Questions about our Picture Books? See if it is addressed here:
How much do they cost?
These picture books cost $150. However, you will not be sent a physical book. We will send you PDFs of the book pages, which you can take to your favorite photo book printer and print as many copies as you want.
How do I make one?
We have a list of characteristics and a form to help get you started. It helps if you are familiar with your ancestors a little bit already, or find someone in the family that knows. You’ll need to provide a characteristic, short story, and illustration ideas for each person you want to include in your book. Once you have this filled out in our form, we can start illustrating your book.
How many people can I include?
You can include 18-38 ancestors. We require two pages be included in each book (for production/publishing info and family pedigree chart). So a 20-pg book would include 18-ancestors, a 32-pg book would have 30 ancestors, and a 40-pg book would have 38.
How long are they?
These books vary from 20 to 32 pages, but can be as long as 40. The minimal amount is 20 pages because most photo book printers require at least 20 pages to print. The standard children’s book is 32 pages; this is the length we recommend. Anything beyond 40 pages will be bulky and hard to share with little kids. Something else to know: We include two pages in your book (title page/production info and a pedigree chart). So a 20-pg book would include 18 ancestors, a 32-pg book would have 30 ancestors, and a 40-pg book would have 38.
What size are they?
Our “Be Like Them” books are formatted in a square size. This means it will fit in any square printing size provided by your photo book printer. They typically offer 6x6 to 12x12 sizes.
How long does it take to make one? Print one?
If you are familiar with your ancestors, you could probably come up with all the content needed for our order form within 2 weeks, about 10-15 hours. Otherwise, we recommend you take a month to gather your information. This may take 20+ hours. For printing, most photo book printers can print and deliver within 14 days.
Why can’t you print this for me or give me a way to order printed copies?
We have tried to find printers that are affordable and easy for our customers to use. While we have a printer for our other books, the picture books at the same printer or other locations are not affordable. Given that there are a variety of photo book printers that customers have easy access to, we decided to cut out the middle-man and give our customers the PDF files to print as they please. Cheaper for you and easier for us!
How do I print these?
We will send you PDFs of your book pages. We require 2 pages for your production/publishing info and family pedigree chart. You can take these PDFs to your favorite photo book publisher and use their formatting tools to create your own book. They are pretty easy to make. We recommend that you format all the pages to have a full page image. Then you can place the PDFs on the pages in any order you want. We do ask that our publishing page and family pedigree chart pages be placed first. But the order of your ancestors is completely up to you.
How detailed are the illustrations?
We try to keep these pretty simple but with enough details to keep them special and interesting. The ancestors themselves will have time period-appropriate attire and hair. They can have specific facial expressions, and we can include 2-3 props with them. We usually include a simple background, like hillsides, fireplaces, rugs, or furniture.
Can I tell you how to illustrate my family members?
Yes! We actually prefer this! We love to hear that Aunt Jo was really short and had black hair–it keeps us from guessing and makes your illustrations more authentic. Bring on the details!
How long can stories be?
The short story that accompanies your ancestor’s characteristic and illustration should only be about 150 words long. It IS short, but we’re trying to make family history bite-sized. We also recommend that your short story show HOW your ancestor showed their characteristic. That may mean you summarize their life or you focus on one important event.
What if I need a date extension?
We can work this out. If you need this for a specific event (like Christmas or an anniversary), we cannot rush an order or delay production past certain dates so we can make the holiday deadlines. We need at least 6 weeks before your event to complete this project for you. If you need an extension, we can provide one, but we cannot guarantee meeting the event deadline for you. For example, we cannot make Christmas books past November, and books for Mother’s Day or Father’s Day need to be started by April or May, respectively.
What are the refund/exchange policies?
Given the nature of our product being sent as PDFs, we cannot provide refunds. If you are unsatisfied with your illustrations, we can work that out personally with you. (You will be given proofs before the final PDFs are sent for your approval). But we cannot provide refunds for electronic products we have provided to you.