Creating a Book with StoryTerrace during the Coronavirus (COVID-19) Outbreak

A message from StoryTerrace's Founder & CEO, Rutger Bruining:

Firstly, I'd like to express my best wishes to anyone affected by coronavirus and my gratitude to all the brave men and women fighting this epidemic from nurses, to doctors and researchers, to cleaners of medical facilities.

With the coronavirus outbreak affecting many parts of the world, including London and Los Angeles where our offices are based, I want everyone to know that safety is our top concern. We have put the necessary measures in place and review them on a daily basis.

I also want to reassure our clients around the world that we are well set up to continue to produce books to our very high standards, and take on new clients as normal. In fact, we have never had more projects in production than we have today.

Remote Interview Service

The main change that we will be making is to arrange more interview sessions via video call or phone call. We will be offering video and phone interviews wherever necessary or requested. As part of this service we will help you to set up your video calls and provide tips on how to create the right environment to make them as personal as a regular meeting.

Many of our clients have already successfully created beautiful books using our remote service - so we can be confident that if you choose to go down this route you will enjoy the experience and be delighted with the results. This means you can create your book with the help of our wonderful team of writers and editors without ever being in the same room. We can even send copies across the country for family & friends to enjoy at home.

As someone who leads a company with offices in Los Angeles and London, and has most of my family abroad, I am a heavy user of video calls, not the least to allow my parents to interact with our baby daughter. I can assure you that you can laugh, cry, brainstorm, problem solve and simply hang out comfortably via video calls. I often don’t realise that I meet people physically for the first time when we have already spoken several times on FaceTime, Skype, Hangouts, Zoom, or Whatsapp.

The details of our coronavirus policy are below, and show you the different ways you can continue to progress the development of your book.

Our thoughts are with those of you in affected areas. For those of you who are staying at home for an extended period, we promise that working on your book will be a great trip down memory lane and hope it will be a welcome distraction during this testing time.

Take care, and let me and my team know if you have any concerns. We are here to help!

Best regards,

Rutger Bruining | Founder & CEO of StoryTerrace

 

Coronavirus Policy

There is a lot of progress you can make on your book as soon as you get started. From writing down memories in our questionnaire to selecting photos. Once you are matched with a writer it is time to schedule your interviews. We have the following policy when it comes to the interviews:

1. Continuing with interviews in person: If you and your writer are healthy (no cough, cold, or fever), you can continue the interview process in person, so long as that's what you both prefer and it's consistent with government advice and policy in your area. Your writer will discuss with you upfront whether you'd like to keep a certain distance, refrain from shaking hands or take any other precautions.

2. Our remote interview service: If either you or your writer would prefer not to meet in person, we recommend to continue with your interviews via phone or video call.

Your editor will be able to give you guidance on getting set up for video calls and making the interview experience a unique time to reminisce and reflect.

If you aren't sure, we are delighted to offer you a 30 minute test call with your writer to try out our remote service. If you don't enjoy the test, you can wait until the situation improves and continue with in-person interviews then. Of course, the test will not count towards your total interview time with your writer.

3. Postponing Your Interviews: You have the right to postpone your interviews, no questions asked, until the situation normalises. In the meantime, you can of course continue to add memories to your questionnaire and collect photos for your books.

 

Written by Rutger Bruining

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