WebBiographies.com

This is an interesting web business model that allows users to build family trees, write biographies supplemented with photos, and print their autobiographies in book form.

Customers pay between $25 and $85 a year for the service, depending on how much storage they require. A note on the WebBiographies site points out that "charges end when you pass away" -- but the site promises to preserve your biographies for posterity. That’s good to know.

The creator of the company believes it will break even in the first quarter of 2007, based on user fees, advertising and consulting.

On Oct. 1 the site will launch a nationwide network of more than 1,000 agents who for a small fee help older adults scan their pictures onto the site. It will also offer an interviewing service, allowing people to hire a consultant to go to a nursing home to interview an elderly mother for a WebBiographies.com page.

I am not sure about this idea and less sure about the web site. I found it very difficult to understand what the site did and how to go about using it. That’s never a good start. Dick Stroud