Compare
Tellforth vs My Life in a Book
My Life in a Book is a Storyworth-style prompt service: 52 questions over a year (weekly, fortnightly, monthly or all at once), answered by typing or by voice-to-text, with photos, then printed as a full-colour keepsake book with a choice of 40 cover templates. It is one of the cheapest ways to get a printed book of a parent's answers, and it offers a 30-day money-back guarantee on the book. It does not ask a second question.
What My Life in a Book does well
- About $79 for the year and one printed book; extra copies about $40
- Voice-to-text so the teller can talk rather than type
- The giver sees each reply as it comes in
- Questions can be swapped, skipped or written yourself; the cadence is adjustable
- A 30-day money-back guarantee on the book; free shipping to the US, Canada, UK, Australia, NZ and EU
Where My Life in a Book falls short
- No follow-up questions: each prompt is answered once and the next arrives on schedule
- Voice answers are transcribed, not written up; the book is the answers as given
- Nobody designs a book from the answers; it is printed in the order answered
- It depends on the teller answering 52 questions over a year
- Their pages do not say whether the stories can be exported outside the printed book
Side by side
| My Life in a Book | Tellforth | |
|---|---|---|
| How stories are gathered | One question at a time by email, 52 over a year; the teller types or uses voice-to-text | Voice visits of 15 to 20 minutes with a live interviewer that asks follow-ups, plus a 30-second daily card; no typing, no login for the teller |
| Follow-up questions | None stated; the next scheduled question follows | One record of every person, place, saying and story; the next question comes from what is still missing |
| What you get | The answers and photos printed as a full-colour keepsake book (their product page says up to 500 pages) with a template cover | A designed, finished book: a memoir in the teller's own words, or a novel built on the true story with what was invented listed at the back |
| Ownership | Export of the stories is not stated on their pages; check their site | You own every recording and word; export everything free, any time; no subscription |
| Price | About $79 for the year-long programme and one book; extra copies about $40 (check their site) | One-time price; no renewal |
| If it isn't finished | A 30-day money-back guarantee on the book | No deadline and no renewal: the record stays open until the book is finished, and we step in early if it stalls |
Verdict
Choose My Life in a Book if you want the cheapest printed book of a parent's own written or dictated answers and they will keep up with a year of prompts. Choose this if you want someone to listen and ask the next question, and a book shaped from what was said rather than a printout of the answers.
Switching from My Life in a Book
- Keep the written answers; they can be imported as told material and the interviewer carries on from what is still missing
Sources
Prices and features of other products are as published on their own sites at the time of writing and may have changed. If something here is wrong, write to hello@tellforth.com and we will fix it.