Why would anyone want to read my story?

Can you imagine what it would be like to read the diaries or memoirs of your great grandparents? 'Fascinating' would be your answer, or certainly the answer most people would give. So fast forward 100 years, and visualise the world then, and your great grandchildren all grown up. Wouldn't they also say 'fascinating' if they were able to read your memoir? It's about recording family stories, throw in some genealogy and a few photos and voila! Suddenly you have a family history, that can be passed down through future generations.

Personal History versus Genealogy

Whats the difference? Genealogists research family trees, and record dates and descendants. Personal Historians record stories that bring these family trees to life. By interviewing the living and publishing these accounts, the stories and anecdotes can be recorded for ever. A Personal Historian can make the family tree hum with life.

What's involved in doing this?

After your initial contact with us, either by email or phone, we will meet with you to tailor a package for you. We can show you samples of previously published books to help you visualise the end result.

The interviews will take place in your own home in a relaxed and quiet environment. It will be just you and an interviewer who will be recording the session. Really you will just be chatting. Three interviews of one or two hours will cover a lot of ground and will usually be enough. More or less time is up to you. You may choose to limit your story to a certain period of time, or around a place you have lived. Alternatively you may want to incorporate the story of a spouse or other family members, and expand the family history that way.

These interviews will be transcribed - meaning turned into written word and lightly edited. Often the spoken sentence needs reorganising to make it readable, but we do try to keep as closely as possible to the way the story is told in your own words.

At this point you will be given the manuscript to read and approve. Once we have your approval, the book design process begins. This is where we format the pages and insert the digital images ready for printing.

We will ask you to sign your approval again, and then your book is ready to got to the publisher.

How long does the process take?

This depends on the size of the project. Some may be completed in a matter of weeks and others could take six months or more.

What will it cost?

This is dependent on the number of interviews, the time needed for editing and revisions, the number of photos and their condition. After your initial consultation, which is free, we will provide you with an estimate of cost. This might be anywhere from $1000 to $5000.

What about printing costs?

We use a number of different publishers depending on the quantity and style of the book being produced. You can choose the size, format, paper quality, cover material and many other variables to best suit your budget.