The Process
Every Heirloom Biography follows the same careful process — designed to make the experience easy, comfortable, and meaningful for you.
Free Consultation
30 minutes, no obligation
Every project begins with a relaxed conversation — just you and Kate. You'll talk about what you're hoping to create, who the biography is for, and which package feels right.
The Intake Call
Getting to know the story
Before any recording begins, Kate takes time to get to know your subject — or you, if this biography is for yourself. What periods of life feel richest. What you most want the finished book to contain. This shapes every conversation that follows and ensures nothing important gets missed.
The Interviews
Where the story comes to life
A series of warm, unhurried video conversations, each roughly 60 to 120 minutes. Kate asks the questions no one thinks to ask. Every session is recorded with permission and transcribed in full. No preparation is needed. The best stories surface naturally — and Kate knows how to find them.
The Writing
Craft, not transcription
Kate immerses herself in the recorded conversations, finds the shape of the story, and writes a narrative biography from scratch. This stage begins at around three weeks and scales with the length and complexity of the book.
Your Review
Your story, your approval
You receive a complete first draft. Read it, share it with family, sit with it. Two rounds of revisions are included — factual corrections, additions, anything you'd like adjusted or expanded. Kate incorporates your feedback and refines until the book is what it should be.
Your Book Arrives
Printed, bound, and yours
Kate coordinates professional printing and your finished hardcover copies are delivered to your door, along with a digital copy of the book. Then it's yours — to keep, to give to the people you love, and to pass down to people you'll never meet.
For the Family Legacy and Bespoke Archive Packages
AN EXPANDED PROCESS FOR AN EXPANDED SCOPE
Genealogical Research
Kate conducts original genealogical research spanning multiple generations using primary and secondary historical sources. This includes census records, immigration and naturalization documents, military service files, ship manifests, land records, and where relevant, international archives. All research is methodically documented, and every finding is sourced and verified where records allow. The scope of research is determined by what the historical record contains — Kate will give an honest assessment of what is traceable during the scoping process.
Family Member Interviews
The Family Legacy includes two to four additional recorded interviews with family members selected in consultation with the primary subject. These interviews are conducted separately and focus on the interviewee's own experience and perspective — not a retelling of the subject's story, but their firsthand account of it. The result is a multi-voice narrative in which the subject's life is seen from more than one angle.
The Family Tree
A researched and designed family tree is produced as a standalone graphic and included in the finished book. The tree is built from verified genealogical findings and covers the generations documented during the research phase. It is designed to be readable and printable at book size, and is also delivered as a high-resolution digital file.
The Records Appendix
Primary source documents uncovered during research — immigration papers, census entries, military records, and similar materials — are reproduced in a dedicated appendix at the back of the finished book. Each document is presented clearly with a brief contextual note. The appendix serves as a permanent reference for future generations and a transparent record of the research conducted.
