I’m thinking it’s time for some brutal truth, but don’t fear– there will be lots of encouraging ideas toward the end.
How many of us, when telling someone the story of a life-changing challenge, have been told, “You should write a book?”
The Brutal Truth?
Maybe you should tell your story in some form, but write a book? Probably not. Here’s the brutal truth: It is beyond difficult to sell a book to a publisher with a life story or an interesting incident in your life unless you are already a celebrity. Not enough people would want to pick up a book on, say, how you survived cancer or a overcame a terrible childhood, even though there can be so much to learn from the wisdom you gleaned in the journey. Why is that? Let’s take cancer.
- One in three people will be affected by cancer in their lifetime, either for themselves or a loved one or friend. Surviving cancer, while perhaps a miracle, is not a rarity these days.
- When choosing to spend a weekend immersed in a book, even fewer people will pick a heavy topic. Most want something that directly speaks to their current need or they want a story to take them out of reality.
- Publishers may also be leery of a book with a medical story not written by someone with the credentials to tell it.
But What About Memoir?
Memoir is an art form. It is not autobiography or narrative nonfiction. It is generally about the unique voice and attitude of the writer as they ponder universal topics. It’s considered literary instead of commercial. If you want to learn more about memoir, I highly recommend Mary Karr’s The Art of Memoir.
Then What about Narrative Nonfiction?
Narrative nonfiction is a true story that reads almost like a novel. Usually edge-of-seat telling and a story arc much like fiction. To get a better feel for narrative nonfiction, a great medical example is The Immortal life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot. (Fabulous book– read or listen to it.) Among some of the best narrative nonfiction, if you want to get a better feel for it, is Seabiscuit, An American Legend by Laura Hillenbrand, In Cold Blood by Truman Capote and The Boys in the Boat by Daniel James Brown. If you can write like one of these, go for it!
What if I Self-Publish It?
You can. There is nothing to stop you. But beyond your friends and loved ones, who will buy it? If you speak often during the year or have a significant social media presence, it’s a different story. You may be able to sell a number of books–the rule of thumb is that 10% of your speaking audience is likely to buy a book. If that’s enough for you, go for it. I haven’t seen percentages of social media followers who will buy a book but perhaps some will.
So What Do I Do with This Story that Changed My Life?
- Your book may make a compelling article for a magazine, either print or digital. Remember, each magazine has its own way of presenting a personal interest story. Study the stories in a particular publication and shape your material to fit.
- Your story is part of a complicated family history. Generations to come will want to know more about their ancestors. Consider making your story part of the history of your family. There are so many ways to do this– verbally through recordings, in book form, scrapbook form– who knows? The way you do this is only limited by your creativity.
- Your story may be used as devotional material. There are many fine yearly devotional publishers who seek contributors. Your story may have bits and pieces that could make up many wise and wonderful devotions for publication.
- Or your story may indeed be part of a book with a bigger theme. Writers often use anecdotes from their story in chapters of a book along with stories of other people and even stories from the Bible or history. An example might be a book called something like When Life Comes Crashing Down. (I know terrible title– who would pick that one up for a beach read?) But a part of your story may be told in the intro. Say, the first chapter is about the shock of finding out. You tell how you discovered your challenge. Then you may say something like, “but my challenge was nothing compared to what Jane Doe experienced when. . .” and you might then introduce the story of a third person from history. “But when a little girl was born to a wealthy family who discovered she was both blind and deaf, their world came crashing down.” (Helen Keller) Your book has become a more universal read that addresses chapter-by-chapter the steps in overcoming a challenge. It’s no longer just about your story, but as someone who has walked this path, you give the book believability.
So that’s the brutal truth, but I’m hoping I’ve given you several ideas about how to shape your story to become publishable or just treasured by those who know you. Make sense?
Kristen Joy Wilks
Thanks so much, Wendy! Also, sometimes writing our personal story is a healing process between us and God and not really intended for an audience in the first place. If this is the case, it is important to get that story down, but to see it for what it is. A vital part of personal healing.
Wendy Lawton
Yes, Kristen! I neglected to mention this important reason for writing your story.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Yes, cancer has changed my days,
all the fear and blood and pain
that I fought with kneeling praise,
but I will not relive that again
to set my words down in some book
that very few will want to read.
I will not let my life go crook
to fulfill an ego-need
to jump and shout and tell MY story
(Listen, folks, and ye shall learn!).
Instead, I’ll write my crowning glory,
a truth for which my heart doth burn,
that pandemic came to me and you
through Pandas ‘scape-ed from the zoo
rachel mcmillan
yes yes yes!
prospective writers, this is why when you look at agent and editor MSWL or their conference appointments they write ” NO MEMOIR”
agent Carly Watters who has had some major bestsellers on her hands (she used to rep Taylor Jenkins Reid) has done a great insta post about why memoir is so hard to sell— and it is pinned to the top of her instagram 🙂 https://www.instagram.com/p/CxDJiAurnLR/?img_index=1
I really am happy that you posted this, Wendy. It’s hard for authors to hear that the story they think is truly fascinating might not find a wide readership but there are so many ways and mediums TO tell a fantastic story.
one of my series with Harper Collins became how I was able to deeply explore on paper all of the symptoms of the panic and anxiety disorder I have suffered with my whole life. I gave the hero allll of my physical and mental symptoms as sort of a recorded “journal” that now lives on through him. It allowed me to put an author’s note speaking to personal struggle as well as opened many media opportunities to bring out the truth in my fiction. In another book of mine for the same publisher, I made the hero a stretcher bearer in WWII — and wove a lot of my grandfather’s own experience into it. So, if you are a novelist, one way to speak to memoir or a particular story that is essential to your life or someone close to you is to weave it into a story. It is a lasting memory and imprint of a compelling story but wrapped in a package that will most likely find greater success at a traditional publishing level 🙂
Wendy Lawton
Yes, Rachel. We all pour a bit of our own story into fiction, whether we mean to or not.
James Camomile
It is an unfortunate brutal truth since there are so many great stories told by seemingly ordinary people serving an extraordinary God.