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Used Books

Publish Your Church History Book 

Commemorate Community &
Preserve the Past

Preserve your Church's History in a beautiful book that can be passed down for generations to come! Wise Publications will compile & design your archival material and help you publish your own Church History Book at a reasonable price. Our staff will guide you thru a step-by-step process and show you how the project will financially pay for itself. 

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Why publish your history?

Documenting the historical significance of work done in the past tells your story to others of what God has done through the church body. Memories of difficulties experienced & accomplishments gained is a large part of a congregation’s identity. We have a responsibility to preserve a written record of the past for future generations. Any good history presentation is the story of our parents & grandparents. An appreciation of their past efforts can provide guidance during current events.

What we offer at Wise Publications

We provide a packaged, step-by-step guide to the creation of a church history book for you and your congregation that will financially pay for itself. We will compile and design your archival material and provide professional advice on researching and writing. Creating your history pages with us is a straight-forward and affordable undertaking that will memorialize your church's history and fellowship throughout the years. By the end of the process, you'll be able to hold a 9x12 coffee-table style book that will preserve your Church's history for generations to come. 

What is the process?

We are able to keep the cost reasonable by following this step-by-step guide:

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Memorializing Your Church's History

Timeline & Process

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Making goals and getting set up!

Getting Started

First, call us and let’s talk over your storytelling goals. We can answer a lot of questions leadership may have and plan on meeting in person or by phone. We’d like to show you the many books we’ve created here.

Creating the backbone of your book.

Gathering Sources, People, & Research

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Instead of slogging through the writing, a small committee of 2-3 motivated church members can then focus their time on accumulating the many historical documents from all the sources only you have access to. You will flag important info & we will sort thru all the material & parse out what makes for a good read. There are many unique items that can be presented in a well researched & carefully written collection.

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Refining your research and words.

Editing Your Book

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When all sources of material has been collected, you will then turn them in & we will make a book out of it. The project will have a price confirmed in advance for a set number of pages. Working with your guidance, the editor will select & cull material to stay within that budget.

Our professional design software can build page layouts much faster than anyone could ever do in your office. We use a visual style of illustration that draws the reader into the narrative. It’s an interesting process & documents need to be processed correctly. Sample pages are provided for your approval along the way to be sure we’re all heading in the right direction. Content is proofread three times and checked for duplications & accuracy of names & dates. -  we do this all day long around here.

Designing your book. 

Bringing Your Pages to Life

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Printing & Binding Your Church History!

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All volumes are made right here at our small book bindery in Louisiana. You will be talking with the craftspersons who actually go make your finished editions. It’s kinda cool to see all the traditional methods. Wise also offers a wide range of other bookmaking techniques including: leatherbound, family bible restoration, paperbacks, gold stamping, spiral, & journal bindings. We are usually working on about thirty titles in-house - all at the same time.

Getting the Book to the Congregation!

Selling Your Books

In our experience, you can expect 70% of families to eagerly buy a book once they have actually seen it. Those motivated persons then buy an average of 3 books to give as gifts to their own children & family members. A Book Launch party is a fun opportunity for fellowship. Interesting readings from the journal makes for a good program along with thank you’s and recognition to all who participated. Thereafter, you will really need to staff a table after all church activities for two months or so. 

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Additional Questions

How long does it take?

It usually takes you about 2 months to gather the materials, and 1 month for us to prepare content that will lead the reader through an interesting story. Then a week or two for leadership to sign off on print approval and another 2 weeks for production. In total we're talking around 4 months. We produce a real, edited volume - not a photo album.

What does it Cost?

There are two main expenses when creating your book — editing & designing fees and book pricing. Luckily, we've packaged each expense into an affordable bundle for you! See below: 

 

Editing & Designing Package 

Creating your history pages with us is a straight-forward and affordable undertaking. Each full color page including editing & original design works out to about a $23 per page fee. So a standard volume of 100 total page numbers would be an overall package fee of $2,300.

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Book Pricing

Prices listed here includes a 9”x12” coffee-table style Hardcover book with full color printing of 100 page numbers on 100 lb. semi-gloss paper. Laminated, custom designed hardcover. Pricing good thru July 2022.

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In-between quantities such as 140 books can be ordered. Future reorders of 50 quantity would be just the book price, providing profits for other missions.

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Deposit Payment Terms

A 1/2 deposit for our labor costs is taken when you turn all the final materials over to us to begin editing your book. At that time we will select the final page count together and confirm the final price. We will also need church leaderships approval. Even though we like to do preliminary page drafts & scans early, there is no obligation during the meetings and consultation. There will be no extra fees or overages, etc.

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60 Day Final Payment

With a signed Purchase Order from your Minister, Wise Publications will extend sixty day payment terms to the Church for the one-half balance still due. So you can pay for the rest of the project with income from book sales

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