If you're looking for a Christmas gift that doesn't need to be shipped, yet is something really special, I wanna tell you what I think about StoryWorth 'cause I actually give it a lot of thumbs up. There's a lot of great things about it, but there are some challenges or some things you want to consider.
My sister actually bought it for my mom last Christmas and I thought it was the most cool gift, right? My mom actually likes to write and it's a way for you to prompt all these stories out of your family members. So whether it's a grandparent, a parent, a sibling, whatever, it's actually really cool way for you to get them to write their stories on paper.
And I thought I knew everything about my mom, but actually going through this process over the last year and it took 10 months, so it, we were really pushing it to get the deadline to get the book printed by Christmas. Over that like 10 months, I learned a lot about my mom, which was really cool. And I'll never, forget the time that we've spent writing, editing and creating this really cool final book and what I love is that the finished product actually looks really cool. Ours is about 200 pages I share a view of the black and white version. They recommend, which is really good recommendation to have your first copy printed in black and white. Because as you go through it, you're going to find either pictures or edits you'll want to make. So you print your first copy in black and white, make those edits, and then order a color copy, which is an additional cost but well worth it. The subscription includes one book printing with a color cover and black and white print, with an option to pay extra for color printing. The additional copies and printing costs are different, whether it's black and white or color.
The cover does come with its own color and you can choose the different from a bunch of different layouts and styles to choose from and whether you want a photo or not.
What I love most about StoryWorth is the structure. They prompt with emailed questions and it made it a lot easier for my Mom to start the writing process. They ask questions about your home growing up, what it was like when you met your spouse, what it was like when you became a grandparent, etc. But then it also gives you the flexibility to write a chapter all on your own. If you have a special memory like we do in our family tradition of handing down rings to the girls in our family from our great-grandmothers down to the next generations. So we have a title, a chapter titled The Rings, right? It's something unique to our family, and now it's captured and also in a different format and something to pass down from generation to generation.
I also love the writing structure in that you can edit it and you can share it with others along the way. So my sister and I were notified as my mom was writing and we could go in and look at new stories when finished.
What I think is more complex than I realized when we took this on is the time it would take not only for my mom to write the stories, but actually for us to help with the editing, with the proofreading and uploading photos. My Mom didn't have a good scanner, so we either had to have her take photos of the old photos or I had to scan them and then place carefully in the chapter.
The photos and the layout of the photos within the chapter - to me - are definitely more challenging if your family member who is receiving the gift is a little bit more challenged with technology and putting it all together. So consider your gift recipient and then make sure you're booking in time for those edits, uploading the pictures and the layout.
Other than that, I think it's very clear with their instructions in that you have one year to complete the writing and making sure it's ready to print. There are options to extend the subscription, but I give it a HUGE thumbs up because now we've got now these really cool memories captured in writing and in photos from my Mom and it's something that our family will cherish for many years to come.
I hope you check it out, and if you do, sign up for free in my community and I'll send you a coupon code for $10 off your first order. Happy writing and publishing!