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Commissioned Personal History · Life storiesA Life in Chapters
A thematic memoir built around the roles and seasons that mattered most.
Standard edition · $800.00
20-page designed archival PDF, approximately 3,500–5,000 words; title and dedication, narrative, selected chronology, photo captions if supplied, source and uncertainty notes; MP3 narration and accessible TXT transcript. One private proof and one consolidated revision within scope.
Estimated 15–25 business days after complete usable materials and permissions; customer review and approved scope changes add time. Confirm gift deadlines before purchase.
Price reserves about 16 editorial hours at $50/hour across the full production workflow.
Commission standard editionExpanded edition · $1300.00
32-page archival PDF, approximately 6,000–8,000 words; MP3 narration, accessible TXT transcript, source notes, private proof and two consolidated revisions. Adds up to six further milestones and two further contributors within the same subject; two consolidated revision rounds; up to 90 source-recording minutes or 18,000 source-transcript words.
Estimated 25–35 business days after complete materials and permissions; review time excluded.
Commission expanded editionThe editorial assignment
one living subject; five named thematic chapters; up to ten milestones
Customer materials and free accessible sources only; no exhaustive genealogy, title search, legal verification or guaranteed finding.
Questions that shape your story
- What five chapter titles would you give your life?
- Which role felt most like you, and which surprised you?
- Tell one scene that captures each chapter.
- Where do the chapters overlap or contradict each other?
Fictional sample spread · all people and records inventedA Life in Chapters — a fictional sample spread
Nora called one chapter Learning to Stay. It covered three addresses and two occupations, but its subject was belonging. A letter placed her in the second flat by October; she remembered the first winter only as the year the pipes froze. The chapter keeps those two kinds of knowledge beside one another. A thematic structure lets her return to the same question at different ages without suggesting she had already found its answer.
This is a two-page design and writing preview, not a complete purchased edition.
Photos, files and your own voice
Choose your own permitted photos, separately approved licensed non-identifying stock, or a typography-only design. No generated identifiable people. No new stock purchase is included.
Standard archival PDF plus accessible TXT and MP3. On request, a DOCX reading copy of the approved text, without reproducing the print layout. No print book or physical delivery is included.
Supply written answers, your existing transcript (up to 12000 words), or your own usable MP3/M4A recording (up to 60 minutes). Save the speakers’ consent in private intake before uploading audio. Recordings are source material for the written edition. Edited original-voice audio and verbatim interview transcription use the separately purchased Interview Companion; narration of the approved history remains included.
Review, privacy and research boundaries
Paid order, private intake and permitted uploads, scope check, writing and design, private proof, one consolidated revision within scope, explicit approval, final private delivery. Paid research is excluded; no archive purchase, subscription, certificate fee or outside researcher is authorized by ordering. Any outside expense needs a separate written quote and explicit customer consent before commitment; the customer pays the provider directly.
You approve names, exclusions and the private recipients. Living subjects and contributors must permit their material and may review their contributions. Customer files use the existing private project system; public portfolio use requires separate consent. No claim of a verified event is made from a recollection alone.
Original MP3 narration of the approved text and a matching accessible TXT transcript. Customer voice is never cloned. Licensed music and commercial clips are excluded.
Standard: one consolidated revision within the purchased scope. Expanded new editions: two. A new subject, substantial new source material or a later change of direction requires a separate accepted quote. No interview scheduling, travel, printing, archive fee, legal advice or guaranteed discovery is included.
The existing Signature Plate remains an optional separately priced physical upgrade with its own proof, approval and U.S. delivery restrictions.