Hi Reader,

Halloween always goes big on my street. 500+ trick-or-treaters, fog machines, the full production.

The running joke among the neighbors: Is November 1st too early to put up the Christmas decorations?

(My neighbors are only half kidding!)

Which means holiday shopping season is basically here—and before you know it, your inbox will be flooded with "can't miss" Black Friday deals. I just published my genealogy shopping guide. Let's make sure you're ready.

📚NEW BLOG POST

YOUR GENEALOGY SHOPPING GUIDE

I opened up my actual research toolkit—not the aspirational version where I use every tool perfectly, but the real one. The free foundations I start with, the paid tools that justify their cost, and the strategic regrets that cost me hundreds of dollars.

Here's what you'll find inside:

Free tools everyone should start with — Including ChroniclingAmerica for newspaper research (no subscription required)

Paid tools that justify their cost — Like Newspapers.com and OldNews when you need deeper newspaper searches

The expensive mistakes I made — So you can avoid wasting money on tools that sound great but collect dust

That tech organizer I can't live without — Because we genealogists have so many cords, drives, and cables to wrangle (I'm a bit of an organizing geek!)

Strategic advice for Black Friday — A shopping framework so you'll know what's actually worth buying when the sales hit

If you're thinking about investing in genealogy tools during Black Friday or any time of year, this guide will save you serious money and research frustration.

📝 Read: The Only Genealogy Shopping Guide You Need (From Someone Who's Tried Everything)

💡 QUICK WIN OF THE WEEK

THE ONE THING I WISH I'D KNOWN EARLIER

The biggest lesson from 15+ years and thousands of dollars spent?

Buy for your specific research needs, not because something is on sale.

I've bought subscriptions I rarely used, software that promised breakthroughs but delivered headaches, and tools that looked impressive but didn't fit my actual workflow.

The tools in this guide? These have earned their keep. They solve real problems in my research process—or they help me avoid problems I've already made.

Black Friday can be overwhelming with "can't miss" deals, but the truth is: most of them you CAN miss. The question isn't "Is this on sale?" The question is "Will this actually move my research forward?"

👀COMING SOON!

MY BLACK FRIDAY VIDEO

On Sunday, November 23, I'm releasing a YouTube video: "Black Friday for Genealogists: The Tools I Can't Live Without + How to Shop Smart."

I'll walk through specific tools worth investing in, how to evaluate deals when they drop, and what I'm personally buying (or not buying) this year.

Between the shopping guide and the video, you'll be ready to make smart decisions when Black Friday hits.

My neighbors might have their Christmas lights up by the time you read this. But at least you'll be ready for holiday shopping.

Happy researching,
Lisa

PS.📝 Quick reminder: That free family history journaling session I'm teaching at the Elves' Workshop Summit starts next week (Nov 18-20). Perfect for you or anyone in your family who's been saying "I should write down those stories" but hasn't started yet. Register for Free!

Lisa Lisson Genealogy Researcher, Author & Speaker