Questions
Straight answers.
Including the one most companies in this category avoid. If your question is not here, email hello@tinyliltales.com and a person will answer it.
- Is the book made by AI?
- Yes — the story and the pictures are generated, and then a person reads every page before it reaches you. That review is the part we sell, and it is why a book takes a couple of hours instead of a couple of minutes. We would rather tell you than have you find out.
- So is it written by a human or not?
- Written by AI, inside a system people built. The story frameworks it follows, the safety policy it is checked against, the illustration style, the rules for how a child's name and family are handled — every one of those is written by us, versioned, and rewritten when a book comes out wrong. The model fills in one child's story. It does not decide what a Tiny Lil Tales book is. Then a person reads every page before it is sent. We will not say somebody wrote your book by hand, because that would not be true. What we will say is that the thing writing it was built, constrained and checked by people.
- How long does it take?
- The book is usually ready in two to four hours, and the read-along film in four to six — both guaranteed within 24 hours. The story film is made scene by scene, so it takes twelve to twenty-four hours and is guaranteed within 48. Order more than one and the slowest sets the window. Those hours run from the day your order goes into the studio: we only take on so much work a day, so that every page is actually read before it reaches you. If the day you order is full, you will see the start date before you pay, and the guarantee runs from there.
- How much does it cost?
- EGP 200 for the book as a PDF, and EGP 300 for the read-along film. Take both together and the pair is EGP 399. Prices are in Egyptian pounds.
- What happens to my child’s photo?
- It is stored privately, used to draw your child as a storybook character, and deleted once your book has been delivered — the original and the resized copies. What stays afterwards is the drawing, not the photograph. You can also skip photos entirely and describe your child instead; the book still gets made.
- Do I have to send a photo?
- No. A photo gives the closest likeness, but a written description works and many parents prefer it. Nothing in the book depends on having one.
- Can other people be in the story?
- Yes, and this is the part most parents underuse. You can add Mom, Dad, a brother or sister, a grandparent, a cousin, a friend, or a pet — each by relationship, each with their own photo if you want one. They are drawn in the same style as the rest of the book.
- Can the story be about something specific?
- It can. A first day of school, a new baby arriving, being scared of the dark, learning to share. Tell us the occasion and the lesson you want it to carry, and the story works it through — the child solves it themselves, and nobody is lectured.
- What ages is it for?
- Three to eight. The writing changes with the age: the youngest books use repetition and a refrain a child can chant along with, and the older ones use longer, more varied sentences.
- What do I actually receive?
- A twelve-spread storybook as a PDF you can read on any screen or print at home, delivered by email as a download link. If you ordered the read-along, you also get the book narrated as a video, the pages turning in time with the voice.
- Is it available in Arabic?
- Not yet. We are building the Arabic editions properly rather than translating the English ones, so it will take a while. Today every book is in English.
- How do I pay?
- By InstaPay or wallet transfer, then you upload a screenshot. We check it by hand, usually within the hour, and email you when the book starts being made. It is manual for now, which is slower than a card but means a person sees every order.
- What if we do not like it?
- Reply to the email your book arrived in and say what is wrong. We will remake it, usually the same day. If the new one is still not right, we refund you in full — we will not make you accept a remake first.
- Can I print it?
- Yes. The PDF is made to print at home. Printed and bound hard copies delivered to you are something we are working on, but they are not available yet.
- Will my child’s book be shown to anyone else?
- No — not unless you tell us we may. The sample books on this site are either invented children or published with the parent’s explicit permission. Ordering does not give us permission to show your book.
- Who is behind this?
- A small operation in Egypt making one book at a time. When you email, a person answers — there is no support queue and no team to escalate to.