The Story of Your Life

There’s no such thing as a boring life.

Biographies and autobiographies are increasingly popular books. We have all heard the saying ‘real life is better than fiction’. Do not underestimate the interest in your life story or experiences to others. Every life is unique and a mystery.

How many of us wish we had sat down with our great grandparents or grandparents, or even our parents, and asked them about their lives? Lives lived before we were born which would be lost to our children and their children.

The world has changed, and is changing, so rapidly that our childhood, let alone that of our parents, would seem like ancient history to our grandchildren.

Let The Oxford Editors help you preserve this history.

Write Your Life Story, Your Family History, Your Memoirs with the help of one of our experienced published authors and top journalists.

The process is simple.

1. A conversation with The Oxford Editors.
2. Preparation of your thoughts with the help of our questionnaire and suggestions.
3. First conversation with your designated author.
4. Follow up conversations; approval of the author’s text; choice of photos.
5. Printer’s proof to be approved by you and the author.
6. Printed copies of your book and its digital version on the internet.

Start the process today by calling us on 01865 238066

For overseas clients on 0044(0)1865 238066

OUR FEES:

Your Life Story / Memoir will be written by established published writers and journalists of long writing and life experience. No distinction is made between a short book and a long book as far as the quality of the writing is concerned. Every story deserves the best.

Fees are calculated according to the length of the text and the number of photos.

Hardback book – with text of up to 10,000 words, including up to 20 photos, plus 4 print copies and a digital copy £1,500

Hardback book – with text of up to 20,000 words, including up to 30 photos, plus 4 print copies and a digital copy £2,900

Hardback book – with text of up to 35,000 words, including up to 40 photos, plus 4 print copies and a digital copy £5,250

LEARN MORE

A conversation with The Oxford Editors:

Once you’ve decided to go ahead, and after your first conversation with The Oxford Editors, we will send you a questionnaire and suggestions to help you prepare for your first telephone or video contact with your author. This will help you gather the information, to have to hand, to make maximum use of your contacts with your author and speed up the preparation of the text and the photos for the printer. You do not have to fill in the questionnaire if this presents a problem. Just reading through it would help to jog your memory and prepare you for your first conversation with your author.

As many conversations as it takes:

Not all our clients work in the same way. Some need longer conversations, some more frequent conversations. There is no extra charge based on the number of conversations with your author. Your author will be free to decide what works best for each client.

Other options:

Some clients are not too fond of the telephone; some may be wary of video conferences; others prefer to record their initial thoughts on their own and submit an audio tape. The Oxford Editors are here to make the recording of your family history and the writing of your life story as pleasant an experience as possible. It will be fun as well as rewarding and emotional. Let’s talk and decide the best way forward for you.

Your first conversation would be to set out content:

– Type of life? For example we have had military men, businessmen, home makers, artists, academics, vagabonds and diplomats to name just a few.

– How far back, how many ancestors?

Structure of subsequent conversations:

• Based on the first conversation, your author will decide on, and discuss, chapter headings before moving on to content. This is where you will provide the main body of information, helped by your author and the chosen chapter headings.
• Your author will then get back to you with the text to be agreed between you. You can add any missing information at this stage, but not after any chapter has been completed. That is why the preliminary work based on the questionnaire and our suggestions is important. Your author will decide the limits of the content based on your chosen package.
• Your author will then finalise the text and make it ready for print. In the meantime, you will have chosen and submitted the photos that you wish to include in your book, with as much detail about each as possible – for example explanatory notes as to who, where, at what date and the significance, if any, of the particular photo. You will also indicate the chapter in which you want each photo included.
• Your author will submit the completed text plus the photos and the titles chosen for each photo to you. You will have the chance to review the photo dedications and make any corrections.
• We will then ask you to select one of your photos as the cover image. Your author can be of help should you be undecided. Should you not wish to place one of your own photos on the cover, The Oxford Editors can call on an image bank where you may pay for a different image.
• Please make sure that the photos you use are your own and you are not in breach of anyone else’s copyright. If any photos are provided by family members, friends or others, you should ask them for their written agreement to their inclusion in your book. They should also see and approve the photo dedication in the same way.

Once all the contents – texts, photos, book cover etcetera – are agreed, the final version of the book and its layout will be submitted to you before being sent to the printers. You, and your author, will be able to have a last look to make sure all is as intended and approve the proof.

The book will then be formatted, the cover designed, and sent to the printer. Four hardcover copies and a digital version will be made available. The hardback copies will be posted to the address provided by you.

How to submit your photos:

 Send as jpeg attachment to our email address: info@theoxfordeditors.co.uk.

Copyright   

Yours. The copyright in your story is important. We will not use any of your text or ideas for any purpose other than for your exclusive use. Should you wish to publish your work to a larger public independently, The Oxford Editors will have no stake in the publication. If you use our ghost writing service we agree to your use and publication of the work unless otherwise negotiated. Should your author consider your book to be of public interest, The Oxford Editors can help you get it before an agent or publishers. A fee will be negotiated for this service on an individual basis.

Our authors and ghost writing clients should make sure that other providers of such services do not deprive them of their copyright.

Please see our Terms and Conditions.