A writing service for small museums, historical societies & heritage sites
No docent = no story. Until now, on their own phone.
Your site is open. The story is in your records. But when no docent is in the building, a visitor walks through in near-silence — a dense panel, or nothing — then leaves.
Storymark Heritage turns your own records into a finished, board-approved, self-guided tour — phone-first via QR, with a print fallback — so your story is told during every open hour, with or without a docent.
Get a free Docent-Less Hour Audit
One page, in writing, within 3 business days. No call. No obligation.
The problem
Paraphrased composites of what directors and volunteers tell us — not testimonials.
“We're open six days, but I can only staff a real tour on two of them. The other four days people just… wander.”
“Everything about this place lives in one volunteer's head. When he was ill, we realised there was no second person — and no budget — to replace what he knows.”
“We built the 250 exhibit with grant money and it comes down in January. Right now, when it comes down, it's just… gone.”
“I know the writing needs doing. It's been on my list for three seasons. So has the roof, the rota, and the school bookings.”
Your records hold the story. What's missing is coverage and time to write.
From silence to a tour that runs every open hour
From
The story is available only when a specific person is present; visitors during unguided hours get silence or a dense panel; the 250 exhibit is temporary and disappears on closing.
To
Every visitor, during every open hour, can follow a sourced, approved, plain-language tour on their own phone (or the printed fallback). Docents get a script drawn from the same approved text instead of improvising. The 250 exhibit's approved text survives closing as a permanent guide / gift-shop booklet the org owns outright.
Process promises only. We never guarantee visitor numbers, admissions, gift-shop sales, donations, memberships, press, or grant outcomes.
What we write for you
Self-guided tour (phone-first)
One route, up to 12 stops, delivered as phone-ready QR stop pages, plus a print fallback version and print-ready QR sheets.
Caption set
Up to 20 captions, 40–80 words each, in plain language, each with its source noted on the working draft.
Visitor guide
Up to 8 pages, print-ready PDF + editable source, in the order visitors walk the route.
Docent script
The same approved route written for a human guide to deliver as-is, so guided and unguided hours tell the same story.
Source list + flag list — every claim mapped to its record; anything unsourced flagged for your decision, never filled in.
How it works
- Free Docent-Less Hour Audit. You send photos or files of your current captions/guide and your collection or exhibit list. Within 3 business days, you get one page: what a visitor actually learns on an unguided visit today, which sourced stories never reach them, the 3–5 fixes we'd make first, and — if you ran a 250 exhibit — what approved text would survive closing.
- Self-Guided Sprint — $1,295, one time. One site / one exhibit area: QR phone-first tour + print fallback, up to 20 captions, an 8-page guide, and a docent script. Delivered in 10 business days, with a source list your board can check line by line. Two revision rounds included.
- Heritage Desk — $295/month / Heritage Desk Plus $495/month, if you want it ongoing. Route updates, captions, seasonal routes, and guide refreshes, month to month. Cancel by email.
Everything is in writing. No sales calls. We never ask for your passwords or logins — you send files, we return files.
America 250 closeout (Q4 2026)
If your 250 exhibit closes in December 2026–January 2027, or your 250 grant project must be complete and public by a fixed date, the Sprint starts from that exhibit's own text and records. What survives closing is a permanent, approved guide and tour your org owns outright. This variant is offered only while a real closing or grant date applies to your org. Montana 250 grant projects, for example, must be complete and available to the public by December 31, 2026.
Our accuracy promise — it's a process, not a slogan
We never invent history.
- Every factual claim we draft is cited to a record you supplied. The source list ships with the work, so your curator or board can verify it.
- Anything we cannot source is flagged in the draft for your decision — verify it, reword it, or cut it. We do not fill gaps with plausible-sounding detail.
- You are the final authority on your history. Nothing is ready for use until your designated reviewer approves that version in writing.
- If your reviewer finds a claim in our draft that isn't on the source list and isn't in your records, we correct and re-issue the full set free.
Pricing, plainly
| Docent-Less Hour Audit | Free — one page, 3 business days Request the free Audit |
|---|---|
| Self-Guided Sprint — $1,295 one-time | QR tour + print fallback, up to 20 captions, 8-page guide, docent script, 10 business days, two revision rounds. 50% to book, 50% on approval. Book the Sprinthttps://buy.stripe.com/cNieVc0NIc0V8Ac7Xm33W2i |
| Heritage Desk — $295/month | One writing block a month, caption clinic. Month-to-month, cancel by email. Start Heritage Deskhttps://buy.stripe.com/9B6bJ0bsm7KF4jW4La33W2j |
| Heritage Desk Plus — $495/month | Two blocks a month, a new seasonal self-guided route each quarter, annual guide + tour refresh. Start Desk Plushttps://buy.stripe.com/00wfZgfIC9SNg2Ea5u33W2k |
You handle printing through your own printer. We supply print-ready files and never mark up printing.
What we won't promise
We won't promise more visitors, more gift-shop sales, more donations, or a successful grant. No honest writer can promise those from a tour and a guide.
Our promise is a process: finished writing, sourced to your records, approved by your people, delivered on the date we give you. If we miss a Sprint delivery date for a reason within our control, you choose a full refund or delivery plus a $150 credit. That promise is in writing before you pay anything beyond the booking deposit.
FAQ
Who writes this — and do they know our history?
We write from your records, not from our knowledge of your town. Your archive is the source, your reviewer is the authority, and the source list lets you check every line. Where your records are silent, we flag the gap rather than fill it in.
What do you need from us to start?
For the free audit: photos or files of your current captions/guide and a collection or exhibit list. For a Sprint: the records you want the writing sourced from — scans, catalogue entries, past exhibit text, transcripts — sent as files or links. We never need your passwords.
How does the phone tour work if visitors don't use QR codes?
Every Sprint includes the full print fallback version of the same approved route. We lead with the phone version because it works during unguided hours; print covers everyone else.
What if our records disagree with each other?
We flag the conflict in the draft and note both sources. Your reviewer decides which version stands. We never quietly pick one.
What about difficult or contested history?
We draft it only from the framing you supply and flag it for board review. How your organisation tells a sensitive story is your decision, not ours.
Can you handle our whole museum?
A Sprint covers one site / one exhibit area. That scope keeps it fixed-price and fast. Societies with several sites usually sequence Sprints, one area at a time, and many move the rotating work onto Heritage Desk afterwards.
Who owns the finished work?
You do, outright, on full payment — print it, reprint it, adapt it. Drafts remain ours until payment completes.
Do you visit the site?
No — the service is fully remote and in writing. We build the writing from good photographs of the space and panels, plus your records.
Start with the hour nobody is guiding.
Send us your current captions and your collection list. In 3 business days you'll have one honest page: what a visitor learns when nobody is there to guide them, and what your own records could tell them instead.
The free briefing The Docent-Less Hour — one short briefing a week on the unguided hour — feeds this same Audit. Reading it is free; the Audit is the next step when you are ready.
Request my free Docent-Less Hour AuditRequest it by email: send photos or files of your current captions or guide, plus your collection or exhibit list, to chiticohq+storymarkheritage@zohomail.com — your one-page Audit comes back in writing within 3 business days.
In writing only. No call will be scheduled. No facts will be invented — including in the audit.