For your children, and theirs
Your life.
In your words.
Written as a book.
Tell it by voice, a few minutes at a time. Someone listens, asks the questions a good listener would, and remembers everything. Then your story is written as a real book your family will read, and keep.
Giving it to a parent? Here is how that works.
Who this is for
People with a life worth writing down. Which is everyone.
For your children and grandchildren
The stories they have heard at the table, told properly, to the end, in your voice. And the ones they have never heard.
If you are facing an illness
At your pace, on your terms, with every word under your control. Five minutes counts. Nothing has to be finished to be worth having.
If you have a story to tell
A life, a journey, a marriage, a war, a business, a recovery. Spoken first, so it sounds like you, then written so people read it.
For the family you came from
Your parents, their parents, the place you left and the place you built. The history only you still carry, kept for the ones who come after.
Memoir
Your life in your own words, exactly as you told it. Nothing invented. The book most people start with.
Historical novel
Your true story written as a novel, with scenes and dialogue. A list at the back says what was imagined.
Family history
The story of the family, two generations back, with the records to prove it. About the people, not the family tree.
Children's picture book
Your life retold for a grandchild. Or a story a child made up, kept in their own words with their own drawings.
Young adult edition
Written for the teenagers in the family. Shorter, faster, and honest about the hard years.
Letters for later
Letters sealed for one person, opened on a date you choose. A wedding day. An eighteenth birthday. After you are gone.
Company history
The story of a business, told by the founders and the people who were there, each in their own words.
The printed book
A sewn, cloth-bound hardcover in a rigid gift box. The copy the family keeps on the shelf.
How it works
Four steps. Scroll to see them on the phone.
What did the paper smell like in that kitchen? Who else was listening?
You start. Or someone starts it for you.
Pay once and begin the same day. If a son or daughter sets it up for you, they record a short message in their own voice and you hear it at your first visit.
You talk. Someone listens.
Fifteen minutes at a time, by voice, in the app, whenever you like. A text message reminds you when a visit is waiting. One question, your whole answer, then the follow-up a good listener would ask. Prefer a real phone call? That is a premium option.
Your family watches the book take shape.
Everything you say is kept in one place: the people, the places, the sayings, the stories. Chapters fill in week by week. Anything you mark private stays private.
Your book is written and printed.
The shape of the book is worked out first. Then it is written in your words, read by you and your family, and printed as a hardcover. The recordings are yours to keep.
Not a transcript
A book you'd read on a Sunday. Not a binder of answers.
Most services email one question a week and bind whatever comes back: tidied-up transcripts, one answer per page. Nobody reads those twice. This is interviewed like a biography, shaped like a novel, and written to be read from the first page to the last.
| Question-a-week services | Tellforth | |
|---|---|---|
| How the stories are gathered | One emailed question a week, answered by typing | Conversations by voice, with follow-up questions until each story is told to the end |
| What you get | The answers, in order, bound together | A book with a beginning, chapters and scenes, in your words |
| Who reads it | The family, once | Your family, your grandchildren, and the people who never got to meet you |
| Editions | One | Memoir, novel, young adult, picture book and gift edition, from the same conversations |
| How you pay | A yearly subscription | Once. No renewal. Every recording is yours |
In their words
What a book sounds like when nobody rewrote it.
“I used to read the paper to my father at the table, the racing results too, because his eyes had gone. I was six. My mother would say, the professor is in session, and nobody was allowed to talk.”
“They sold the horse on a Tuesday and left on the Friday. One trunk, and me in a blanket. My mother never said what was in the trunk. I think it was everything.”
“The boy on the bicycle would not look at me. That is how I knew. I made him come in and have a cup of tea anyway, because that is what you did.”
“Red, with round headlights like a frog. I slept in it the first night because I did not trust the yard. My father said a man who sleeps in his truck will die in it. He was wrong, as it happens.”
The Whole Family
One life. Five books. One for every reader.
The memoir for you. The novel for the ones who want a story. A young adult edition for the teenagers. A picture book for the grandchildren. A short gift edition for everyone else. Five hardcovers, from one set of conversations.
Pricing
One price. No subscription.
Pay once. Nothing renews, nothing expires, and nothing can lock your stories away.
The Book
- As many visits as it takes
- One finished book: memoir or novel
- A family page and a proof to approve
- Every recording, yours to download
- No deadline, no renewal
The Book, printed
- Everything in The Book
- A cloth hardcover in a gift box
- Photographs and letters placed in the pages
- Extra copies from $69
Five editions
- Memoir, historical novel, young adult edition, children's picture book and gift edition
- Five hardcovers, one for each household
- A second storyteller included
- Family page, proof, every recording
- No deadline, no renewal
Prices for the first families, in US dollars. Final pricing may change before general release.
Giving it to a parent
Set it up for your mother or father. Then step back.
Pay once, record a short message in your own voice, and they hear it at their first visit. From then on it is their book, their words and their decisions. You and the rest of the family can watch the chapters arrive.
Questions
Before you start.
Do I need to be good with technology?
No. You open the app and talk, that is all. Nothing to type and no password to remember. A text message reminds you when a visit is waiting. If you would rather not use an app at all, phone-call visits on any phone are available as a premium add-on.
I am not well. Can I still do this?
Yes, and at your own pace. Five minutes is a visit. There is no deadline and nothing to keep up with. You decide what is asked, what is kept private, and who reads what. If you would rather stop, you stop.
Can my son or daughter set it up for me?
Yes. They pay once and record a short message in their own voice, which you hear at your first visit. From then on it is your book: your words, your decisions, your recordings.
Is it really a book, or a pile of answers?
A real book. Tellforth works out the shape of the book before writing a word. The memoir uses only what you said, in your words. The novel builds a story on the true facts and lists what was imagined at the back.
What is the Whole Family package?
Your life, written five ways: the memoir, the historical novel, a young adult edition for the teenagers, a picture book for the grandchildren, and a short gift edition. Five hardcovers, one for each household.
Who owns the recordings?
You do. Every recording, transcript and book can be downloaded free at any time. There is no subscription, so nothing can lapse and lock them away.
What about things I would rather keep private?
A story can be sealed: for one grandchild only, for after you are gone, or until a date you choose. Your family reads a proof before printing. Anything you want left out is left out.
Tellforth
Tell it forward.
The stories are already there. All that is missing is someone to ask.