Family History Book Format: Layout, Sections & Size

The hardest part of a family history book usually isn’t the research. It’s deciding what shape the book should take. Boxes of photos, a family tree with 400 names, three cassette tapes of Grandma and a folder of letters can go in very different directions. This guide covers the formats that work, the order of sections, how to lay out the pages, and how to print the finished book.

Which family history book format should I choose?

Format	What it is	Best for	Typical length
Narrative family history	Written like a non-fiction book. Chapters tell the family’s story in prose.	Families with strong stories, letters or interviews	150–300 pages
Genealogy register	Generation-by-generation entries with dates, places and sources, in a numbered system	Researchers who want a reference record	100–500 pages
Photo and memory book	Photos with captions, short stories and quotes	Gifts, reunions and milestone birthdays	40–120 pages
Hybrid	Story chapters with photos, plus charts and records at the back	Most families: readable now, useful to researchers later	100–250 pages

If you can’t decide, choose the hybrid. Relatives who’d never read a register will read a story, and the charts at the back keep the research intact for whoever takes over the family tree next.

What sections go in a family history book?

Front matter

• Title page and copyright page (include the year and who compiled it)
• Dedication, often to the oldest generation or to the children the book is for
• Table of contents
• Introduction: why the book exists, who’s in it, and how it’s organized
• Overview family tree: a simple chart of the main line, so readers can find their place
• Maps of where the family lived and migrated, if the story travels

The body

Choose one organizing principle and stick with it:

• By generation, oldest ancestors first. It’s the most common approach and easiest to follow.
• By branch: one section for each side of the family, such as your mother’s and father’s lines. Useful when two families merged.
• By place: “The Old Country”, “Arrival”, “The Farm”, “The City”. It works well for immigration stories.
• By theme: work, faith, war, food, homes. Best for memory books with lots of short pieces.

Back matter

• Pedigree and descendant charts in full
• Transcribed documents: letters, certificates, ship manifests, wills
• Sources and notes, as endnotes or a bibliography
• Index of names. It’s the most-used page in any family history, so don’t skip it.
• Photo credits and a note on where the originals are kept

For a ready-made outline with chapter headings, see our family history book template.

How do I number people in a family history book?

If your book includes genealogy, use a recognized numbering system so readers (and future researchers) can follow the lines.

• Register system: descendants from one ancestor, generation by generation, with Roman numerals for children. It was developed for the New England Historical and Genealogical Register.
• NGSQ system: similar, but every person gets an Arabic number. It’s named after the National Genealogical Society Quarterly.
• Ahnentafel: for ancestors rather than descendants. You’re number 1, your father is 2, your mother is 3, and each person’s father is double their number, with the mother one more than that.

A narrative or memory book doesn’t need numbering. A clear family tree chart at the front is enough.

Layout: size, fonts and photos

Trim size	Use it for
6×9 in portrait	Text-led narrative books. Standard, cheap to print, feels like a “real book”.
8.5×11 in portrait	Hybrids with lots of documents, charts and photos
11×8.5 in or 10×8 in landscape	Photo and memory books; wide group photos fit better

• Body text: a readable serif such as Garamond or Georgia at 11–12pt. Go up to 13pt if older relatives are the main readers.
• Photos: scan at 300 dpi at the size you’ll print, or 600 dpi for small originals. Our guide to digitizing old photos covers the process.
• Captions: who, where, when, and who owns the original. Future readers won’t know that “Aunt Rose” is on the left.
• Margins: at least 0.75 in, and more on the inner (spine) edge of thick books.
• Charts: give full-width pages to large trees, or fold-outs if your printer offers them.

General book formatting rules still apply. See how to format a book and paperback book sizes.

How should I cite sources?

Even a story-led family book benefits from sources. Future relatives will want to know how you know Great-grandpa arrived in 1907. Endnotes keep the story clean. For formal genealogy, Evidence Explained by Elizabeth Shown Mills is the standard reference for citing records. Keep it simple and consistent: document type, date, repository and the name of the record.

How do I print a family history book?

• Print-on-demand (one copy at a time) suits families ordering 5–50 copies. A black-and-white paperback often costs a few dollars a copy to print. Full-colour hardcovers with lots of photos can cost several times that.
• Short-run offset printing becomes cheaper per copy at roughly 100+ copies and gives better colour and binding options.
• Photo-book services work well for landscape memory books, but they’re less suited to text-heavy books.

Get a printed proof before ordering in bulk. Photos almost always print darker than they look on screen.

Should I write it myself or hire a family history writer?

Write it yourself if you have the time and enjoy the research. The memoir interview kit and our list of questions to ask about family history will help you gather the stories while the people who remember them are still here.

Hire help if time is the problem, or if the people with the stories are elderly. A professional family history writer interviews relatives, works through your documents and photos, and delivers a finished, print-ready book. A 100–200 page family legacy book typically costs $12,000–$30,000. Research-only help from a genealogist is a separate, smaller cost, covered in genealogy research services. To get matched with a writer who specializes in family books, take the writer match quiz.

Frequently asked questions