| With the tremendous success of such memoirs | | | | fame? Would you read the description on the |
| as Frank McCourt's "Angela's Ashes," Mary | | | | book's flap and be intrigued? Or would the |
| Karr's "The Liar's Club," and Dave Eggers's | | | | words "Oh, it's another person who..." enter |
| "A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius," | | | | your mind? Jaded and insensitive as it may |
| the 1990s and early 2000s saw an explosion in | | | | seem, agents discard query letters all the |
| the genre. The boom was seen in the number of | | | | time uttering the words "another victim of |
| memoirs acquired by publishers, the number of | | | | abuse" or "another recovering alcoholic" or |
| titles shelved in the memoir section in | | | | "another cancer survivor." |
| bookstores, and, as a result, the number of | | | | |
| memoirs unfolding on writers' computer | | | | That's not to say that if you fall into one |
| screens across the country. But the brutal | | | | of those categories, or another that |
| truth is that without a few crucial elements, | | | | encompasses a lot of people and has seen a |
| your memoir will have no chance of finding a | | | | lot of memoirs published, you should abandon |
| literary agent's representation, never mind | | | | yours. But you need to bring something new to |
| becoming a bestseller. | | | | the table, whether the experience itself is |
| | | | different from everyone else's or the way you |
| It might help to consider a question that's | | | | tell it is. And, unless you've led a truly |
| always puzzled me: What's the difference | | | | wacky life, more likely it'll have to be the |
| between a memoir and an autobiography? | | | | latter. How to make it different? Well, |
| Webster's defines a memoir as "a narrative | | | | that's the hard part. And the part you're |
| composed from personal experience" and an | | | | going to have to figure out on your own. |
| autobiography as "the biography of a person | | | | |
| narrated by himself or herself." (The second | | | | As with any genre in today's book market, |
| definition of "memoir" is "autobiography," | | | | publishers are more likely to acquire a |
| indicating just how blurry the line is.) I | | | | memoir if its author has a platform, i.e., |
| think of a biography as a life story--a full | | | | comes with a built-in marketing plan. While |
| life, that is, unofficial "biographies" of | | | | writing the book, start a blog discussing the |
| Paris Hilton or Justin Timberlake aside. Most | | | | experience or issue about which you're |
| memoirs, by contrast, don't begin at the | | | | writing. Become affiliated with any advocacy |
| author's birth and provide a thorough | | | | organizations, etc., who might help promote |
| chronological history of a life now in its | | | | your book. It's tough out there if you're not |
| twilight years. | | | | a celebrity or an author with a track record. |
| | | | For every Dave Eggers, a thousand memoirists |
| Memoirs are, of course, written by authors of | | | | can't even clear the hurdle of finding an |
| all ages, and their narratives can encompass | | | | agent. This week, publishers bought memoirs |
| fifty years or one week of experience. The | | | | by a Washington Post columnist, Cary Grant's |
| first element necessary to a successful | | | | daughter, the former head of a record company |
| memoir is that experience. Lots of us have | | | | and the Air America radio network, and a |
| led interesting lives, or had unusual | | | | woman with a New York Times bestseller to her |
| experiences. But not all of those interesting | | | | name. But take heed: another author sold a |
| lives and unusual experiences are | | | | memoir "about a typical divorce transformed |
| memoir-worthy. At the same time, the life | | | | by a lyrical yet brutally honest voice and |
| experience you want to write about doesn't | | | | narrative style." That author figured out how |
| need to be earth-shattering to be the basis | | | | to tell an old story in a new way. |
| of a successful book--if you're a good enough | | | | |
| writer. Whether your memories should jump | | | | As important as marketing is, the memoir, |
| from your head onto the pages of a memoir is | | | | perhaps more than any other genre, depends |
| difficult to judge when you're the one whose | | | | for its success on one simple thing: writing |
| life's literary value is in question. If you | | | | skill. Too many people make the mistake of |
| didn't think it was worth writing about, you | | | | thinking that fascinating experiences make |
| wouldn't be thinking about a memoir in the | | | | for fascinating reads, no matter who writes |
| first place. But it's a judgment you must | | | | about them. If you've never written before, |
| make honestly and objectively if you don't | | | | take some classes. Work on your book in a |
| want to waste a lot of time writing a | | | | workshop or in a writers' group. And if you |
| manuscript that will never sell. | | | | look in the mirror and see someone who |
| | | | doesn't have the writing chops to tell their |
| So how do you know if your idea is a book in | | | | story right, contract with an experienced |
| the making? Try to gain some distance and | | | | ghostwriter or coauthor to help out. After |
| look at it as a potential reader. Would you | | | | all, everyone has lived a story, but only a |
| pick such a book up off the shelf if it were | | | | select few have both the right tale and the |
| about a total stranger with no other claim to | | | | right talent to create a winning book. |