The book
A book made for one family.
Every commission ends in a clothbound hardcover, 8 × 10 inches, with your parent’s story and photographs set together, printed and bound for the people who will keep it.
Cloth, thread and foil.
The cover is bound in cloth and the title is stamped in foil, so the finished book feels like something made to be kept, not printed and put away.
The pages are sewn rather than glued, and a printed dust jacket wraps the cloth.
Inside, the book is printed in full colour, so restored photographs sit beside the parts of the story they belong to, not gathered in a section at the back.
Printing and binding are carried out by a professional production partner in New England.
The specification
- Size
- 8 × 10 inches
- Interior
- Full colour
- Cover
- Cloth hardcover
- Title
- Foil stamped
- Jacket
- Dust jacket
- Binding
- Sewn
- Production
- Printed and bound in New England
First person or third person. The family chooses.
First person
The book reads as your parent’s own account: close, conversational, and told from the inside of the life.
Third person
The book reads as a biography about them, with more distance and more room for context: the places, the times and the people around them.
Your photographs, placed where they belong.
Family photographs are collected digitally, so the originals stay with you. Where they need it, they are digitally restored.
Each photograph is placed beside the part of the story it belongs to. When the book is complete, you receive the high-resolution restored files.
From approved manuscript to finished books.
Family review
You read the manuscript and approve it before anything goes to production.
Design
The interior, cover and dust jacket are designed around the story and its photographs.
Final proof
A final proof is checked before anything is printed.
Printing and binding
Printed in full colour, sewn, bound in cloth and stamped in foil in New England.
Delivery
The finished books are delivered to you, with the restored photograph files.
About three months from the first interview to the finished books, depending on the depth of the project, family review and production.
Copies for the whole family.
Each commission includes a set of finished books: 10 with a Portrait, 15 with a Life Story and 20 with a Legacy. Additional copies may be ordered.
Private, always
- Never published
- Your family’s book is private. It is never publicly published.
- Never used in marketing
- Client photographs and stories are never used to promote BrightSide.
- Used only for your book
- Interviews and project materials are used only to create the biography you commissioned.
- Approved by you
- The family reviews the manuscript before anything goes to production.
- In writing
- Every commission is covered by a written confidentiality agreement.
The book begins with a conversation.
Tell us who the book is for. We’ll talk it through, recommend a scope and send a written proposal.
Start a conversation