Everything people ask before they start

No. Most of our members have never written more than a birthday card. You answer plain questions in the words you would use out loud, and our editors handle spelling, punctuation and flow without changing how you sound.

Speak your answers into your phone or computer and we transcribe them word for word. Plenty of members do the whole book this way, often with a son or daughter sitting alongside.

Ten to twenty minutes per question, and you choose how many you do a week. The three-month plan runs about four a week; the twelve-month plan is closer to one. You can always go faster and finish early.

There are 50, shaped by the chapters you pick at the start. Answer the ones that mean something to you and skip the rest — the book is built from whatever you share.

Yes, and skipping leaves no gap in the finished book. A question you pass over simply does not appear. Many members skip several and still end up with a full-length book.

Yes. Relatives can suggest questions, upload photographs and sit with you while you answer. A lot of these books are made by a family rather than one person working alone.

Yes. If there is something you want to write about that the fifty do not cover, you can add it and answer it like any other question.

Nothing expires and nothing is lost. Your answers stay where they are and you pick up whenever you are ready. There is no deadline on any individual question.

A sewn hardback with your name and title on a cover color you choose, up to 500 pages, and up to 100 of your photographs printed beside the stories they go with.

Yes. You pick from six cover colors and set the title, subtitle and the name that appears on the front and spine. You see it on a mockup before anything is printed.

Up to 100. They are placed beside the story each one belongs to rather than collected in a separate section, so a picture of a kitchen sits next to the paragraph about that kitchen.

Send them anyway. Faded, creased and slightly out-of-focus prints reproduce better than people expect, and our layout team adjusts contrast and cropping before printing.

They fix spelling, punctuation, paragraphing and sentences that are hard to follow. They do not replace your vocabulary or tidy your voice. If you say a thing a particular way, it stays that way on the page.

Yes. You review the laid-out book and can make corrections before it goes to print. Nothing is printed until you approve it.

Yes. One hardback is included, and additional copies can be ordered once your book is complete — the more you order, the lower the price per copy.

All 50 guided questions, editing of everything you write, full page layout with your photographs, and one printed hardback mailed to you. Shipping to the UK, the US and the EU is free.

Once it goes to print your plan ends on its own, so there is nothing to cancel. If you need longer, it simply continues until you are finished, and you can stop it whenever you like.

Free shipping to the UK, the US and anywhere in the EU. If you are elsewhere, email us before ordering and we will tell you what is possible and what it costs.

Printing and shipping take about two to three weeks from the day you approve the finished book. You get tracking as soon as it leaves the bindery.

This is how a lot of our books start. Buy the plan, hand over the login, and they answer at their own pace. Many families sit down and work through the questions together over the phone.

You do, completely. Your stories, your photographs and the finished book are yours — we never publish, sell or share a word of it.

Yes. Your answers are visible only to you and anyone you choose to share them with. Our editors read them to do the editing and nobody else does.