What to do with recorded family stories
Collecting the stories is the hard part. Keeping them in a form people will open is the second hard part.
Write them up
Audio alone gets lost. A short written version of each story is easy to read, easy to share, and easy to search. Keep the speaker's own words and phrases, and remove only the ums and false starts.
Keep the recording too
The written story is for reading. The recording is for hearing the voice. Keep both together, so a grandchild can read along while they listen.
Fix the names and dates
Speech-to-text and memory both make small mistakes. Read each story once and correct names, places and years while the person who told it can still check.
Share with the right people
Send the stories to the whole family, not just one person. Stories kept by one relative have a way of disappearing with them.
Make a book
A printed book is the most likely thing to still be on a shelf in fifty years. Put the stories in the order they were told, with the question at the top of each chapter.
Back it up
Keep a copy in more than one place. A stack of printed pages and a folder in the cloud together will outlast either one alone.
Want the stories without the work?
The Golden Version phones them once a week with one question, writes each answer up in their own words, and builds the book for you.