A guided tour

See how a life becomes a book.

Every screen below is the real Heirsake, shown with a memoir we grew from a handful of spoken answers. This is the whole of it: ask a warm question, listen, and keep what they say.

Try it yourselfRead the full example →

  1. Every week

    A few warm questions, nothing more.

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    We send two or three gentle questions, written for the person whose story it is. They answer whenever a memory surfaces, out loud from any phone or by typing a few lines. There is never a blank page to face, only an easy thing to talk about.

    Heirsake's weekly questions, written warmly for the storyteller, with a place to answer by voice or in writing.

  2. The keepsake

    Their words become a passage, in their own voice.

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    We listen to each answer and write it into the book the way they would tell it, then set it among the photographs. The result reads like a finished memoir, because it is one. Open it on a phone, read it aloud, or print it as a hardcover.

    A finished chapter in the Heirsake reader, titled After Supper, Before Dark, set in a warm serif with a copper drop cap.

  3. Photographs and letters

    Bring in the pictures you already have.

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    Add photos from your camera roll, old letters, and scans. We draft a caption and a description to begin from, and you make every word true. Each one finds its place on the page, beside the story it belongs to.

    The photos screen showing an uploaded black and white family photograph with a caption and description ready for the family to refine.

  4. Always yours to shape

    You have the last word, every time.

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    Nothing is ever published on its own. Read the draft, ask for changes in plain language, and decide when a chapter is ready for the family to see. The book stays exactly as the family wants it.

    The book editor showing a chapter draft beside a panel for asking for changes in plain language, with a review and publish button.

  5. Shared with the family

    Kept close, and easy to pass around.

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    Share one private link and the whole family can read along, no account needed. Anyone can even email a photo or a note straight into the book. It stays private until you choose otherwise.

    The book's sharing options: a private read-only link, and a private address the family can email photos and notes to.

  6. A living archive

    It keeps growing, for as long as the stories do.

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    A wedding, a new grandchild, a move across the country. Life keeps adding chapters, and the book grows with it. One family can keep many books, gathered in one place, all theirs to keep.

    A family library showing two memoir covers side by side, The House on Linden Street and The Shop on Mulberry Street.

Try it yourself

Answer one question.
Watch it become a passage.

No account needed. Say it in your own words and we will write it the way a memoir would, in moments. We use only what you say.

When you are ready

The questions you keep meaning to ask are the ones worth asking now.

Begin their book today and the first question goes out this week. It is free to start, and it is yours to keep.

Start their bookRead the full example →