Start with a conversation.
A complete guide to preparing, recording, and listening well—so the stories only they can tell have somewhere to begin.
Interview KitA guide to one of the most meaningful conversations your family will ever have.Every family deserves a biography
Everything you need to begin well.
The Kit is free, complete, and genuinely useful on its own. Use it to interview a parent, grandparent, spouse, relative, or someone else whose stories matter to you.
You can use it even if you never make a book with Echoes.
Practical guidance for a better conversation.
Forty-four editorial pages move from preparation to preservation without making the conversation feel like a project plan.
Choose the setting
Invite the storyteller, make the room comfortable, plan the time, and ask for clear consent.
Use the phone you have
Simple placement and sound checks help you make a clear recording without special equipment.
Ask better questions
Prompts by life chapter help the conversation move naturally, with room for pauses and surprise.
Follow the person
Guidance on pacing, sensitive subjects, and the difference between listening and interrogating.
Save what you record
A practical approach to naming, backing up, and keeping the original files safely.
Know what comes next
Use the recordings as a family archive—or send them to Echoes to become a Family Biography.
The questions matter. The listening matters more.
You do not need a perfect plan or a polished performance. You need curiosity, care, and enough quiet for someone to remember aloud.
One guide. Your own pace.
Read the short preparation pages
Decide whom to interview, choose a comfortable setting, and ask for consent.
Choose the questions that feel right
You do not need to ask everything. Let the storyteller’s memories shape the conversation.
Record and keep the files
Use a phone, check the sound, and save at least one backup of every conversation.
Record the stories only they can tell.
The first conversation can begin today, without buying anything.
Those conversations can become a biography.
The $98 Echoes Family Biography turns up to five hours with one primary storyteller into a reviewed first-person biography, one printed book, and digital files your family can keep.