A few years ago, professionals were saying, “Memoirs aren’t selling—publishers are not interested.” But guess what? Today, I came across an article in USA Today indicating that publishers and the public are singing a different tune about memoirs. Check it out at:
http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-02-27-memoirs_N.htm
According to this article, publishers issued 295 contracts to memoirists just last year. Twelve and a half percent of nonfiction deals last year were for memoirs. Memoirs are selling between 10,000 and 30,000 copies. People ARE interested in reading about the trials, tribulations, loves, failures, successes of others.
But it still must be a good story—one that is well-written. It must contain the elements that make us want to read and that keep us reading.
Did you know that you can write more than one memoir? A memoir isn’t necessarily the story of your life. It is an account from your life—your brief baseball career, the story of your travels hitchhiking across the country, the tale of your rape and recovery, your life on the streets of Detroit, your childhood growing up in a racially diverse family, etc. If you lived an eclectic life, you might be able to produce more than one memoir.
I wrote the story of my experiences working with a hypnotherapist who used past life regression therapy with his clients. This is published in book form under the title: Quest for Truth, A Journey of the Soul. I could also write a memoir focusing on my childhood memories of weekend ocean fishing trips on our family boat throughout the 1940s and 50s. I could write about my writing career and how I wrote my first book while in bed for 8 months recovering from a back injury. Maybe folks would be interested in reading about my life with cats—a charming story of cats coming into and going out of my life. When our 3 daughters were young, we went on a lot of horse packing trips into the mountains. Perhaps this would be an interesting theme for a memoir. That’s a potential of 5 memoirs. How many can you come up with?
So what does it take to produce a meaningful, sought-after memoir? Primarily, an emotion-evoking story and excellent storytelling abilities. And don’t forget to tell the truth. Oh my—why would anyone want to produce a memoir full of lies? Why not write a novel, instead?
Something else that a memoir needs is a hook. I like to suggest using several hooks—then you’ll, conceivably, attract additional readers. For example, your story featuring childhood drug use that was forced upon you by your parents is certainly going to attract people who are interested in and/or concerned about child abuse issues. This is your hook. But you might attract an additional audience with additional hooks, such as a self-help element. Others who have suffered child abuse or who have had drugs forced upon them and are suffering because of this, would be interested in reading about your recovery.
A memoir focusing on your ministry in a wild oil town during the 1930s would be of great interest to many readers. Add an element of history, a true crime incident, for example, or romance, and you’ve created an additional hook which will serve to attract more readers.
Memoir-writing isn’t for everyone and everyone doesn’t read memoirs. But if you have a story to tell and you’d like to write it down for others to read, there are steps you can take.
• Read memoirs similar to the one you want to write.
• Read memoirs that are or have been on the bestseller list.
• Join a storytelling group and participate often.
• Take a creative writing class or two.
• Read The Right Way to Write, Publish and Sell Your Book.
http://www.matilijapress.com/rightway.html