Coordinator guide
Everything you need to know to go from “I want to get them a Byline” to the book in their inbox.
What you're doing
You're the coordinator — the person who sets up the gift and sees it through. Your job is to:
- Fill in the details about the recipient and what makes them them
- Write your own memory (50–150 words about a specific moment)
- Optionally invite up to four other people to add their memories
- Pay £29 to start the book
- Read the draft and approve it before it goes to the recipient
- Optionally add a printed hardcover for £69 after you've read it
Contributors pay nothing. Only you (the coordinator) pay the £29 upfront.
The wizard — step by step
Occasion
Pick the occasion — Farewell, Birthday, Retirement, Promotion, Graduation, Just because, or Other (with your own label). This sets the tone of the chapters.
About the recipient
Three short guided questions: who they are day-to-day, why this book and why now, and what you want them to take away from reading it. Aim for 50–150 words per answer. These answers shape the whole book and also appear in contributor invite emails to help people write relevant memories.
About you
Your name and email. You'll receive the order confirmation, the dashboard link, the preview, and the approval notification here. Your name appears in the invite emails as "organised by [you]."
Genre
Pick the genre — Literary, Light humour, or Adventure — for the MVP (more genres coming). Each occasion has a suggested default. The genre shapes the voice and structure of the chapters.
Your memory
Write a specific memory of the recipient — at least 50 characters, ideally 80–150 words. This is your contribution to the book. The more concrete, the better: a specific moment, a place, an exchange. Vague praise produces generic fiction; a real story produces a real story.
Invite others (optional)
Paste email addresses (up to four) for people who know them. Each gets a personal link to answer 4 short, genre-specific questions about the recipient. The questions are designed to draw out specific moments — not generic praise. They write for free; no account needed.
Confirm and pay
Review your order, then pay £29 via Stripe. Secure checkout. Once payment clears, contributor invites go out and the collection window opens (7 days for group orders, 24 hours for solo).
After you pay
Contributor invites go out immediately
Each person you invited gets a personalised email with their own link. They answer 4 short, genre-specific questions about the recipient — questions designed to draw out specific moments and observations, not generic praise. They don't need an account. The answers become the raw material for the chapters.
The collection window
You set a deadline (default: 7 days from payment). When the deadline passes — or when all contributors have submitted — we start writing the book. You can remind slow contributors from your dashboard and extend the deadline once if needed.
We write the book (1–3 hours)
We weave all the memories into three chapters. You'll get an email when the preview is ready — usually within 1–3 hours of the collection window closing.
Contributors verify their passages (optional, 48 hours)
After weaving, each contributor gets an email showing the passage drawn from their answers. They can confirm it's accurate, flag a small fix, or mark it inaccurate. This happens within a 48-hour window — if they don't respond, we proceed automatically. You'll see a summary of their responses on the dashboard.
You read and approve
Read the three chapters. You can edit any section, regenerate a chapter you're not happy with (once per chapter), or regenerate the entire book (once). When you're happy, enter the recipient's email and approve — the story is delivered to them immediately.
Optional: add a printed hardcover
After you've read and approved the story, you can upgrade to a printed hardcover for £69. It's your call — you've seen the quality before you commit to print. The book is 5×8.5 inches, hardcover bound, with the recipient's name on the spine. Allow 7–10 business days for production and delivery.
Tips for a great book
Specific beats generic — "the time you fixed the server at 2am in Rome" is better than "they were always dedicated."
One specific moment is enough for a great memory. Short and concrete beats long and vague.
Brief contributors before you invite them. "Write about a specific moment you shared with [name], around 100 words" gets much better results than a cold link.
The "About them" description shapes all three chapters — a few good sentences here pays dividends across the whole book.