More Than a Life Story Book: 8 Best Ways to Document a Life

I spent years interviewing older adults for my previous job, and after hearing their amazing life stories, I felt a calling to help people document their memoirs more easily. Why was it that the 30-year CIA agent and the world-travelling grandmother had never written their incredible adventures in a life story book?  The answer was always “I never took the time” or “I’m not a writer.” I began investigating what methods existed for documenting one’s personal history.  It turns out, there are so many more ways than just writing an autobiography! Here are a few of the many options I found.

1. Book writing/self-publishing

This is the format most people think of: sitting long hours at a computer (or on paper!) writing out everything that has happened to you, trying to organize it chronologically, finding the best story structure to make it interesting and fun to read. While some people love the months-or-years-long writing process to create a life story book, others can find it to be overwhelming. If you are someone who presses through and completes writing their memoirs, there are a handful of places on the web that will let you print a small batch of books (most publishing operations prefer to print hundreds or thousands of books at a time). To self-publish a book of your life, we recommend Lulu.com.  They have nice customizable cover options and their website walks you through the process of setting up your book to print.

2. Services that send you email prompts to respond to, eventually binding your answers into a life story book.

These services are affordable and create a nice book. Some examples include LifeStoryPro and the well-known StoryWorth. Generally speaking (with some variation between them), they will email you question each week, including interesting questions you never thought to write about, such as "What things do you think you could not live without?" or "Do you have any regrets in life?". You email back a story answer, optionally shared with family. A year’s worth of stories are bound into a keepsake book. These services are a GREAT product to really get people thinking about unique thought questions, but if you're looking to document someone's personal history, some of these questions seem more philosophical than straight-up historical; if you were reading this 100 years from now, its great to know how someone felt, but its also important to know the names and dates of where they lived and worked. A true autobiography should cover both.

And in the end, it’s a printed book. Books tell a great story, but when I think of my grandparents, it’s their face and voice I miss. A book lacks your audible voice and your visible emotions for your loved ones to see. Studies show that youth and adults are reading fewer and fewer books nowadays, with an onslaught of visual media in their lives. I have spoken to a few people who’ve had a loved one participate in such book creation services, and even though they received a copy of the finished book, several of them admitted they had never taken the time to read it.  I have some concerns that long format books are not the best way to capture one’s story anymore if we want future generations to consume or enjoy it easily.

3. Professional ghostwriting services

Ghost writing services are a great resource. A popular example of these is StoryTerrace.  StoryTerrace matches you with a professional writer to create a life story book. You (or your loved one) are interviewed by the writer for several days. The writer then goes away and writes out your stories to your liking, and your book is printed and delivered to you. This is a great product and can cost many thousands of dollars. Who wouldn't want a professional writer to tell their story, if you can afford this high level of cost for the individualized attention?

4. Audio only / Podcast recordings

There exist several services now, such as Audiobiography, where you can record your answers to life story questions, and each story becomes a short podcast file you can share with your loved ones. A great idea, and super helpful for people on the go who can listen to their loved one’s stories while driving, cooking, or exercising.  One concern I have is, if your loved ones’ stories are hosted on the service’s podcast app/website, what happens if the service goes out of business?  How will you access those files?  If downloading is possible, recipients may benefit from creating a system for downloading and saving all those audio files to a safe place.

5. Services that create a book through recording your voice.

We’ve seen several of this type of service available lately, including Remento  and Storii. These are a great concept and very affordable. They result in a nice audio, e-book, or printed book, sometimes offering a QR code or links so you can listen to the original story teller’s recording, if desired.

While the ease for the user is apparent, the recipient of these products may face some of the challenges I’ve mentioned above: it’s a traditional book (will future generations take the time to read it?), and the audio/video files of the recordings seem to be stored on the company’s servers accessible via QR code (what will happen if the company goes out of business?). On one of these, it appears your loved ones will even need to create an account just to view your stories. Just some things to think about. Without having purchased all these services, we can’t be sure there isn’t a way to download all the audio/video files, but if one does, is there an organized way to store them? Forever?

6. Video – Home Recordings

Many of us think, “I just need to sit down with Dad and record him talking about his life.” With a camera in every pocket, this is a reasonable idea. However, it may not be as simple as all that. Many adult children spend hours in advance researching what questions to ask their parent to create a great narrative.  And once you’ve scheduled and recorded several video interview sessions with your parent, you may find yourself with hours of unedited raw footage on your phone. If you have someone in your life who is skilled at video editing, draw on their expertise to assist you in cutting it down to a watchable movie length. And consider how you’d like to distribute and store the movie: Not all movies fit on traditional DVDs – and do you have the hardware to burn DVDs? Perhaps put the movie on YouTube -- but do you want all their personal stories out there on the internet? These are all things to consider when planning how to record a loved one’s story for friends and family. 

7. Video – Professional Documentarian 

Independent videographers and documentarians can be hired to come to your home to interview you and follow you around for a few days to film a proper documentary. Things like air travel and hotel lodging are often a part of their charges. I have seen prices ranging from $1,500 to $30,000 for such services. You can search online for these professionals using search terms like "legacy video" and "life story video." Clearly a wonderful and personalized product for those who can afford it!

8. VividMemoirs – Your simple way to create a personal keepsake documentary for your friends and loved ones

After reviewing all these choices, I decided to create VividMemoirs, a website where users can record their video responses to life story questions, and we’ll generate a custom documentary quickly and affordably for anyone. I didn’t want people to have to worry about crafting their words in writing, but simply telling the story the way they would to their friends and loved ones. By creating open-ended questions, we've built a formula that allows people to answer in their own unique ways, documenting not just thought questions, but also times, dates, and events that will help future generations understand what transpired during the subject’s lifetime. It allows viewers to hear your voice and see your emotions. And it can all be done in the span of a few sittings in the comfort of your own home, followed up by uploading some photos. No year-long emailing, no days of documentary crews following you around. Just you and your favorite computer moving through the video questions at your own pace. One recent user said “Sure, I could sit down with Mom and spend hours recording her and editing, but this is so much easier!”

And when you’re done – you own your digital movie! No need to use QR codes to link back to our servers forever – just your own keepsake edition to store on your computer -- or a packaged copy on your media shelf with other great stories of history!  

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Whatever format you choose, we encourage everyone to record their own story. History will have a far richer record of this period of time than any previous era thanks to technology. Be a part of it! Contact us with questions at info@vividmemoirs.com.