A family history book costs from about $15 for a fill-in journal to more than $40,000, depending on who does the work. Prompt services charge $49 to $199 a year and memoir firms about $3,250 to $42,000. Research firms bill the research and the book separately.
At Zichronos one commission covers both. Commissions begin at $10,000. Archive, copy and translation fees are included.
How much does a family history book cost? It depends less on the printing than on the work that comes before it: finding the records, reading and translating them, interviewing relatives, writing and design. Most services do one or two of these and leave the rest to the family, so two quotes can buy very different books.
Key points
- A family history book costs from about $15 for a fill-in journal to more than $40,000 for the largest packages.
- Prompt books and ghostwritten memoirs hold what a parent remembers, and are rarely checked against records.
- Genealogy firms sell research hours and deliver a report; writing a book from it is usually a second cost.
- Archive fees, copies, translation and printing are often billed on top of a research quote, so compare the whole cost.
- Records in Polish, Russian, German or Yiddish, held by archives that answer only by letter, add the most to any quote.
- At Zichronos the research and the finished book are one commission, with archive, copy and translation fees included.
What families pay, by kind of service
| Kind of service | Published price | What it includes | What it leaves out |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prompt booksStoryworth, Remento, Loristry | $49 to $199 a year | A year of questions answered by the parent, gathered into one printed book | Research, records, translation, an outside writer |
| Fill-in journalsBookstore titles such as Grandmother Remembers | About $15 to $25 | A printed book of questions the parent answers on its pages | Everything beyond the parent's own answers |
| Ghostwritten memoirsStoryTerrace, Memoir Maker, LifeBook Memoirs | About $3,250 to $42,000 | Interviews with the parent, a writer, a designed hardcover, from 4 to 24 copies by package | Archive research, records in other languages |
| Genealogy researchLegacy Tree Genealogists, ProGenealogists, independent genealogists | $2,300 for 20 hours up to $48,750 | Research hours and a written report with copies of the records | A written book; many quotes add record fees, postage and travel |
| Research, then a bookProGenealogists | From $31,000, plus printing; shorter books from $8,750 | A written family history book, begun once the research is complete | The research itself, billed first, and the printing |
| A researched book under one commissionZichronos | Commissions begin at $10,000. | Research, letters to archives, archive, copy and translation fees, interviews, writing, design, five hardcovers and a PDF | A priority fee applies when a book is needed by a date |
Prices as each provider publishes them; confirm on the provider's own site. Storyworth's help pages give its two lower plans at two different prices.
Prompt books
Storyworth sends a parent a question a week for a year and binds the answers, for $59 to $199. Remento charges $99 for the first year with one hardcover, and Loristry $49 to $199 a year. Nothing is checked against records. Storyworth and Remento compared goes further.
Fill-in journals
A journal such as Grandmother Remembers or Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story costs about $15 to $25, and the parent writes the answers in the book. The names and places in it are useful later to anyone who researches the family. Legacy books for parents and grandparents compares the kinds.
Ghostwritten memoirs and biographies
A memoir firm interviews the parent, and a writer turns the interviews into a book in the parent's voice. StoryTerrace publishes packages from $3,250 with four copies to $24,000 and more with twenty. Memoir Maker lists $4,000, $8,500 and from $11,250, and LifeBook Memoirs $18,000, $27,000 and $42,000, with 10 to 24 hardbacks. An autobiography written with a ghostwriter is the same service. Documents in Polish, German or Yiddish usually stay unread. Hiring a biographer for a parent covers what to ask.
Genealogy research
A genealogist sells research hours and delivers a report with copies of the records. Legacy Tree Genealogists publishes packages from $3,200 for 25 hours to $48,750, and ProGenealogists charges $2,300 for 20 hours. The Association of Professional Genealogists gives hourly rates from $30 or $40 to well over $200, with copies, postage and travel billed on top. What genealogists charge goes through the rates.
Research, then a book
ProGenealogists prices its family history books from $31,000 plus printing, and shorter books from $8,750, each begun once the research is complete. The research is billed first, and the printing comes on top. Companies that write family histories describes each kind of firm.
What makes one family's book cost more than another's
Two families can pay very different amounts for research of the same quality, because the price follows the size of the question:
- How many branches of the family the book follows, and how many generations back.
- How many countries the family lived in, and how many languages its records are in.
- How much the family already holds, from a box of letters to a few names.
- Whether the records are indexed, or held by archives that answer only written requests.
The records weigh most. A family whose records are all in the United States needs few translations, while registers in Polish or Russian and letters in Yiddish need a translator for every page.
| Where the records are | What the work involves | What it usually adds |
|---|---|---|
| The United States | Census pages from 1790 to 1950, passenger lists, naturalization files and vital records, most indexed and free to search | USCIS charges $30 online, or $80 on paper, for a genealogy index search, and the same to request a file |
| England, Wales or Ireland | Civil registers from 1837 in England and Wales and from 1864 in Ireland, mostly indexed | £12.50 for each certificate from the General Register Office for England and Wales |
| Poland, Lithuania, Ukraine or Belarus | Registers in Polish or Russian, many never indexed, and archives that answer only written requests | Search and copy fees paid abroad, a translation of each entry, and months of waiting |
| Letters at home in Yiddish or Hebrew | Letters, postcards, certificates and names written inside a prayer book | Translation, at published rates of about $35 to $50 a page for handwritten Yiddish |
USCIS fee schedule, edition of 7 October 2026. Old Yiddish and Hebrew letters sets out translation rates. In a Zichronos commission these fees are included whichever row a family falls in.
What a Zichronos commission includes
- Reading the family's own papers and photographs, and interviews with relatives.
- Searching the public record collections, and writing to the archives, museums and libraries that may hold more.
- Reading the originals, with full translations from Polish, German, Yiddish, Hebrew, Russian or any other language.
- The family tree, maps, and the history of the family's towns and communities.
- A plain account of what each record proves and what is still unknown.
- A large-format hardcover, typically 150 to 300 pages in full color: five copies and a PDF, and publication on Amazon at no charge if the family wishes.
Premium packages, priced on request, add heirloom-bound copies, sewn and bound in cloth or leather, in a slipcase. Commissioning a family history book: questions and answers covers how a commission works.
How the Tarko family history was researched follows that work step by step, and family history book examples shows what each part of a finished book holds.
Costs that sit outside most quotes
| Cost | Who usually pays it | In a Zichronos commission |
|---|---|---|
| Archive search fees | The family, passed on by the researcher | Included |
| Copies and certified copies of records | The family | Included |
| Translation from Polish, German, Yiddish, Hebrew or Russian | The family, through a separate translator | Included |
| Travel to an archive or a cemetery | The family, when the researcher has to go in person | None. We request records in writing and work from the copies archives send. |
| Writing the book | A second firm or a second stage | Included |
| Design, maps and family trees | A designer, or left to the family | Included |
| Printing and extra copies | The family, per copy | Five hardcovers and a PDF included; publication on Amazon at no charge so relatives can order more |
What it costs to make a family history book yourself
The cost of doing a family history book yourself is mostly time. FamilySearch and the US National Archives are free to search, and many public libraries give free use of subscription sites. The money goes on certificates, copies of files, translation and printing.
Research abroad means letters in the archive's language and replies that take months, and the book itself is a second project. Doing it yourself or commissioning it sets out where self-research usually stops, and printing a family history book covers the printing.
When the book is needed by a date
Some books are needed by a fixed day: the shloshim, a yahrzeit, an unveiling, a milestone birthday or a family celebration. These can be taken on as priority commissions. Within thirty days the first edition is built from the family's papers and interviews and from the record collections that can be searched directly, and printed copies arrive in time for the date.
Requests to the archives go out at once. Archives answer on their own schedules, so whatever arrives later goes into an updated edition. A priority fee applies. How we work sets out the steps.
How to compare two quotes
A quote can only be compared with another that answers the same request:
- Write down what the family has, which branches and generations the book should follow, and any date it must be ready by.
- Send that same description to every service you are considering.
- Put the eight questions below to each one, and ask for the answers in writing.
- Add up the whole cost of each, from research and archive fees to printing and copies.
- Ask to see finished work, and read it for its sources.
Checklist
- Who reads the original records, and in which languages?
- Are archive and copy fees included, or billed later?
- Is translation included, in full or as a summary?
- Does the price include writing the book, or only a report?
- How many pages and printed copies, and in what binding?
- Does the book cite a record for each fact, and say what is still unknown?
- What happens when an archive replies after delivery?
- Who keeps the research and the family's papers afterward?
The first answer says most about quality, since an index can misread a name. How to check that a record belongs to your family shows a case where only the original settled it, and hiring help, and what it costs has more on choosing help.
Sources: the published pricing and help pages of Storyworth, Remento, Loristry, StoryTerrace, LifeBook Memoirs, Legacy Tree Genealogists and ProGenealogists; the Association of Professional Genealogists; the USCIS fee schedule; the General Register Office; the US National Archives, on the census. Checked October 2026.
Questions families ask about cost
How much does it cost to have a family history book written?
It depends on what the book holds. A book of a parent's own answers costs $49 to $199 a year through a prompt service, and a ghostwritten memoir about $3,250 to $42,000. A researched history costs more, since it adds archive research and translation, and some firms bill the research and the book separately. At Zichronos they are one commission.
How much does a personal historian charge?
A personal historian who writes a parent's story is priced much like a memoir firm, whose published packages run from $3,250 to $42,000. One who researches records usually charges by the hour; the Association of Professional Genealogists gives rates from $30 or $40 to well over $200, with expenses on top.
How much does it cost to hire a biographer or have a biography written?
A biographer or memoir writer who interviews a parent and writes the book charges from about $3,250 for a short book with four copies to $42,000 for a long one with 24, by the larger firms' published packages. An autobiography written with a ghostwriter costs the same, and a biography that needs archive research costs more. Hiring a biographer covers what to ask.
How much does LifeBook Memoirs cost?
LifeBook Memoirs publishes three packages: $18,000, $27,000 and $42,000, which can be paid over six months. They differ in pages, interview sessions and hardbacks, from 10 copies in the first to 24 and a leather-bound copy in the third. Prices checked October 2026.
What is the price of a legacy book?
A legacy book the parent fills in costs about $15 to $25. A prompt service that gathers a year of answers into a hardcover costs $49 to $199 a year. A legacy book written by a professional from interviews costs several thousand dollars or more. Legacy books for parents and grandparents compares them.
Are archive and translation fees extra?
With most researchers they are. Research firms usually quote for hours, and archive search fees, copies and translation are passed on to the family; even a naturalization file from USCIS costs $30 to search for and $30 to request online. In a Zichronos commission archive, copy and translation fees are included.
What are the benefits of hiring a personal historian over doing it yourself?
A professional reads old records and their languages every day and knows which archives to write to, so work that takes a family years can often be done in months. Doing it yourself costs less, and suits a family with time and records in English. Doing it yourself or commissioning it helps decide.