Services to Historical and Family History Societies

Times are tough for many historical and family history societies. Senior members are retiring and it's getting harder to find new volunteers with the right skill-set let alone time to devote to a worthy cause. At the same time, demands for societies with collections to preserve them for posterity and to make them accessible are daunting unless you have a professional background in the GLAM industries.

Funding will always be tight in the cultural industries but you need that expensive scanner to digitise an early settler or prominent settler's diaries. You've worked hard to raise money through morning teas and special events. You've spent hours on that grant submission and received some funds but it's not enough. Sound familiar?

What many societies don’t consider are fundraising opportunities beyond their location. They are focused on their local community and passing tourists to generate most of their income. That unique display with an insightful presentation by a local expert, followed by a lively discussion over a cuppa was good community engagement but it becomes a one-off revenue raiser when the presentation paper and slide show get filed away somewhere, only to be seen by the occasional visiting researcher.

Expand your funding avenues

At the Book Merchant, we encourage you to reuse that presentation paper by publishing it electronically and promoting it to Australia and the whole world:

• Assign a small purchase cost and rely on volume selling
• Make it clear to the buyer how the money is going to be spent so that they feel they are contributing to a worthy project
• Reuse customer contact details to promote other published works

How we can help

We want to help you by offering the following services

• Conversion services for papers, reports and hardcopy books into digital multimedia EPUB books compatible with most tablets and devices. We are not graphic designers but we do have the skills and connections to produce excellent EPUBs.
• A secure online bookstore with an existing range of self-published and secondhand Australian history books. Your new EPUB is exposed to buyers that are already very interested in local history.
• Provide you with a “buy now” hyperlink that can be used on your own website, emails and social media sites.

Our costs

We charge an upfront fee for the conversion services. The cost depends on the complexity of the job but is usually in the $100 - $300 range. We take a 3% commission on each sale.

Our charges are extremely low compared to other providers because we value your reputation and want your endorsement. As you promote your publication, you will in turn spread links to our online store. This grows our web traffic and potential buyers of other books we sell.

It's a win-win proposition.

Contact us

We are here to help. We would be delighted to visit your historical society and discuss your needs. Please contact Miriam Mortimore via phone at 0417 900 145 or email.