Storyworth alternative: one afternoon.
A year of weekly emails and a printed book, or 24 questions at the kitchen table and their story back in 2 days for $79. Which one depends on your parent.
Write their story, $79Also £65 incl. VAT · A$119 · C$109 · PDF, nothing renews
What Storyworth is
A subscription: your parent gets one question by email every week for a year, types (or dictates) an answer, and at the end the answers are printed as a hardback. As read on help.storyworth.com on 16 Oct 2026, the plans are Basic $69, Color $99 and Unlimited $199 for the year, with extra books $39 to $99 each. It works beautifully for a parent who likes email, likes writing and will keep going for 52 weeks.
Where it falls down
The three things families told us (r/AgingParents, r/Genealogy, r/RedditForGrownups): a 92-year-old does not want a year of homework; a parent in the early stage of memory loss may not have a year; and the family wants to be in the room asking, not reading answers typed alone. Several also wanted four copies for four siblings, which adds up at $39 to $99 a book.
What we do instead
One afternoon. You sit with them and ask our 24 questions, recording on your phone or typing rough notes.
Two days. We write 1,200 to 3,000 words in their own voice, in six to eight short chapters, from exactly what they said. Nothing invented, no dates guessed.
$79, once. A print-ready PDF with a title page; print as many copies as there are siblings. No subscription, nothing renews. £65 incl. VAT, A$119, C$109.
Side by side
Time to a finished story: Storyworth about a year · Life Story 2 days after the afternoon
Who does the asking: Storyworth an email · Life Story you, in the room
Format: Storyworth a printed hardback (extra copies $39–$99) · Life Story a PDF you print anywhere, any number of copies
Price: Storyworth $69 / $99 / $199 a year · Life Story $79 once
Best for: Storyworth a parent who enjoys writing weekly · Life Story a parent who would rather talk for an afternoon, or a family that cannot wait a year
Read the sample: Clare's 22 lines of notes about her mother Peggy, and the seven-chapter story written from them.
Questions
Is Storyworth bad?
No. For a parent who will happily answer an emailed question every week for a year and wants a hardback at the end, it is a good product. This page is for the family who wants the story this month, from one afternoon, as a PDF.
What are Storyworth's prices?
As read on help.storyworth.com on 16 Oct 2026: Basic $69, Color $99 and Unlimited $199 for the year, with extra printed books $39 to $99 each. Their pages are the source for their prices; check them before you decide.
Do we write the answers for them?
No. Everything in the story is what your parent said in the afternoon, in their voice, in order. We cut repetition and shape chapters; we do not add a fact, a date or a feeling they did not give.
Can we get it printed?
You get a print-ready PDF (A4 or US Letter, title page, short chapters). Any print shop binds it; many families also print one copy for each sibling.
What if we want to add more later?
Send a second afternoon's answers and we write the new chapters into the same story for the same price. There is no subscription and nothing renews.