Before Now is a life history collection kit that helps you capture and preserve your loved ones' stories and wisdom through conversations. The starter pack includes question cards covering different life aspects, from childhood memories to life advice. You'll record conversations with your loved one using the cards as prompts, then send the recording to us to be turned into a beautiful book.

We recommend about an hour for each conversation, but you can be flexible based on you and your loved one's energy and interest levels. You can create a Before Now book from just one conversation or have multiple sessions - though we suggest not having more than one per day.

Before Now can be adapted for different needs. For those who might need a shorter session, we recommend shorter 20-30 minute sessions, focusing on one category at a time, and choosing the best time of day for your loved one. You can also have a family member or carer present and use photographs to help prompt memories.

More than one person can ask the questions, as long as you speak one at a time, but we do not recommend more than one person answering during the same recording. This is because it can affect recording quality (people talking over each other, more background noise etc) and increase the risk of mistakes in the transcription. But, if you would like to transcribe and check your conversation yourself, we are happy to create a Before Now book with any amount of speakers!

That's completely normal and we've designed Before Now with this in mind. Before each session, your loved one can fill out a 'Questions I am Happy to be Asked Today' sheet to indicate which topics they're comfortable discussing. You can also skip any questions that don't feel right and use our blank 'Write Your Own' cards for personalised questions.

We take data protection seriously and fully comply with GDPR requirements. Your recordings are transmitted and stored securely, and we only use them for creating your Before Now books. All our processes have been carefully designed with privacy in mind. For complete details about how we handle your personal information, please refer to our privacy policy.

We use a local AI transcription tool to securely and efficiently transcribe the recordings sent to us before they are thoroughly checked and edited by humans and then manually compiled into you book. Because the tool runs locally on our systems rather than in the cloud, your data never leaves our infrastructure. We take your data security extremely seriously and are committed to ensuring it is treated as securely as possible at all times. All of our artwork is made by humans and we will always prioritise human work and connection over AI.

Yes! Once you order your first book, you'll be able to order as many copies as you'd like to share with family and friends.

Each pack contains:

• 2 decks of 54 question cards (Reflections and Guidance)
• Helpful, easy-to-follow instructions
• 5 'Questions I am Happy to be Asked Today' sheets

You'll just need a recording device (a phone is perfect!)

Because our books are made by humans, and are bespoke records of your conversation that balance readability with accuracy, it can take a couple of weeks for the first draft to arrive in your inbox for checking. Once you've finalised and uploaded photographs, it will take another week to send out the final book to you. We are working to improve this timeframe as we grow.

Sadly, we don't yet support translation services, only transcription. We are working to amend this; one of Before Now's founding principles is that life history should be accessible for everyone. As we grow our business, we will reinvest our profits into providing the best, most inclusive services for our customers.

Yes - we have some sample questions available here.

Yes, you need to upload your recording and order your book within 12 months of purchase. Please contact us if you have any further questions using the form below.

Yes! During a single book order you can add up to 3hrs' worth of recordings / transcripts in one go. You can upload multiple files - as long as its under the specified total file size for the recording length you have paid for, there is no maximum number of files you can upload.