Frequently asked questions

You choose or write a story, add a photo of your child — and family or friends if you like — and we illustrate a picture book with your child as the hero on every page. When it is ready you can read it on screen or listen to it aloud. You can also turn it into a video of the whole story, read aloud with music.

Yes. The story is about one or two children, and you can also add a brother or sister, a parent, a grandparent, a friend or a pet — up to three people in one book. Many tales have a part for them too: a grandmother can play Little Red Riding Hood’s grandmother, drawn with her own face and called by her name. Anyone without a part joins the story as themselves.

Two or three clear, front-facing photos. Faces should be well lit and not hidden by hats or sunglasses. JPG, PNG, WebP and HEIC are all fine.

The photos are used only to illustrate your book: they are sent to the AI service that draws it, and they are never sold, used for advertising or used to train models. Photos you upload for a single book are deleted as soon as it is ready. Photos you save on a character stay with that character — so your next books do not need them again — until you delete the character.

Yes. Save your child — and anyone who often joins the story — as a character with their name, age and up to three photos, and your next books start from them with no new upload. You can change or delete a character at any time under My account → My characters; deleting it deletes its photos too.

A few minutes. Every page is illustrated individually, so a longer book takes a little longer. You can leave the page open — if you come back, we pick up where we left off.

Classic tales children already know by name — Cinderella, Little Red Riding Hood, Jack and the Beanstalk and more — or a story you write yourself. You can also use a story another reader has published.

First how your child appears: drawn into a drawn world, as their real self in a drawn world, or fully photographic. Then a look, such as a classic storybook or a cartoon, and how strongly it is applied.

Yes. A finished book becomes a film of the whole story, read aloud page by page with gentle camera moves, subtitles and music — you choose the piece, and can listen to each one first. It is paid in credits, takes a few minutes to make, and you can watch or download it. If a video cannot be made, its credits come back automatically.

Yes, in the book’s language. Choose a storyteller’s voice, have it narrated in a voice made from a short passage you read aloud once, or record each page yourself. Your recording is deleted as soon as the voice is made, and the voice itself once the book is narrated.

Yes. An account is how we keep your books, and new accounts receive 20 free credits toward a first book.

Credits are how a book is paid for. Longer books and some models cost more. You can buy more at any time, and some actions — an approved story, a friend joining with your link — earn credits too.

Books are paid for with credits, priced per page and by the illustration model you choose. The shortest book (6 pages) starts at 12 credits — about £1.20. Credits come in packs, from 50 credits for £4.99, and larger packs cost less per credit. Reading aloud and videos are priced separately, also in credits. With a story subscription you pay once for the whole series instead, with a discount for more books.

You choose who is in the stories and which tales to pick from, then how often a new book arrives — every day, week or month — and for how long. Each book is made and emailed to you automatically, with its video if you like. You pay once for the whole series, with a discount for more books, and it does not renew by itself. You can cancel at any time and the books not yet delivered are refunded.

No. Payment happens on Stripe's own secure, hosted checkout page — you are redirected there to pay, and your card number never reaches our servers or gets stored by us. Stripe is PCI-DSS compliant, the highest security standard for handling card data.

If a book cannot be completed for any reason, the credits it cost are refunded to your account automatically — you don't need to ask.

Yes. Send the family a link to read it on screen, download it as a PDF. Or give a gift card: choose a credit pack, add a note and the day it should arrive, and we email it so they can make a book of their own. A book with the whole family in it makes a lovely present.

The story itself can be written in English, Turkish, Spanish, German, French, Italian, Dutch, Swedish, Danish and Norwegian Bokmål — whichever you pick on the form, whatever site you are on.

You tell us the child's age and the story is written for it — shorter, simpler sentences for the little ones, a little more adventure for older children. Grown-ups and pets can be in the story too.

You can delete any of your books, or your whole account, yourself under My account. Deleting your account removes your books, characters, photos and voice recordings; stories you published stay on the site without your name. A book still being made has to finish first, and a running subscription has to be cancelled.

I Am In The Story is made by Softaware Commerce. Questions about an order or a book? Write to us on the Contact us page, by email or by phone — a person reads every message.