Storytelling Services
Storytelling services help people capture a parent’s, grandparent’s, or their own life stories through prompts, writing, phone calls, audio, video, AI-assisted transcription, or professional interviews. Most are designed to produce a memoir, audiobook, or keepsake—not to become the permanent home for the family’s complete heritage.
What is a family storytelling service?
A family storytelling service provides a structured process for eliciting, recording, organizing, and publishing personal memories—usually around one storyteller or one book project.
The product is usually the finished story.
Some services deliver a printed memoir. Others preserve an audiobook, recordings, or a multimedia book. Premium services pair the storyteller with a professional writer. The central workflow is finite: capture the story, shape it, and produce the keepsake.
Families may need both: a focused tool to capture a life story and a long-term environment where that story remains connected to people, media, places, voices, and future generations.
Written prompts
Questions arrive by email, text, or app and the storyteller writes answers over time.
Voice-first capture
The storyteller speaks by phone or browser while software records, transcribes, and organizes the response.
Multimedia books
Printed pages connect to original audio or video using QR codes or digital companion experiences.
Professional memoirs
A human interviewer or ghostwriter conducts interviews and produces a polished, custom-written book.
Leading approaches to family storytelling
These services are not interchangeable. The most important distinction is not the number of prompts—it is how the storyteller participates and what the family ultimately receives.
Times of My Life
Times of My Life guides a storyteller through structured interviews, then uses AI to turn the conversation into a substantial written story. Photos, video, and narration can be included, with outputs designed to remain connected to the wider Leaves Family Heritage Hub.
- 125+ guided topics and free-form storytelling
- AI-written first- or third-person stories
- Photos, video, and optional narration
- PDF, MP3, and MP4 output options
Storyworth
Storyworth sends questions by email or text over a year. Storytellers can write or, depending on the plan, share stories by phone. The family follows along and ultimately produces a printed memoir.
- Weekly prompts and a large question library
- Writing and phone-based options
- Family sharing and unlimited photos
- Hardcover book included with plans
Remento
Remento sends prompts by text or email. The storyteller records audio or video without downloading an app, and Speech-to-Story technology turns the recordings into editable written narratives.
- Audio and video recording
- AI-assisted narrative transformation
- Unlimited family collaborators
- Printed book with QR links to recordings
Storii
Storii calls the storyteller by phone with guided prompts, making it useful for people who do not want to use an app or computer. Recordings are transcribed and can be downloaded as an audiobook and eBook.
- Works with landlines and ordinary phones
- Scheduled calls and 1,000+ prompts
- Recording, transcription, and AI rewrite
- Downloadable audiobook and eBook
Meminto
Meminto supports life stories and many other book types, using editable questions, text, voice, video, speech-to-text, and AI writing assistance to create a printed and optionally digital book.
- Text, voice, video, and app-based input
- Multiple themed book formats
- Speech-to-text in multiple languages
- Printed book with multimedia elements
StoryTerrace
StoryTerrace pairs clients with a professional writer who conducts interviews, develops the narrative, and works with editors and designers to create a custom hardcover memoir.
- Professional interview and ghostwriting
- Editing, design, and project management
- Highly customized narrative structure
- Premium pricing and concierge involvement
How the leading storytelling models differ
This matrix compares the public product architecture—not subjective writing quality, which depends heavily on the storyteller, source material, editing choices, and service level.
| Capability | Times of My Life | Storyworth | Remento | Storii | Meminto | StoryTerrace |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Primary workflow | Guided AI interview to multimedia story | Weekly prompted memoir | Audio/video recording to printed book | Phone calls to audio memoir | Flexible multimedia book creation | Human interviews and ghostwriting |
| Written answers | Yes | Core option | Editing after recording | Transcription output | Yes | Writer creates manuscript |
| Voice recording | Yes | Plan dependent | Core option | Core model | Yes | Interviews recorded |
| Video recording | Supported in stories | Not a core output | Yes | Uploads may be supported | Yes | Not the primary deliverable |
| AI-assisted writing | Core model | Guided interview and question tools | Speech-to-Story | AI biographical rewrite | AI credits and optimization | Human-written |
| Human interviewer or writer | Self-guided | Guided phone tools | Self-guided | Self-guided | Self-guided | Core service |
| Printed book included | Digital-first outputs | Yes | Yes | Digital audiobook/eBook focus | Yes | Yes |
| Original audio preserved | Yes | Available with voice workflows | QR-linked recordings | Core deliverable | Multimedia support | Interview files vary by package |
| Family collaboration | Within Leaves ecosystem | Family sharing | Unlimited collaborators | Family connections | Co-storytellers | Family review and input |
| Part of a broader family heritage platform | Yes | No | No | No | No | No |
| Typical starting price | Free capture; credits for outputs | From $59 | $99 | Subscription or gift-box pricing | Life Book from $99 plus shipping | Professional packages from several thousand dollars |
| Best fit | Families wanting substantial multimedia stories connected to a hub | People comfortable with a year of steady prompts | People who prefer speaking and want a QR-linked book | Older adults who need a simple telephone workflow | Families wanting flexible themed multimedia books | Families wanting a professionally written premium memoir |
A finished memoir is valuable—but it is still one artifact
Storytelling services solve one of the hardest family-preservation problems: getting someone to begin. A Family Heritage Hub solves the next problem: keeping the resulting story connected, discoverable, shareable, and meaningful across the family over time.
A storytelling service usually centers on one storyteller
- A defined prompt sequence or interview project
- A memoir, audiobook, recording collection, or printed book
- A beginning, production period, and finished deliverable
- Family members mainly act as recipients or collaborators
A Family Heritage Hub centers on the family
- Stories from many relatives remain connected to one another
- Media, places, documents, voices, and traditions retain context
- The archive continues growing after one story is finished
- Family participation and governance persist across generations
Start with the storyteller—not the feature list
The service with the most technology is useless if the person whose stories matter will not use it.
Will they write, speak, or only answer a phone?
Typing-based services work well for motivated writers. Voice and video reduce friction. Scheduled phone calls may be the only realistic workflow for a reluctant or less technical elder.
Do you want exact words or a polished narrative?
Transcripts preserve the storyteller’s phrasing. AI and human writers can create a more readable narrative, but families should review how much editing or interpretation is introduced.
What should survive after the book?
Consider whether the family needs the original recordings, editable text, photos, video, exports, future access, multiple copies, and a permanent place to keep the story connected.
Explore related family-heritage categories
Storytelling is one layer of preservation. These guides show how it relates to family platforms, AI personas, genealogy, and long-term media organization.
Family Heritage Hub Platforms
Compare broader platforms designed to preserve multiple forms of family heritage in one environment.
AI Legacy Platforms
Compare interactive memory, voice-persona, recorded-response, and digital-twin products.
All Comparison Guides
Explore genealogy, cloud storage, digital legacy, private family networks, and more.
How this guide was prepared
Research basis: The feature descriptions and pricing references above are based on public product pages, help materials, and checkout information reviewed on July 29, 2026.
Scope: This is a category-level guide. It does not assess the literary quality of individual books, customer-service performance, print durability, privacy terms, or every available package. Families should verify current pricing, page limits, shipping, renewals, exports, and ownership before purchasing.
Disclosure: This guide is published by Leaves, which develops Times of My Life and the Leaves Family Heritage Hub. We identify that relationship directly and avoid numerical rankings, paid placement, or claims based on undisclosed testing.
The goal is not merely to make a book. It is to preserve the person inside the story.
Times of My Life helps families capture substantial stories with words, photographs, video, and voice—then keep them connected to the family’s wider heritage.