Our Process: Inside the Story Studio
Everything you need to create, edit, and preview your book, all in one place.
When you order an Heirloom & Bound book, you give us the details and we bring the story to life. The Story Studio is where that happens. One link in your email brings you here, and each time you return, a simple tracker shows where your book is and what your next step is.
Here is the whole journey, from your first memory to the finished book.
Step 1: Create your story
The Guided Interview
Sharing your family's memories is a guided experience, so you can take your time. Your answers save as you go, you can come back whenever you like, and you can edit your answers later. Start with a few details about you, then move through the story one part at a time. Nothing needs to be finished in one sitting.
Add your real family photos (optional). We love being able to put your real photos on the last page of each book. Upload up to four (JPEG, PNG, HEIC, or WebP), and you will see exactly where each one will print on the page. You can rearrange and crop them as needed until the page looks just right.
Step 2: Build your characters
The Character Builder
Choose the features, coloring, and accessories for each person in your story, so each character looks like the people you love most, as you know them. Pick an age, a body shape, a face shape, a skin tone, hair, glasses, and more, and watch your character take shape. Make as many changes as you'd like until each one looks just right.
Pets are part of the family too. Choose from many breeds, colors, and markings to create the dogs and cats that matter to your story. You can add up to 12 characters, people and pets together.
Step 3: Edit the manuscript
The Manuscript Editor
Read your story in a full spread layout, just as it will look in the book: illustration on one side, text on the other. Each illustration has a summary of what will be drawn, and these are specific, so you can spot anything that doesn't match how you remember it before a single picture is made. You can add a character to a scene, add or remove a page, and see the outfit each character will wear, scene by scene, and change it yourself.
Step 4: Preview, refine, and approve for printing
The Revision Process
Once your illustrations are ready, you preview your finished, illustrated book right in the Story Studio, page by page. Details often come to mind once you see the pictures, and we planned for that. You can request edits to the illustrations on up to three pages, and request text edits on any page you need. Requests are made right on the page you're looking at, and everything saves automatically.
When every page feels right, you approve it, and your book goes to print.
Behind the scenes: where technology meets people
We do not use reusable templates or canned illustrations. Your book is built from your story, and that takes careful work on our side too.
- We start with your details. Your interview answers become the foundation for the story, written in a warm, child-friendly voice and guided by our own literary style guide.
- Your characters become our reference. The characters you build in the Character Builder guide the illustrations, so each person looks like themselves from the first page to the last.
- Every page is planned. Our in-house illustration technology plans each scene around what matters most emotionally in your story, so the moments you care about get the room they deserve.
- Quality checks catch what the eye can miss. Every illustration goes through checks for consistency with your characters and with the story's world. Anything that looks off is redone.
- People review every book. A person on our team reviews your book before it reaches you, and then you review it yourself in the Story Studio. Nothing is printed until you approve it.
We can't wait for you to see your book. Watching your family's story come to life on the page is our favorite part, and we are so excited for you to open it for the first time.
Questions along the way? Email us anytime at hello@heirloomandbound.com.
Thank you for trusting us with your family's stories.
Emilie
Founder, Heirloom & Bound