Your Attention Please

Beginning next week, I will migrate my newsletter [The Lifewriter’ Digest] and these bi-monthly Memoir Network posts to the Substack platform. There are many reasons for doing so, one being the cost of a monthly MailChimp subscription and another being the time to produce posts or newsletters on two platforms. (You are receiving this post via WordPress, and the newsletter you received last week was via MailChimp. I have also been posting on Substack.)

This is the first of two announcements that I am sending out to alert you that your subscription will be transferred to Substack starting next week. If you do not want to make the change, PLEASE unsubscribe at the bottom of this post.  If you unsubscribe you will not be transferred. All who do not unsubscribe will migrate with me to Substack.

Frankly, if I did not announce this change, most people would not know the difference, but I feel alerting you is the right thing to do.

You will continue to have access to www.thememoirnetwork.com and all that it offers. There are over 600 posts on the site and you will continue to be able to read them.

I hope you will follow me to Substack. Not much will change for you. You will continue to receive support to write the best memoir you are capable of.

In this series of posts, I am exploring various permutations of how you can define success for your memoir writing. Here is a link to my first post on writing success.

We writers know of writing legends who earn millions of dollars and reach millions of readers. If that is your definition of success, then you are probably in for a disappointment with your memoir. At least, most of us are. Memoir writing is not exactly in the same appeal league as horror, thriller or dystopian writing.

A hundred years ago, writers could make decent money selling short stories to magazines. There were hundreds of magazines that bought short stories. They sometimes paid $1,000+ in 1926 dollars! This meant that many, many writers could make a living from their stories. Today, magazines that buy stories are few, and they buy from the big names who don’t need the money as much as you do.

In the same way, actors a hundred years ago could earn a living in theaters in provincial towns, far from the big cities. Today, movie stars earn millions for a movie, and a local actor receives $1,000 for a show that took a month or more to learn the lines for and then rehearse—not to mention presenting it over several days.

Success for your memoir writing

If you are going to reach success for your memoir writing, it is probably not going to be monetary, but your success can be significant.

Make your book your calling card.

I have coached a number of writers who have framed their memoir as a calling card to credentialize themselves.

Take someone who has a website devoted to financial security—which is a topic most people are not entirely sure they will achieve. Perhaps the website owner has had a hard time herself with  finances but has learned to be financially responsible. She could write a book—her memoir— whose hero would go from poverty and irresponsibility to financial independence and security. Her book would highlight the hero’s journey and demonstrate that she knows what she is talking about.

The memoir would credentialize the writer.

Your shtick to reach success for your memoir writing

If you have a business  or practice of whatever sort, you can use your memoir to document your expertise. You can not only sell your book to attract attention, but you can also simply give it away to prospective clients.

In this case, you might be said to have literally written “The Book” on your field of expertise.

A book can have an extensive ancillary reach. It can open you up to offering workshops, coaching, consulting, or online courses, etc.

So, a literary calling card that attracts clients and customers is another definition of success for your memoir writing. Not exactly book success, but success of your entire  business or practice  “package.”

Generally this sort of writer does not think of himself as a WRITER. [I bet you noticed the caps!] He is using writing as a tool to achieve something else. That’ s ok. Not everyone has to be a WRITER. Being a writer is ok, too.

There are many types of memoir, and the calling card memoir is a good goal to pursue to grow your business or practice.

Action Steps

1. How can your book idea be expanded to include a marketing objective?
2. How might you grow your book’s potential to include material that supports it as an income-generating platform?
3. Send me an email to set up a 30-minute complimentary appointment to learn how I can help you create a book that is a calling card. This call covers the process of coaching and is not  a coaching session.