Yo! Long time, no post. Been going through some real shit in my life (yeah, yeah, what else is new), so I started writing about it. I wanna sell it, but I don't know where to start. Most places seem to only want short stories (<750 words), and mine is much longer than that but not quite novel length. Any advice?
If all else fails, you can always self-publish it. I've bought a bunch of self-published memoirs which publishers wouldn't have considered exciting enough to buy, but which I found pretty interesting. It is a genre that I'd try sending to publishers first, though, if you can find one who deals in that kind of thing.
Was there anything in particular that drew you to these self published memoirs you purchased? Or did you simply stumble across them while searching the genre?
I have no idea what kind of places you're looking at that only accept work that short or even publish work that short with a few rare exceptions. And I read and am familiar with a lot of journals and magazines that publish memoir pieces and creative nonfiction. So, I can't imagine that you've looked very hard at all. And it's not really clear if you are trying to sell a book or an essay or why you put this under self publishing.
Welp, if you don't know where to sell it, try and find someone that does. My advice is to look up some agents that can shill it for you. Pretty much all you have to do is Google 'literary agents' and you'll get a whole pile of hits. Research whoever looks good to you, make sure your book meets their requirements, and start sending queries to the more reputable ones.
Let’s be honest. It is very, very, very hard to sell written work—period. And memoir is a particularly difficult genre to sell unless there is something especially unique about you or your story: you are a celebrity, you’ve done something quite memorable or that put you in the public spotlight, or your career was quite unusual. Even then, the writing has to rock! And finding an agent is no easy task. (I know, I tried.) Probably somewhere around 1% of novels that are written get published by one of the “big five” publishing houses—and many that don’t get published are damn good (I’ve read several). Yes, you can self-pub. Doing it right is hard and can be expensive—cover graphics, line editing—and the average number of self-pub books that are sold? 50 Takes a lot of marketing. It’s a lot like selling life insurance. After you exhaust “pity sales” to friends and relatives, then what? My suggestion, just write it—don’t worry about selling it.
I read a lot of memoirs and none of them are by celebrities. I think that's a different market and different audience and there's likely a ghostwriter involved. But the memoirs that fall under the literary umbrella is greatly made up of ordinary people who right well. What is Mary Karr famous for? She's famous for writing memoirs. She's done several and also has a recent book out on memoirs. Worth checking out. Read The Suicide Index by Joan Wickersham and Wild by Cheryl Stayed. These aren't stories about a rise to fame. I agree with you that selling work is hard. It's damn hard, but it happens.
dead rats, Since I do not read memoirs as a genre generally, I will defer to your expertise, and concede that probanly most modern memoirs are not written by celebs—or, if so, ghost-written. But when I googled for a list of famous celebrity memoirs it included those by Barock Obama (Dreams From My Father—which was written by him and I have read), a book by Hemingway, and another by Ulysses S. Grant. I’ve read Wild—fun book. Is it technically a memoir? Not sure, defer to you on that. Do memoirs generally cover more than a few months of a person’s life? Don’t know Mary Kara—you are ahead of me on that. Anyway, the primary point is that selling a book is hard. And I do not think that memoir is a particularly hot genre. I thought the OP was being rather cavalier about what is really involved in selling writing. I certainly did not and do not mean to disrespect a genre that I am not all that familiar with. BTW, my favorite memoir (and I haven’t read that many) is The Removers by Andrew Meredith (about a guy who works for a funeral home removing bodies when someone dies). (And related to how hard it is—I do follow your “rejection, rejection” thread. Sad, true, sometimes funny, and helpful. Best!
I would say that if you are not a celebrity, then you need to focus on the general subject of your memoir. And no, it's not 'you.' It should be focused on what your life's experiences have meant. Are you a hoarder? Are you a survivor of a car accident? Did you rise from the gutter by your own bootstraps? Have you had unusual adventures? Do you have an unusual outlook on life? And etc. What is the focus of your memoir? I have a very good friend who has written a fantastic memoir. She is now in her 80's and she wanted her grandchildren to know what 'life was like' back when she was young, as things have changed so much in the past 80 years or so. Her memoir takes her up through her life in India, with her first husband, and ends with their return to the UK. She would have been in her 30s at that time. So it's not so much a personal history of her 'life' but a history of what life was like. If that makes sense. It is filled with fascinating detail, and, giving her the ultimate compliment, I can honestly say that after the first few pages, I forgot she (my friend) had written it. She has not published it, because she is worried that there are some survivors or survivors' relatives who might be annoyed at some of what she's written. But I have every confidence that sooner or later somebody is going to see the merit in this work and get it published. She said she doesn't care if somebody publishes it after she dies. She has told the truth. She just doesn't want any hassle. If I were in her shoes and wanting to publish it, I would focus on publishers who are interested in non-fiction, and who focus on UK history. This is what I mean about finding the focus of your memoir. If this had been about, say, how she survived the trauma of sexual assault (this isn't her, by the way) then she would focus on a different sort of publication. ........... This same principle applies if you're self-publishing, by the way. You're going to struggle to sell it, if the only thing you can say about it is: "I've been through some shit." You need to focus on what KIND of shit in particular—and where this has led. This is where maybe a beta reader could help. You are maybe too close (especially if the shit is ongoing and you have not yet reached any conclusions) and can't see the forest for the trees. You need somebody's eye who can see the forest. I would urge you strongly NOT to publish it at the moment, if you are still venting via your writing. This can come back and hit you in the backside in SO many ways. It could end up being the biggest mistake you've ever made. So don't rush it. By all means, keep writing it, if you want. But give it PLENTY of time to settle before you even consider publication, if it's revealing of your ongoing personal life, or includes people who are still out there. The last thing you need is social ostracism and/or a lawsuit to add to your 'shit.'
