One question a week · one hardcover book
You’ve been meaning to ask.
Every week for a year, your parent or grandparent gets one good question by email. They answer by talking or typing. After the last question, their answers arrive as a hardcover book, in their words.
$99 for the first 250 families, then $119 · Printed and bound in the US
The plan
How it works
Four steps. Nothing is sent to your storyteller until they say yes.
01
You order today.
A gift card to print for the day you give it, with a code they scan. Or tell us a date, and we email the invitation to them that morning in your name.
02
They say yes.
Your storyteller opens the invitation, tries their microphone, and picks a day of the week. The first question arrives the moment they say yes. We never contact them before they do.
03
One question a week.
By email, answered by voice note or typing. From your family page you can swap a question still to come. If they choose to share as they go, each chapter reaches your inbox and your family page once it is checked, and you can leave a note or add a photograph under it.
04
The book arrives.
After the 52nd question (about a year at one a week, longer if they slow down) we print every chapter as a 6 × 9 inch hardcover and ship it to you, or to them, in the US.
The book
A real hardcover, not a printout.
6 × 9 inches, every chapter they tell, with their photographs in black and white and their name on the cover. Printed and bound in the US. One copy is included; extra copies for brothers and sisters can be ordered when it prints.
What is included
- 52 weekly questions, and you can swap any still to come for one of your own
- Voice-note and typed answers, transcribed and edited into readable chapters. We fix spelling and flow and never add a sentence
- A family page for swapping questions still to come and, if they choose to share as they go, reading each chapter once it is checked, with your notes and photographs
- One 6 × 9 inch hardcover, printed and bound in the US
- A gift card to print with a code to scan, or an invitation we email on the morning you choose
Their words
Edited with a light hand.
Every answer is transcribed and shaped into a chapter they can read and correct along the way. We fix spelling and flow. We never add a sentence, so the voice on the page is theirs.
Photographs go in as they go: you or they add a snapshot under the chapter that mentions it, from any phone, with a line about who and when. We place it in black and white on that chapter's page.
Every week
One good question. Nothing to install.
An email arrives on the day they chose, with one question. They answer by talking into their phone, or by typing if they prefer. No app, no account, and we never phone or text them.
What was your first job, what did it pay, and what did you buy with the first money you earned?
How did you meet the person who mattered most, and what did you think of them the first time?
Walk me through the front door of the house you grew up in. What is the first thing you see?
Three of the 52. Read them all, with their follow-ups. Once they say yes, swap any question still to come for one of your own from your family page.
Why we built this
I wish I’d asked my grandfather more.
He was one of the most important people in my childhood. I wish I had made the time to sit with him and ask who he was, and what his story was.
A Year of Stories is what I would give anyone who still has that chance: one good question a week, and a book that keeps their story for the generations after.
Will, founder
The gift
Give a year of stories.
$99
Launch price for the first 250 families this year. From the 251st, $119.
One storyteller. Fifty-two questions. One hardcover book. A gift card to print for the day you give it, or an invitation we email to them on the morning you choose.
Paid once; it never renews. Full refund within 60 days, or within 30 days of their first question, whichever is later.
Questions
Before you ask them, ask us.
Who is this for?
Anyone whose stories you want on paper: a parent, a grandparent, a partner, an old friend. They need an email address and a phone or a computer. Giving to both parents? Choose 2 when you order. Each gets their own invitation, questions and book at the same price, and your one family page shows both.
When does it start? Can I give it on Christmas morning?
Whenever you give it. Print the gift card from your family page, with their name, your message and a code they scan, or give us their email and a date and we send the invitation that morning in your name. Christmas morning works. The first question arrives the moment they say yes, then one a week on the day they choose, and nothing else reaches them before that. The invitation never expires.
What if they are not good with technology?
If they can open an email and tap one button, they can do this. There is no app to install and no account to create. They talk into their phone or type. If they get stuck, a person at A Year of Stories helps them by email, usually the same day.
Is it a subscription?
No. You pay once and it never renews. The launch price is $99 for the first 250 families this year; from the 251st it is $119. Extra copies of the book can be ordered when it prints.
What is your refund policy?
Full refund within 60 days of buying, or within 30 days of your storyteller’s first question, whichever is later, no questions asked. After that there are no cash refunds, because the year is under way; if your storyteller stops, everything they told is printed as their book at no extra cost. Each book is printed to order from your storyteller’s own words, so it cannot be returned for change of mind, but if it arrives damaged or with an error we made, we reprint it free. Email hello@ayearofstories.com and a person replies.
What if they stop answering?
Life happens. We send one gentle reminder a few days after each question. After four quiet weeks we pause the questions and check in with you; they start again the moment your storyteller answers. If they decide to stop, everything they told is kept and printed as their book at no extra cost.
Can the family read along?
If your storyteller chooses to. When they say yes, they decide whether to share each chapter as it is finished or keep them all for the book, and they can change their mind on their own page. If they share, each chapter is emailed to you once a person has checked it, and it appears on your family page, where you can leave them a note and add a photograph under the story it belongs to. Anyone you give the family page link to can read it.
Can I add my own questions?
Yes. There are 52 questions, and you can read them all on the questions page. Once your storyteller says yes, your family page lets you swap any question still to come for one of your own. They are told it came from you.
Do you use software to write the chapters?
Software turns each recording into text and makes a first draft of the chapter under one rule: fix spelling and flow, add nothing. A person reads every chapter against the recording before it goes in the book, and the storyteller can have any line corrected by replying to any email. The voice on the page is theirs. The software is a typist, not an author.
How is this different from other memoir gifts?
We can only speak for ourselves, so here is what we chose. You pay once and it never renews. Your storyteller can talk or type, whichever suits them, on the day of the week they pick. A person reads every chapter against the recording before it goes in the book, and we never add a sentence. And the promises are in writing, in our refund policy.
What if my storyteller passes away during the year?
We are so sorry. Tell us and we stop the questions that day. Whatever they recorded is printed as their book at no extra cost, and we keep the recordings and send them to you whenever you ask. If they had not yet said yes, we refund you in full, whenever that is.