It has long been my belief that the public reading is an effective means to promoting a memoir. 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.
I have found readings to be a great deal of fun—at least, I enjoy them very much. I hope the posts below will stimulate you to organize your own readings.
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.
[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
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.
[Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
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. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
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. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
Best Ways to Promote Your Book
Once you have diligently followed the suggestions for publishing your book and your book is published, it’s time to enjoy being a “famous author” and start promoting your book.
Two ways to do that that come readily to mind are doing a book launch party and securing as many readings of your memoir as possible in a public setting. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
Three Ways to Find Podcast Opportunities
If you’re in business, you need to market yourself. There’s no two ways about it.
If people don’t know you exist, they don’t know what products and services you offer.
Regardless of whether you sell books, coaching and/or consulting services, widgets or done for you programs, people have to hear about you.
Another reality is this; the more of an expert people see you as, the more you stand apart from the competition.
One of the best ways to do this is by being featured on podcast and radio shows.
In the years I’ve shown experts how to get on shows, the #1 challenge for most people is the amount of time it takes to find outstanding shows to be featured on.
Three simple ways to find shows are: [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
Reach Massive Numbers of Readers from the Comfort of Your Home
Imagine being able to get your message out to hundreds, even thousands, of potential clients in one fell swoop. Now imagine, because of the platform you use, being viewed as the go-to expert. Now imagine being able to do this without leaving the comfort of your home.
How is this possible? With podcast appearances. Hands down, podcast shows offer one of the best opportunities to get in front of your target market in the easiest way possible.
In as little as an hour, you can get your message out around the globe.
Benefits
There are definitely lots of great benefits to podcast appearances. Three of my favorite are… [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
How to Have a Successful Book Reading–Author Book Reading Tips
A successful book reading requires a little planning upfront. If you use the following tips, you will have a great book reading and engagement with your audience.
At a recent author book reading, I read from my mother’s memoir, We Were Not Spoiled, to a group of Senior College people. Since the program was offered in Lewiston, Maine, where my family is from, I looked forward to the event because I knew that the space would have many individuals who had known my mother, me or many people in my family. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
What an Author Needs to Bring to a Book Launch–What You Need to Organize a Book Launch
Most of the people I work with opt for self-publication. As independently published authors, they are the ones who organize their own book launch. Writing a memoir is a long haul and it is refreshing to have an event to gather friends and family and fans together to acknowledge that an end and a beginning are occurring. The Memoir Network has participated in a number of book launches. Here is a distillation of what has made these launches successful. Follow the tips below to organize a book launch. [Free Membership required to read more. See below. ]
We'd love to have you access this content. It's in our members-only area, but you're in luck: becoming a member is easy and it's free.
Already a Member?
Not a Member Yet?
Tips for Doing a Memoir Reading Program
Q. I am about to have my first opportunity to read from my newly-finished memoir. Any tips for a memoir reading program so that I can make the most of the opportunity? A. I have many tips for a memoir reading program, but I will limit myself to five.