 99 copies of the publication. If the publisher issues 100 or more copies, they must submit two copies. Further information is available at “About Legal Deposit” on the Library and Archives Canada website, which also sets out the manner in which a publisher deposits a publication.

Library and Archives Canada website also provides information about ISBNs, including the online form used to apply for an ISBN account. The good news is that obtaining an ISBN is simple and free (a great price!). After submitting an online application, it takes about two weeks for Library and Archives Canada to send you a username and password. Once you have an account, it only takes a moment or two to register a work, which will be automatically assigned an ISBN on the spot.

It is important to note that the mandatory nature of these rules only applies to publications that are sold, marketed, or made available for public distribution. The latter would include making a work available to a public library, museum, or archive. If you’re creating a self-published work that you’re giving away without charge to family and friends, with no intention of selling or making available to the general public, you are generally not required to obtain an ISBN or provide copies to Library and Archives Canada.

However, even if you are not legally required to obtain an ISBN and deposit copies with Library and Archives Canada, you are encouraged to do so. In fact, as a family historian, it should be desirable for you to do so. First and foremost, you make your publication available to other researchers, who might very well benefit from your work. You also preserve your work for posterity. I would even go one step further, by offering to deposit a copy of the work with a provincial or local archive in the area associated with the family history documented in your book. If you’ve made other genealogical information available to the world at large, such as by posting your tree on Ancestry, the reasons for you to have done so likely apply to depositing a copy of your work with an archive.

It’s always nice to curl up with a good book.