NextGen Genealogy: The DNA Connection

The more I learn about the publishing industry, the more confused I get.

As some of you know the official release date for my new book, NextGen Genealogy: The DNA Connection, was November 30th.  

If you pre-ordered it from the publisher ABC-Clio, you probably already have the physical version in hand. Amazon started allowing Kindle downloads last Sunday, but as of this morning does not yet have the paper copy in stock. Barnes and Noble has been offering the Nook version all week. 

Next comes the matter of price. On the publisher's site the price has consistently been $40 for the physical book. If readers email me, InfoDoc [AT] ddowell.com, I can send you a discount code from the publisher that will give you a 20% discount. That will make the price $32 before shipping. 

Amazon originally offered the paper copy for $40 but has recently lowered that to $38. With Amazon's pre-order guarantee, any of you who have placed orders there should get it at that price and you may get free shipping if you have a Prime account.

Over on the e-book side, Amazon has been offering the Kindle version for $35.99. Barnes & Noble started out offering the Nook version for about $23 but quickly changed its price to the current $30. Although the publisher also offers an e-book version, you probably should not be interested unless you are a library that plans to offer the book to your patrons from your own server.

Then comes the description of the book. Some of you may know that the information about books that you see online generally was created before the book was written. It was created by the publisher soon after the contract was signed. In the current example, all three online sources mistakenly agree that the book has 136 pages. The actual physical book I have in hand has 173 pages including the index. The lower number was the publisher's guess to use a place holder before the manuscript was received. Such information takes on a life of its own.

Another example of information taking on a life of its own is the co-authorship of CeCe Moore. CeCe was originally contracted to participate in this book project. Based on that the publisher originally created a cover that included her name. Initial information including her name was included in the publisher's catalogs and was sent to others including Amazon and Barnes & Noble. Then CeCe's career as a DNA consultant for television programs and her independent consulting work rocketed at a pace that forced her to withdraw from this book project at a very early stage. A new version of the cover was created and the publisher no longer mentions her on its site. I was able to get Amazon to remove reference to her authorship. However, the Kindle division appears to operate in a different universe than does the print division of Amazon. The short version of this saga is that you will still see CeCe mentioned by Kindle and Nook.

Thank you for indulging me in this rant. Perhaps this will make you a more informed consumer as you contemplate purchasing this and other books.

Geno 2.0 v. Ancestry Composition

It is easy for us to get caught up in our own drama and to lose perspective of what the larger picture is really all about. To some extent that is what I did yesterday. My own primary focus on DNA research is to find information that will allow me to extend the history of my own family and the families of extended family members—particularly those of the ancestors of my grandchildren. I am also very interested in learning about the health implications of our genomes and what we can learn about the historic journey of the human race. However, my original interest in DNA research was to find information from within my body and those of my family members that would help me as a genealogist to extend what I have been able to learn from extant oral and documentary information. In this quest I have been somewhat successful. I continue to look to each new DNA tool for new insight that will help me extend these genealogies.

This is the perspective from which I first examined my results from Geno 2.0 yesterday. In so doing was I missing the real point of this exciting new project? I was looking to build backward incrementally from what I already knew from my prior genealogical research. Geno 2.0 begins its story from the other end of the human narrative. Its primary focus is anthropological rather than genealogical. Although these two foci are ultimately complementary, they remain only loosely connected. Both approaches are seeking to connect with the other; but each are building from opposite ends of this long human journey.

In some ways this effort is analogous with the building of the transcontinental railroad across North America in the 1860s. Two efforts, launched from 1,770 miles apart, needed to standardize their gauge (rail width) and come together at a common point. That project was to connect two geographic locations existing in the same time dimension. Our genetic genealogy effort today is to connect different eras of the human journey.

When I first surveyed my results yesterday, I had on my genealogical tinted glasses. My own agenda of extending my own family histories back from North America to Europe colored what I saw or didn't see. I was trying to make an anthropological tool into a genealogical tool. It is not significantly different from trying to use a pair of pliers for a task for which a wrench is better suited. Sometimes this will work and sometimes not. In my post yesterday I tried to compare Geno 2.0 with the new Ancestry Composition tool that 23andMe introduced last week. My colleague CeCe Moore, Your Genetic Genealogist, gently pointed out that these two tools were looking at different times along the migration of my ancestors. Ancestry Composition was helping me look for my family at the dawn of genealogical time or about 500 years ago. On the other hand Geno 2.0 was trying to focus further back. Both tools can be useful but their reported results must be viewed appropriately. With this in mind I’ll begin to review my Geno 2.0 and my Ancestry Composition reports from a different perspective. I’ll share my observations here shortly.

23andMe "Flash" Sale

23andMe is reaching out for new customers using a new marketing approach. CeCe Moore who blogs as Your Genetic Genealogist offers more details. The 23andMe test is of autosomal DNA only. Therefore, it is good for exploring relationships with fairly close cousins and other close relatives. It also gives information on many health risks. However, it does not test more distant ancestors on the direct paternal (surname) or direct maternal (umbilical) lines like Y-chromosome and mitochondrial DNA do.

While 23andMe is becoming more useful for genealogical research, it's original purpose was for health related testing. Now that three companies are testing autosomal DNA, matching across company databases is challenging. You may only see matches for relatives who have tested with the same company.

To take advantage of this sale, you should use the link on CeCe's site. If you go directly to the 23andMe site you probably will not find the sale listed---at least I didn't. Apparently, 23andMe is using this marketing outlet to try to attract a wider audience than the genetic genealogists who are already aware of their services.

Looming Price War on Autosomal DNA Test Kits?

With Ancestry's entry into autosomal DNA testing at a teaser entry price of $99, and 23andMe dropping its subscription price in favor of a flat $299 that  includes the Relative Finder as well as health tests, stay tuned for the next shoe to drop.

Ancestry's test is currently by invitation only and only for a 3 day widow for existing customers only. However, Ancestry has a current customer base of about 1.75 million members for its database products. The hype is as good as that of a carnival barker luring us in. The actual price with regular shipping added comes to $109.87:

Your Order:

Date: 5/8/2012 8:12:21 PM

AncestryDNA kit 1 USD 99.00

Subtotal: USD 99.00 †Shipping: USD 9.95 Tax: USD 0.92 Total: USD 109.87 †includes shipping and processing

The other breaking news is from 23andMe's Anne Wojcicki is so far only being reported to the 23andMe community. As of Thursday 23andMe will stop selling kits on a monthly subscription basis. The new one time cost appears to be $299. If you are not currently a subscriber to 23andMe, you can read Anne's full post on CeCe Moore's blog.

It is getting difficult to keep up with all the activity without a program. Such a program is being prepared and will soon be on the website of the International Society of Genetic Genealogists (ISOGG). There it will join a wide array of free and authoritative information on genetic genealogy. 

Will we hear a new marketing program from FTDNA? Will a price war break out? If so, I hope all the current major players survive and that many more people can be enticed to test. The more individuals with whom we can compare our results the better off all of us in the genetic genealogy community will be.