How it works
One link, however many people, one book
Set up the book
A few minutes
Who it is for, the occasion, and the chapters you want the book arranged into. None of these answers lock anything, and you can change all of it later.Share one link
As long as you want to leave it open
Send the same link to everyone, or sort people into groups, each with its own link and its own prompts. It opens on a phone, needs no account and no app, and takes a few minutes. You choose when to stop taking messages. A birthday or memorial board has no deadline; a leaving board is open for 60 days from setup. You can add a message for someone yourself at any point.Watch it arrive
Messages, spoken messages and photographs appear as people send them, and you see every one. On a board open to anyone with the link, people can read what others have added. On a private board, only you can. Nobody but you sees the book being made.Arrange it
The book arranges itself into a first draft, and then it is yours. Move things, take things out, change how a page is laid out, crop a photograph, fix a name somebody spelled wrong. What you see on screen is what will be printed.Approve it and it is printed
Delivery estimate shown before you confirm
Approving prepares the finished book as a PDF with the cover and every page in it, and you read it through before anything is ordered. Then it is printed and posted. You see the delivery estimate for the address you are sending to before you confirm, and nothing prints until you do.
What we do, so they don’t have to
Structure, design, guidance, prompts: that’s our job. Knowing the person: that’s yours. The book reads as if everyone knew exactly what to say. We helped them know.
What the people you invite have to do
Open a link, then write something, say it out loud, or add photographs, in any mix. That is the whole of it. There is no account to make, no password, and nothing to install. Some work networks block the page. If theirs does, the same link works on their phone, or you can add their message for them.
They will not be asked to write a lot. A short message from somebody who knew the person for a year is worth as much in the book as a long one from somebody who knew them for thirty.
Who can see what
You see everything. What everyone else sees depends on the book.
A birthday board is private unless you choose to open it. Each person sees only the page they write on.
A memorial board can be read by anyone with the link, so the people who knew them can read what others have shared, unless you make it private.
A leaving board is open to everyone with the link, so colleagues can see what is there before adding theirs. The invitation asks them to keep it from the person leaving.
A private board still takes messages; stopping messages is a separate switch, and yours. On every book, nobody is shown who has been asked or who has not written, and only you (and any helpers you invite) see the book being made. We ask search engines not to list boards, and we never sell what is on them.
If something is wrong
You can change anything up to the moment you approve it, and if you edit after approving, the book tells you it has changed and asks you to look again before ordering. If a printed book arrives damaged or wrong, we replace it.