Freelance Interviewer

LifeBook Memoirs; Sacramento (CA); On-site; USD 34,000 - 69,000; Part time

Benefits offered by this job

Meet remarkable people

Family legacy

Training provided

Job summary

LifeBook Memoirs is seeking an interviewer to guide authors through a six-to-seven-month memoir project, visiting them at home for 12 sessions totaling about 20 hours, with 90-minute sessions and one 120-minute session for photo review. All meetings are recorded and prepared for the ghostwriter.

You will train for the role, handle audio uploads to our database, and collaborate with the team while maintaining confidentiality.

Qualifications

• Excellent listening and communication skills.
• Ability to engage authors empathetically.
• Commitment to full project duration (7 months).
• Strong IT aptitude to manage recordings and uploads.
• Discretion and confidentiality.

Responsibilities

• Conduct 12 interviews with authors, each 90–120 minutes, to guide storytelling.
• Prepare for sessions and coordinate with the team.
• Upload audio recordings to our online database.
• Scan amendments for the ghostwriter after sessions and maintain records.

Skills

Active listening

Verbal communication

Empathy

Confidentiality

Time management

Team collaboration

Tools

Recording equipment

Scanner

Online database

Job description

As a LifeBook Memoirs interviewer, you will help guide the author to tell their story in a logical, methodical manner. You will draw out the details, personality, and emotion of the stories, which will then be transformed into a beautifully crafted autobiographical book by a ghostwriter.

You will visit the author, usually in their own home, for a series of 12 meetings held over a six-seven-month period. Of these, 11 meetings will last for 90 minutes, and one meeting will last for 120 minutes, to allow time for scanning the author’s photographs. All meetings will be digitally recorded. You will be required to spend time preparing for these interview sessions, communicating with the team, uploading the audio recordings, and scanning the author’s amendments for the ghostwriter after the sessions.

You will be given full training to cover the technical and soft skills required for this position.

Requirements

• Living within approximately 10 miles or 30 minutes’ travel time of the author
• Active listening and strong verbal communication skills
• Empathy, patience, non-judgmental attitude, and open manner
• Good IT skills, with the ability to learn how to use a recording machine and a scanner and to upload files to our online database
• Commitment to the full seven-month project duration
• Flexibility to meet the author’s schedule
• Interest in social history and people’s stories, from the everyday to the exceptional
• Ability to work as part of a virtual team, meet agreed timescales, and follow procedures
• Commitment to confidentiality at all times

Whilst the role is remunerated, there are additional benefits, including:

• Meeting incredible people with extraordinary stories to tell
• Taking pride in helping create not just a personal autobiography but a family legacy

LifeBook Memoirs is the world’s leading private memoir service. Since our inception in 2012, we have been entrusted by people of all ages in more than 40 countries to preserve their unique experiences and memories in artisanal-quality LifeBooks. We have enabled more than 12,000 people to read the life stories of the people they love.

Any job offer will be subject to satisfactory references and a criminal record assessment.