One storyteller doing homework —
or the whole family, together?
If you're weighing us up against a question-a-week book service like StoryWorth, here's the honest difference. It comes down to one thing: their price covers a storyteller. Ours covers a family.
Two very different models
Both preserve family stories. They go about it in almost opposite ways.
The question-a-week book service
One person receives an emailed question each week and types an answer. After a year, the answers are printed as a book. It's a lovely product — if the storyteller enjoys writing, keeps at it for a year, and a single book is the goal.
But it's one voice, working alone, to a deadline. For a parent who doesn't love typing, it can quietly become homework — and the stories stop when the book arrives.
The shared Family Vault
One price covers the whole vault — everyone you invite joins free. Mum records in her own voice while you guide the questions. Your brother adds the photos. The grandkids ask the questions you'd never think of. Nobody types unless they want to.
It isn't an assignment; it's a place your family actually uses — and 20 years of research says the sharing itself, together, is what builds resilient kids. And yes: when you're ready, it makes beautiful printed books too. That's one afternoon. The vault is every day.
Side by side
| Question-a-week services | MyStories FOREVER Vault | |
|---|---|---|
| Who takes part | One storyteller per subscription | The whole Family Vault — everyone you invite joins free |
| How stories are told | Typed answers to an emailed question each week | Voice, video, photos or writing — in their own voice, their own time |
| Doing it for an ageing parent | Mum answers the weekly email on her own | You interview her — your questions appear in giant text on her screen; she just talks |
| What it feels like | A weekly writing assignment | A shared family space — prompts, games, chats and catch-ups |
| The price covers | One storyteller | One vault, unlimited family members — and anyone can chip in on the cost |
| A printed book | Yes — the end product | Yes — beautifully, whenever you like. And the vault keeps living afterwards |
| After the first year | The book is done | The vault keeps growing — new babies, new milestones, new storytellers |
| The voice itself | Words on a page | The actual voice and laugh, kept forever, with AI transcription when you want text |
| Turning talk into a finished story | The storyteller writes it themselves, week after week | Have a natural chat, press a couple of buttons — a beautifully summarised, fully editable story, without the rambling |
Comparison reflects the typical question-a-week model at the time of writing. If all you want is a typed Q&A book from one person, those services do it well — we'd rather you choose the right tool than the loudest one.
Collaboration isn't a feature. It's the point.
Twenty years of Emory University research found that children who know their family's stories are measurably more resilient — and that the active ingredient isn't the facts, it's the act of sharing the stories together. A vault the whole family fills, questions the grandkids ask, answers in Nan's actual voice — that's the research, made into a place.
One price. One vault. Everyone plays. Every story a thread of resilience.
Want to see the research in action? Take the two-minute "Do You Know?" quiz
Start with a single story — free
No credit card, no weekly deadline. Record one story in five minutes and see how it feels when the whole family can join in.