In 2018, when I decided to gather the bits of information, journals, diaries, court transcripts and the letters from my life and put them into a book, I had no idea of looking for a developmental editor. I had never thought of myself as a writer, struggled to see myself as an author and had not a lot of thought about how to embark on such a project. I had a burning desire to help others to see that there is goodness in the world and that there is happiness after hardship and a light at the end of the tunnel. Telling people parts of my story seemed to elicit tears, happiness, and wonderment in equal measures.
Perhaps I should—but could I?—write a book?
I had no idea where this decision would lead. Nor did I realize how hard it would be to negotiate the personalities of the significant others in my life who thought they could govern what I could and couldn’t reveal on paper. The actual writing turned out to be the easy part of the process.
The beginning (more…)
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.
As you articulate your memoir theme, ask yourself if this memoir theme is really yours—does it reflect your present understanding of your story and of life itself? Or is it a residue of the accepted “wisdom” of someone else: a parent, another adult figure, society at large?
1) A theme that is authentically yours makes for better writing.
It comes from your center of experience. Writers who recognize, acknowledge, and explore their authentic memoir themes in their writing are more apt to present us with clear, to-the-point stories than those who repeat inherited memoir themes or who think they can ignore the issue of theme.
Early in our lives, you and I were naturally and rightfully the recipients of someone else’s—a parent’s or grandparent’s—understanding and interpretation of life. As long as these interpretations correspond to our own adult views, we can write easily within their context. What often happens, however, is that we continue to espouse a point of view inherited from another without realizing that it has ceased to correspond to our own. When challenged, we will say “Well, I guess I really don’t believe that anymore. Isn’t it something how I wrote (or said) that!”
Is hiring a memoir ghostwriter a good idea?
You’ve lived a life that you feel merits a memoir. Perhaps you’ve risen from poverty to riches, perhaps you have done a “first” and you want people to know it was you, or perhaps you want to celebrate a lost world, a world that has since disappeared. Should you write yourself or should you use a memoir ghostwriter?
You try your hand at writing but you realize that it is too difficult and that the learning curve is too steep. Perhaps you have begun to write and are lost in the shaping of an interesting memoir. (What does it mean to “shape” and “pace” a book?) Or, perhaps you could write the memoir but you are so busy with other things that you hardly have the time to devote to it.
These scenarios call for a ghostwriter who can guide you through the process and write the book as per your instructions. But, you don’t feel comfortable with that. You have reservations.
1. Isn’t using a memoir ghostwriter a bit like cheating?
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Looking for a developmental editor: a novice decides to write a memoir.
In 2018, when I decided to gather the bits of information, journals, diaries, court transcripts and the letters from my life and put them into a book, I had no idea of looking for a developmental editor. I had never thought of myself as a writer, struggled to see myself as an author and had […]
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Who Will Be the Audience for My Memoir?
Your memoir has a niche audience. Writers ask me all the time: “Who will want to read my memoir?” Recently someone said, ”My memoir is probably of no interest to you or anyone else. There is no audience for my memoir!” Wondering about the available audience for your memoir is legitimate and necessary. At the […]
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As you articulate your theme, ask yourself if this theme is really yours–does it reflect your present understanding of your story and of life itself? (more…)
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Is hiring a memoir ghostwriter a good idea? You’ve lived a life which you feel merits a memoir. Perhaps you’ve risen from poverty to riches, perhaps you have done a first and you want people to know it was you, or perhaps you want to celebrate a lost world, a world that have since disappeared. […]