With the support of the publisher, Shelf Awareness celebrates the launch of the Hear Your Story® imprint, a joint venture partnership between Sourcebooks and Jeffrey Mason, creator of the Hear Your Story® collection of guided journals. Driven by a desire to connect with his father during his battle with Alzheimer's, Mason's books have grown into a series that is helping millions of families and friends connect with one another in meaningful ways. Hear Your Story® was born out of Mason's deeply personal journey to help others like him preserve important moments, traditions, and stories for generations to come.

Jeffrey Mason

For Jeffrey Mason, the Hear Your Story® project was never about creating a bestselling book series—it was about connection. In 2018, Mason found himself yearning to understand his father beyond just their father-son relationship. "I knew my dad only as my dad," he recalls. "But I wanted to get to know him as a person."

His father was, in Mason's words, "an amazing guy," but their relationship had its ups and downs, including moments of connection and moments of friction. Mason's desire to know his father in a broader sense was made all the more important when his father was diagnosed with Alzheimer's.

Mason began his journey by staying up late one night and filling a notebook with questions for his father about things like his childhood, life as a teenager, and "all those things that make us 'us,' including heartbreaks, being in love, and our goals and hopes." These questions would eventually become the foundation of his first book, Dad, I Want to Hear Your Story.

Unfortunately, Mason's father was already in the advanced stages of Alzheimer's and couldn't provide many answers, but his father's brothers and friends helped fill in the gaps, adding depth to the stories and memories Mason's father cherished. One story that stood out: as a junior in high school, his father would sneak out of his family's house every Friday night and ride his bike to a local Houston radio station. There he hosted an hour-long radio show playing rock and roll music, especially Fats Domino, at a time when music was very segregated. "I knew he played music," Mason says, "but I knew nothing about the radio show." The process of asking questions and learning more about his father changed everything for Mason. Through the act of collecting his father's stories, he found himself seeing past their differences and recognizing the commonalities they shared. "It really helped me move past the blocks I put up when it came to my dad."

Word quickly spread about Mason's list of questions. Friends and acquaintances asked for copies so they could use them with their own loved ones. He made photocopies at first, then published via print-on-demand through Amazon's Kindle Direct Publishing. The response was immediate. "I started getting emails asking if I had a book for moms, grandmothers, grandfathers, aunts, uncles," he remembers. The demand was clear: people were hungry for a simple way to record and share their family histories. Mason began crafting questions that formed the next books in his series: Mom, I Want to Hear Your Story, Grandmother, I Want to Hear Your Story, and Grandfather, I Want to Hear Your Story.

Then came 2020. The pandemic forced people into isolation, many deeply concerned about their aging parents and grandparents. At the same time, online shopping soared. Around Mother's Day that year, Mom, I Want to Hear Your Story took off, becoming a viral sensation. "Sales went bonkers," Mason says.

Looking back, Mason sees why the series struck a chord. "It's a simple way for anyone to sit down and reminisce, write about, share, and preserve their one-of-a-kind life stories," he says. "I don't care who you are, even if your obituary is just a paragraph long, your life story is a book."

Since the first Hear Your Story® editions were published in 2018, readers have praised these books for breaking down barriers, capturing cherished memories, and revealing how, in Mason's words, "we're all much more similar than we are different."

Now, after selling more than two million copies across twenty-five different journals and garnering over sixteen million views on TikTok, Hear Your Story® has entered a new chapter—one that embraces innovation, expands accessibility, and deepens its impact. Mason has partnered with entrepreneurial publisher Sourcebooks to take the series to new heights, building a legacy of connection that will span generations.

The heart of Hear Your Story® has always been about fostering meaningful conversations. These journals guide families through thoughtful, curated prompts that spark reflection and storytelling, creating opportunities to listen, share, and understand one another on a deeper level.

The joint venture with Sourcebooks will help continue and grow this mission. The first step is a revitalized collection of the series' four core titles, focused on fathers, mothers, grandmothers, and grandfathers. The newly revised editions, available in March and April 2025 (paperback) and November 2025 (hardcover), feature:

• Elegant designs with high-quality paper and lay-flat bindings
• Over 40 pages of new content with more than 300 curated prompts
• A convenient 6 X 9 trim size for easy carrying and use

In addition, special deluxe hardcover "heirloom collection" editions bound in leather for dad and grandpa, and linen for mom and grandma, will be out Spring 2026.

Mason also wrote a line of family recipe journals whereby moms, dads, aunts, grandmothers, and grandfathers can keep family recipes along with special memories and family traditions. The original editions are available now, while the revised retail editions will publish in Spring 2026.

Jeffrey Mason's journey mirrors the entrepreneurial spirit that defines Sourcebooks. His success began with self-publishing, selling directly to readers who embraced his vision. But self-publishing has limitations, especially in reaching independent bookstores and global markets. Partnering with Sourcebooks will allow Mason to retain the creative freedom that made Hear Your Story® a success while expanding his reach and connection with indie bookstores and other retailers in ways he couldn't before.

"I'm so lucky to have this wonderful, amazing, creative, supportive, entrepreneurial company teaching me things that I've never known," Mason says.

For Sourcebooks, this collaboration is more than just publishing books. It's about amplifying a mission that matters. As Sourcebooks publisher and CEO Dominique Raccah puts it: "This incredible partnership represents everything we care deeply about—authentic connection, innovation, and a commitment to changing lives through books. Jeffrey's extraordinary work has already touched so many hearts, and we're excited to help him reach millions more. Together, we are building a legacy for generations to come."