Your mom, your dad, your grandma — the people whose stories you've always meant to write down. Send one link and let everyone who loves them add what they remember, while the person the book is about fills in the parts only they know. Then print it as a hardcover your whole family will treasure.
Start a life story book See how it worksYou know the feeling. You're at Sunday dinner, your dad tells the story about the summer he worked on the railroad, and you think, someone needs to write this down. Then the dishes get done, life carries on, and the story stays where it has always been — in his head.
One person trying to capture a whole life is a big job, and that's why it so rarely gets finished. Sharing it is what makes it possible. Your sister writes about the years before you were born. A cousin tells the story of the move. An old friend describes the young man your grandpa was before any of you knew him. And your parent or grandparent writes their own chapters, corrects the dates everyone else gets a little wrong, and gets to read what their family remembers about them while they're here to enjoy it.
Families make these for a parent's 80th birthday, for a grandmother whose stories deserve to outlast her, for the generation that came over with nothing and never talked about it, and simply because someone finally said, let's do this now.
There's no party forcing a deadline here, so give yourself one. A date on the calendar is what turns a good intention into a finished book.
Add their name, a favorite photo, the years the book will cover, and the date you'd like to have it printed by.
"Tell me about Dad" is hard to answer. "What do you remember about the house on Fremont Street?" brings back three pages. Send a different question to each person.
Stories, photographs and scanned documents arrive as finished pages. You read each one, and you can arrange them into a timeline of their life.
Order the hardcover when it feels full enough. The project stays open, so a second edition with new chapters is easy.
No one person remembers a whole life — not even the person who lived it. Together, your family does.
Each person writes about the years they were actually there for, so the book covers a whole life instead of just the part you saw.
The writing is shared among everyone who cares, so the project keeps moving even when your own weeks get busy.
Scans of faded prints, handwritten letters and certificates are corrected as they're uploaded, so hundred-year-old pages are clear and easy to read.
Your parent or grandparent can write their own chapters and read what everyone else remembers. That's the best reason not to wait.
Anyone with the link can add a page from anywhere, including the branch of the family you only see at reunions.
A 10-inch square matte hardcover with a printed spine — something your grandchildren will pull down and read, not a folder of scans.
Ask about a decade, a place or an object instead of 'their life story,' and watch what comes back.
Nothing is owed until you order a book, and gifts from contributors apply straight to the print cost.
Create the project, invite everyone, and gather photos and stories for free. You only pay if you print.
A 10-inch square matte hardcover with matte interior pages, plus shipping. Extra pages are $1.25 each.
Friends and family can chip in toward printing — each $1.25 covers one page of the finished book.
Yes, and we hope they do. They can write their own chapters, add the photos only they have, and gently correct the names and dates the rest of the family gets a little wrong. Reading what their loved ones remember about them is a gift in itself.
Longer than a birthday or wedding book, because there's no event setting the date. Most families gather stories over two or three months. Choosing a print date at the start is what keeps everyone going.
Ask them a smaller question — one house, one summer, one photo. And anyone can submit a page on someone else's behalf: a phone call with Grandpa where you type what he says often turns into the best chapter in the book.
Absolutely. Scans of letters, certificates, old records and handwritten recipes upload as images and are enhanced the same way photographs are.
It's free to set up and collect stories. A printed hardcover is $34.95 for the first 20 pages, then $1.25 for each page after that, plus shipping. A sixty-page life story comes to about $84.95. The PDF is always free.
Yes — once the book is finished you can order as many copies as you like, and most families do order one for each household.
Other books families make together.
Start the project tonight, ask four people for one memory each, and by the weekend you'll have more of their life written down than you've ever had.
Start a life story book