We writers can spend a long time writing and polishing our memoirs, but when it comes time to promoting our magnum opus, we fail to invest enough energy to bring that same book to the attention of the public that might want to buy—and—read the memoir we have labored to bring into the world. Marketing a memoir is key here.
I know one man who has written twenty books‚ but does not promote them. None of them are reaching much of an audience.
He loves to write books and loves to think of himself as a published writer—with 20 books no less—but I don’t think he is being read.
On the other hand, I want people to read what I have written. I want to earn income from my work. That is why I believe in marketing a memoir until it reaches its intended audience. Without a readership, I do not feel satisfied as a writer. I am, after all, in a conversation with a reader.
The articles below give you many ideas for marketing a memoir It has long been my belief that the public reading is an effective means of doing so. It is likely that your memoir’s prime audience is local (hometown, state, region) or group specific (retired ministers, parents of a suicide, travel photography). These audiences are well reached through a reading at one of their venues—physical or virtual.
But there are many other ways of marketing a memoir. These include guest blogging, interview articles, Facebook and Twitter outreach, and paid advertising among others.
I hope the posts below will stimulate you to organize your efforts of marketing a memoir.
How I Launched Myself Publicly in the Creative Life
Editor: This post first appeared in February 2014 at a time when covid as not part of our lives. It advocates marketing that I undertook in pre-covid days but which I believe will soon be available and viable again.
I believe that implicit in every publication is access to an audience. Whether you hope to support yourself or to merely attract a more substantial audience, this post—written about a time half a life ago—has something for you.
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“Is it possible to find readers who will support me in the creative life?” I wanted to know.
One day on 1988, I stood in front of a door, on the other side of which was a group of Foster Grandparents. I had in hand a copy of my book of autobiographical short stories, What Became of Them and Other Stories from Franco-America, which my wife Martha Blowen and I had published through my brand-new imprint, Soleil Press. Soleil means sun in French and Martha who was a paper maker called her studio Moon Papers. So Soleil Press and Moon Papers seemed to us a great combo for a couple (hovering on both sides of 40) who were seeking to live a creative life. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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5 Fundamental Steps of Online Memoir Promotion
Promoting books online is one of the most stressful tasks for authors. At its core, it’s about informing people why they should buy your book, and giving them an easy way to do so.
Overwhelmed by Book Marketing During a Pandemic? Use These Tips to Connect with Your Target Audience During Uncertain Times
Book marketing during a pandemic can be challenging for memoirists. These six tips will help you target your audience so you can connect with them better.
Sell Your Memoir to Your Intended Audience: 4 Tips
An important step to sell your memoir is to identify your intended audience early in the process. Your buying audience will affect what you include in your memoir and the manner in which you write it. You will likely include different material in your memoir depending on who you believe will purchase it.
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Book Launch Tips: Business Boy to Business Man, by Robert Verreault
The book launch party was a lovely experience—one that brought to those of us who were involved in creating the book a strong sense of (forgive the overused term!) closure. Writing a memoir is a long haul and it is refreshing to have an event as one might a wedding or a funeral to gather […]
Who Will Be the Audience for My Memoir?
Writers ask me all the time: “Who will want to read my memoir?” Recently someone said, ”If I were to write my memoir, it would probably be of no interest to you or anyone else. There is no audience for my memoir!”
Your memoir has a niche audience.
Wondering about the available audience for your memoir is legitimate and necessary. At the core of the effort most writers commit to is a deep desire to share with others—to reach an audience. Certainly this is true of a memoir writer also.
This is the challenge: stop thinking that no one will want to read your memoir. It may be true that I may not be interested in your memoir, but someone in this wide world certainly is. There are some billion people on this planet who read English. Surely you will find there will be “an audience for my memoir” among that billion!
Find your niche
The name of the game for an unknown memoir writer seeking an audience is niche writing and marketing.
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How to Write for A Larger Audience than Family and Friends — 4 Tips
While family and friends are a worthy readership for your memoir, it is possible to write for a larger audience.
Many memoir writers I have worked with will admit, if pushed, that they would enjoy a larger audience. I believe it is a pleasure for most writers to discover that the words they have written appeal to strangers and may even move them to action.
Here are four suggestions to enable your story to appeal to a broader public.
1) Write a story that is truly well-written and whose reading—the prose itself—will bring joy to your reader.
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Preparing for A Successful Book Launch
Note: This is the 3rd article in a series of 4 on the writing process of A Sugary Frosting published in 2016.
Post 1: I Finish A Sugary Frosting: Notes on the Memoir Writing Process
Post 2: Mechanics of Writing a Memoir: It’s not all Inspiration
Post 3: Preparing for A Successful Book Launch
Post 4: Better Book Production is Possible
Preparing for A Successful Book Launch: I’m finished writing the text for my next book, A Sugary Frosting/A Memoir of A Girlhood Spent in a Parsonage. What follows is a synopsis of what I am doing to promote the book so that its natural audience is aware of it.
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Why a Book Tour Works
DL: Why does a Book Tour work? It does so because it allows people to know, like and trust you—essential characteristics of any selling and buying relationship. The following is about some of what I have learned about book tours.
That fall evening in 1992, there were no parking spaces along the town’s Main Street as I approached the library, a copy of my recently published book, Turning Memories Into Memoirs / A Handbook for Writing Lifestories, lying on the passenger seat, its width thickened by slips of paper to indicate places from which I wanted to read at my program.
As I drove up to the site of my first outreach since the book’s publication, incredibly, I had been beaten to parking spots by dozens and dozens of cars that now lined the town’s Main Street.
Well! How exciting could that be! This was my fifth book and my first how-to. I had great hopes for it. I had been leading memoir-writing workshops for the previous four years, and Turning Memories Into Memoirs was the summation of my teaching and coaching. It was truly a compendium that covered memoir writing from A to Z, and any writer making use of its many suggestions and guidelines was likely to succeed at undertaking and finishing an interesting and meaningful memoir.
The publicity—press releases, calendar of events, posters—was what was available at the time (1992), and I had, as they say, “covered my bases.” And now, it was the moment of my big launch at the local library—from which I had launched my four previous books—and that evening, I was apparently doing so to a full house! How exciting to have every available street parking space taken.
Not only do I always enjoy going up and down the rows of seats at the beginning of a program to ask people where they are at in their memoir-writing project but I feel it is important for establishing rapport with the attendees. Now, keeping my excitement in check, I knew I had to focus on finding a parking spot so I might rush into the library to be there not only on-time but to be there to “work the crowd.”
So, it was with a solid sense of anticipation that I found a parking spot on a side street and rushed to the library, joining the line of people streaming into the building.
Dashing inside, I entered the room where I was to read. It was sparsely filled!
Huh? [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
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How to Market Your Memoir Through KDP Select
Writing a memoir can be a pretty arduous task — dredging up old memories, mining complex emotions, and trying to frame your experiences in a way that will engage and provide value to readers. It’s no wonder that most authors, having finished their memoirs, feel like the hard part is over and they can finally relax.
But if you’re planning to self-publish your memoir on Amazon, don’t get complacent just yet. While traditionally publishing memoirists often have their marketing plans laid out for them, those on the self-publishing track need to put in a little more personal effort. And while there are tons of great resources to help you along, it’s also important to know how to market on Amazon specifically, as it’s by far the largest retailer in the biz. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]