The ABM Story
By Michael Armstrong FGS (joint founding director)
Reluctant publishers
In the 1970s when my interest in family history was first aroused, I was surprised to learn that no national ‘glossy’ magazine was available in Britain through the newstrade; by and large the only ones to be found were produced by local family history societies who naturally expected people to be members. The fledgling Federation of Family History Societies began producing its Family History News & Digest, but this again was membership oriented. There was of course the magazine of the Society of Genealogists (SoG) based in London, an organisation that had been in existence since 1911 and the one of the Institute of Heraldic and Genealogical Studies at Canterbury that had been around since 1959, but these too required some membership commitment.
Unusually, the large magazine publishing groups were very slow in realising the potential family history offered and I felt that then was the right time to launch one for the benefit of our hobby. Near our home in the Cambridgeshire town of Ramsey was the Peterborough based East Midlands Allied Press and its own stable contained a number of national magazines covering leisure subjects. Early in 1984 I made an appointment to meet the firm’s development manager to discuss the possibility of the EMAP publishing a family history magazine, but even after the first few minutes I could see that I was wasting my time. Although I was aware of the growing interest in the subject I really had no idea of how well such a magazine would sell. My estimation of 25,000 copies every two months at £1 each, with a possible three pages of advertising at about £350 per page, didn't arouse much interest. However, as I was going through the door on my way out, the man said "Why not have a go yourself?” This was something I had not previously considered for I had no journalistic or publishing experience whatsoever.
My next few days were spent agonising over the subject. I was now sure that going to London to try to persuade another big publishing house to take on a project like family history would have met with the same response as it did at EMAP, and yet, as each day went by, I was becoming more and more convinced that family historians should have their own national rag. But who would take me seriously? As it turned out, my wife Mary did, and although not really into family history (her opinion was that one historian in any family is enough) my conviction that there was scope for a magazine convinced her, so together we decided to risk all and jump in at the deep end.
As luck would have it we knew a man named Ralph Braybrook, who in his younger days had had experience in working some large publishing firms including for IPC at London, but he had returned to his native East Anglia to get away from the rat race. Ralph was born at Stamford but had settled in Ramsey in his early 50s, and although already working with a number of other publishing firms on a freelance basis, he agreed to help us with the launch of Family Tree Magazine. I spent the early part of 1984 frantically getting together enough material to see us through the first two issues and it was in November of that year that Family Tree Magazine number one appeared.
Never enough space
The first magazine was largely prepared on the dining table in our home, but it wasn't too long before we had to clear the furniture from the front room, and establish our office in there. A further room built on the back of the house enabled us to extend the publishing operations into the dining room once again, but it was becoming obvious that before long we would have to find somewhere more suitable.
In July 1987, we moved home five doors up Great Whyte to a house with a brick building in the back garden; this was the office for Family Tree over the next three and a half years. After constructing two outhouses (and filling them with magazine back issues and book stock), we once again had to find somewhere with more space, so we rented two workshop buildings on Highlode Industrial Estate, Stocking Fen Road, just a few minutes walk away from home. Two years later in January 1993 we took the plunge and purchased our own premises at 61 Great Whyte. This is where we still operate from. The building consists of a shop and office and storeroom downstairs and six offices on the first floor.
The magazine has steadily grown into the highest circulating British family history publication, currently selling more than 40,000 copies every month, with readers in more than 40 countries throughout the world. Apart from the family, the business now employs 18 people, plus a number of part-time writers and consultants who operate from elsewhere.
In 1997, we launched our second magazine, Practical Family History, which is specially designed for the novice family historian; this too is continually growing in circulation. And in 2008 ABM Publishing acquired Dogs Monthly magazine, which is the UK’s fastest growing canine magazine.
In 2004, ABM Publishing Ltd was proud to have received the prestigious Prince Michael of Kent Award, for introducing family history to a wide audience for 20 years. This occasional award is recommended by the Society of Genealogists and the only other recipient to date was the Family Records Centre in 2000.
So, what began as an interest in family history, a dining room table and a ‘ Brother’ portable typewriter eventually turned into ABM Publishing Ltd. The company initials stand for our own surname plus those of our two daughters and son’s in law Boon and Marriott. Mary and I retired in 2003 and the working directors are currently Helen and Darren Marriott; Janice and Les Boon having left the company at the end of 2005.