Payment protectionDetails
- Revisions within the package are free.
- If you do not respond within 3 days of delivery, the work is accepted automatically.
The money is reserved when you pay and released only once you accept the work.
Example result
Text rewrite: "About us" page of a family bakery for new customers
Before (excerpt)
It all began many, many years ago, back in 1987, when our grandmother Rosa, who had always loved baking ever since she was a little girl growing up in the countryside, decided, after a lot of thinking and with the support of the whole family, to open a small bakery on Mill Lane. In those days there were not so many bakeries around and people really appreciated having fresh bread. Over the years, we have grown a lot and nowadays we bake more than 40 kinds of bread and pastries every day, and we also try our best to use local ingredients whenever it is possible to do so.
After (excerpt)
Baking on Mill Lane since 1987
Rosa opened our first bakery on Mill Lane in 1987 with one oven and three recipes from her village. Today her grandchildren run two shops and bake more than 40 kinds of bread and pastries every morning.
We still work the way she did: long, slow fermentation, flour from a mill 30 miles away and butter from a local dairy. As Rosa put it, "Good bread needs time, not tricks."
For cafés and restaurants
Since 2024 we also bake for cafés. Order by 2 pm and your bread arrives before 7 am the next day, six days a week.
Summary of changes
| What | Before | After |
|---|---|---|
| Length | 1,380 words | 790 words (−43%) |
| Structure | One long story in 11 paragraphs | 4 sections: our story, how we bake, for cafés, visit us |
| Audience | Neighbours who know the family | New customers and café owners |
| Sentences | Average 31 words | Average 14 words |
What was changed:
- Repeated ideas cut (the "love of baking" appeared 5 times; now once, through what Rosa did)
- Vague phrases like "try our best to use local ingredients" replaced with the concrete facts you gave us elsewhere on the page (the mill, the dairy)
- A new section for cafés built only from the wholesale details in your brief (order time, delivery time, days)
- Headings added so a café owner can find "For cafés" without reading the whole story
What stayed exactly the same: the year 1987, Mill Lane, "more than 40 kinds", the 30-mile distance to the mill and Rosa's quote, word for word.
Client: Larkfield Bakery, a family bakery with two shops and a new wholesale line for cafés Input: the "About us" page, 1,380 words, written 10 years ago for neighbours who already knew the family Brief: rewrite for café owners and new customers; keep it warm but shorter and more concrete; keep all dates, numbers and the grandmother's quote unchanged
The client and all details are made up.
About this service
We retell old or archaic texts in plain modern language: 18th and 19th-century letters and diaries, old translations of classics, church or guild documents, early technical manuals or family papers written in a style no one speaks today. Meaning, names, dates and the order of events stay faithful, and we explain obsolete words, units and customs instead of quietly dropping them. You can choose a close modern version or a freer retelling for young or general readers.
What is included
- What you getA modern-language version of the text, a glossary of obsolete words, units and customs in higher packages, and in Premium a paragraph-by-paragraph layout with the original beside the modern version. You get it as text on the order page and as a Word (.docx) file.
- Faithful meaningNames, dates and events unchanged
- Close or freeChoose a modern rendering or a retelling
- GlossaryOld words, units, coins and customs
- Side by sideOriginal and modern text, paragraph by paragraph
How it works
- 1TextYou send the old text and its context
- 2Modern versionWe retell it in today's language
- 3NotesWe explain what has no modern match
What we need from you
The old text pasted or as a Word or PDF file with a text layer (for handwriting or scans, a typed transcription), its rough date and origin, who will read the new version and how close it should stay.
We will ask you:
- What is the text, and roughly when was it written?
- Who will read the new version?
- Should it stay close to the original or read freely?
Compare packages
| Packages | BasicUp to 1,000 words$12 | StandardUp to 3,000 words + glossary$25 | PremiumUp to 6,000 words, side by side$45 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Deadline | 1 day | 2 days | 3 days |
| Revisions | 1 | 2 | 3 |
| Source length | up to 1,000 words | up to 3,000 words | up to 6,000 words |
| Glossary of obsolete words | No | Yes | Yes |
| Side-by-side layout | No | No | Yes |
| Order Basic | Order Standard | Order Premium |
Payment protection
You pay when you order, but the money is released only for accepted work.
- Fixed priceThe package price does not change after you pay.
- The money is reservedWhen you pay, the amount is only reserved. It is released to the service once you accept the work.
- Checked before deliveryEvery result goes through a quality check before it reaches you, and you see it on the order page before accepting it.
- Free revisionsAsk for changes within your brief as many times as the package allows.
- Acceptance after 3 daysIf within 3 days of delivery you neither accept the work nor ask for changes, it is accepted automatically. If you write in the order chat after delivery, the order waits; once we answer, we may start the 3 days again and will say so in the chat.
- Redo or a full refundIf the result does not match your brief and the revisions did not fix it, or the work takes more than twice its deadline, write in the order chat: we will redo the work or refund the payment in full.
Questions and answers
Can you read handwriting or old print from photos?
Old handwriting and blackletter often do not read reliably, so please send a typed transcription. A clean scan of modern-style print usually works.
Can I publish the modern version?
The version is yours to use, but the rights to the original are not ours to give. Very old texts are usually in the public domain; check if an old translation is still protected.
Do you translate from another language too?
This service modernises a text in the same language. For an old text in another language, order translation and mention the period in the brief.