How it works
From the first conversation to the finished book.
Making a memoir properly takes time, care and the right people. This is how we go about it.
The steps
- A private conversation with me.We begin with a conversation, without obligation, about you, your family and what you would like them to know. Afterwards I send you a one-page Story Sketch, which is yours to keep whatever you decide.
- Meeting your interviewer.I match you with an interviewer whose background suits your story. You meet wherever you are most comfortable, whether at home, somewhere quiet nearby or by video, and each conversation lasts about ninety minutes.
- Agreeing the shape of the book.Early on, we agree together on the shape your story will take: its chapters, the people who belong in it and the turning points it should be built around.
- The monthly conversations.For the memoir, you meet your interviewer once a month. Between conversations your writer drafts the chapters, and you read each one as it is written.
- Your photographs.We scan your photographs and clean them up for print, and the originals stay with you.
- Your approval.Nothing goes to print until you have read and approved every page.
- Your book.Your book is designed page by page, printed on archival paper and bound by hand. Wherever we can, I deliver it in person, and many families choose to make a day of it.
A Profile follows the same path in one or two conversations.
The people involved
Your book is made by a small team, and each person brings a particular skill to it. Your interviewer, usually a former journalist or broadcaster, draws the stories out. Your writer stays with your book from beginning to end and turns the conversations into chapters in your voice. An editor and a proofreader check every page, and a designer and a hand binder make the book itself.
I oversee the whole project and remain your point of contact throughout.
The conversations are recorded and transcribed so that nothing is lost. We use software to transcribe the recordings, but every word of your book is written by a person.
Why an outsider listens
Parents tend to tell their children one version of their life, and some stories only ever come out for someone outside the family.
That is one reason we use professional interviewers rather than asking a member of the family to do it.