How to turn a life story into a printed book
TL;DR
To turn a life story into a printed book, gather the stories, arrange them into chapters, add a few photos with captions, and save the whole thing as a printready PDF. A local print shop or an online printer can then make a handful of copies, even just one. A5, the size of a typical paperback, is a good choice: easy to hold and affordable to print.
To turn a life story into a printed book, gather the stories, arrange them into chapters, add a few photos with captions, and save the whole thing as a print-ready PDF. A local print shop or an online printer can then make a handful of copies, even just one. A5, the size of a typical paperback, is a good choice: easy to hold and affordable to print.
Step 1: Gather what you have
Collect everything in one place: written memories, notes from interviews, transcribed recordings, letters and photos. Don't worry about order yet.
If you're still collecting stories, our guides on recording a parent's life story and writing your own can help.
Step 2: Arrange the chapters
Most life stories work best in order of time: childhood, youth, work, family, later years. Some work better by theme, for example "the houses we lived in" or "the people who shaped me". Pick whichever feels natural for the stories you have.
Aim for chapters of similar length. Five to fifteen chapters is common.
Step 3: Choose the photos
A few good photos are better than many small ones. One or two per chapter is plenty. Choose pictures that show something from the text, and write a caption for each: who, where and roughly when.
Faded or damaged photos look worse in print than on screen. If you can, restore them first.
Step 4: Add the small extras
These make the book feel finished:
- a title page with the person's name and dates
- a short introduction explaining why the book was made
- a simple family tree at the start or the end
- a contents page
Step 5: Check it carefully
Ask at least one other person to read the full text. Names, dates and place names are where mistakes hide, and those are the details the family will care about most.
Step 6: Make a print-ready PDF
Printers need a PDF set to the right page size, with images in good quality. Word processors can export PDFs, but getting margins, page numbers and photos right can take a while.
Step 7: Print a few copies
You don't need a big print run. Options include:
- A local print shop: you can see a sample first and talk to a real person.
- Online printing services: often cheaper for several copies, and some deliver to other countries, which helps with family abroad.
Order one copy first and check it before ordering more.
Doing it in one place
Vibitely's Life Story does steps 2 to 6 for you: it interviews you or a relative at your own pace, writes the chapters, lets you add photos, and gives you a print-ready A5 book PDF along with a website the family can visit. The first chapter is free.