Personal historian

What a personal historian does, and how we work.

A personal historian helps someone tell their life story and turns it into a lasting record. We interview you over several sessions, draft the chapters from your own words, let you edit them, and print the result as a hardcover your family keeps.

What a personal historian does

A personal historian sits with a person, asks about their life, and shapes what they say into something readable and permanent. Traditionally this is a ghostwriter who meets them over months and bills by the hour. The job is the same whatever the tools: draw out the stories, get the facts and the voice right, and put them in a form the family can hold.

We are personal historians who work at a different price. The interviewing is done by an AI interviewer that never tires and never rushes you, so you can talk for as long as you like, whenever it suits you. The writing is drafted from your recorded answers, and you review and edit it yourself before it prints.

How we work

1.InterviewsAn AI interviewer asks about your life across several sessions. Up to 25 hours, at your pace, on your schedule. It listens, follows up, and keeps your real voice recordings.
2.DraftingWe draft each chapter from what you actually said. Your words, your phrasing, organised into a story that reads like a book and not a transcript.
3.Your editsYou read the drafts and edit anything that is wrong or missing, yourself, in your workspace. Nothing prints until it is right.
4.HardcoverWe print a bound hardcover and ship the first copy to you. Photos go in the book, and we can restore old and damaged ones.

Honest about how the book gets made

The book is AI-drafted from real interviews, and then you review and edit it yourself. No Yourtale employee rewrites it, we never claim a ghostwriter wrote it from scratch, and we never invent stories you did not tell. The words come from the recordings.

You also keep the raw material: the actual voice recordings, the full transcripts, and a lifetime cloud archive. The hardcover is printed to last.

What the book costs

  • Up to 25 hours of interviews with an AI interviewer
  • A hardcover book, written from her own words, yours to review and approve
  • Her real voice archive, the actual recordings, kept for the family
  • Full transcripts and a lifetime cloud archive
  • Unlimited photo upload, up to 100 AI restorations
  • The first printed copy, free shipping in the US
  • Full refund after the first session if it isn't for you
The Yourtale memoir, bound hardcoverStoryTerrace Swift, cheapest human ghostwriter equivalent
$1,200
Her original voice archivethe real recordings, her actual voice, kept for the family
$297
Full transcripts and lifetime cloud archive
$197
Photos: unlimited upload, up to 100 AI restorationsold and damaged photographs repaired and printed
$147
Real value
$1,841   Your price $199

Every dollar is a real competitor's real price. You pay $199, one time, the founding rate while we print the first ten books.

$199one-time, no subscription
Start a free session

No card to start. We charge when you order the book, and refund in full after the first session if it isn't for you.

Questions

What is a personal historian?

A personal historian interviews a person about their life and turns it into a written record, usually a book. The role has existed for as long as ghostwriters have. We do the same job with an AI interviewer and AI drafting, with you in control of the edits.

How much does a personal historian cost?

Traditional personal historians and memoir ghostwriters charge from a few thousand dollars into five figures. We charge $199, one time, the founding rate while we print our first ten books.

Is the book actually written by AI?

The first draft is AI-written from the recorded interviews. Then you review and edit every chapter yourself before anything prints. No Yourtale employee rewrites it for you.

Who owns the recordings and the book?

You do. You keep the voice recordings, the transcripts, and the printed book. We keep an archive so you can come back to it.