About
Tell it forward.
Tellforth exists because the stories in every family are already there, waiting. What is usually missing is someone with the time and patience to ask, to listen properly, to remember every word, and then to turn it into a book people will read.
The name
To tell something forward is to hand it on.
A story told forward goes to the people who come next: children, grandchildren, and the ones who will never get to meet you.
The books families make are usually started and rarely finished. The questions get asked, the recordings pile up, and the book never gets its shape. We built Tellforth to be the part that finishes: an interviewer that keeps going, a record that remembers, and a writer that knows what a book needs.
What we believe
Six things we are sure of.
Everyone has a book in them
Not because every life is extraordinary, but because every life is particular. The particulars are what a grandchild wants: the street, the job, the joke, the way she said it.
Talking is easier than writing
Most people who would never write a page will happily talk for an hour. Spoken stories are looser and truer. So we start with the voice.
A good listener asks the second question
The first answer is the summary. The story is in what comes after "who else was there?" and "what happened the next day?"
A pile of answers is not a book
A book has a shape: a beginning, chapters, something it turns on. We design the book before we write it, the way a biographer would.
The words belong to the person who said them
The memoir uses only what was said. The recordings belong to the teller. Everything can be downloaded, free, forever.
Nobody should be rushed
We never count down, never send guilt, never use the word "before". People tell their stories when they are ready, or not at all.
How we work
In the open.
We publish a short note every week on what changed. Our comparisons with other services quote their own pages and link to them. Our question lists and writing guides are free for anyone, whether or not they ever use Tellforth.
Get in touch
We read every message.
Questions, ideas, a correction to one of our pages, or a story about why this matters to you: write to hello@tellforth.com.
Tellforth
Tell it forward.
The stories are already there. All that is missing is someone to ask.
Updated · Plain-text version of this page: /about.md