Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Mix Memoir Tidbits With Other Non-Fiction Genres

Set your non-fiction book apart from others by including your own experiences.

Maybe a flat-out memoir is not what you’re intending to write. Perhaps you’re writing a cookbook, travel guide, business manual or history of a city. You could be writing any type of non-fiction and either want to include tidbits of your own life story or find yourself doing that as a natural part of the information you’re providing.

Is that okay? Of course. In the example of the cookbook, you could combine each recipe with a tale about a time that you served that dish—who was at the table and why. A travel guide or municipal history lends itself to recounting your experiences in the locations you describe. A business book could discuss lessons you’ve learned from your own businesses, embellished with more personal details than authors of similar books share.

Personalizing an otherwise informational non-fiction book in this manner can entice the reader to keep reading. It’s a bit of a win/win in that the reader receives the information in an entertaining format, while the author has the opportunity to write a modified autobiography without any pressure or obligation of telling more than is comfortable or going outside the parameters of the topic at hand. So think about it. If you want to write a non-fiction book, your own pertinent experiences may be just the angle you need to set it apart.

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Then just set up a chapter and start writing your memoir. Don’t worry about rules. There are no rules to writing your memoir; there are only trends. These trends are based on techniques and features identified in current top-selling memoirs. At best, they’re the flavor of the month. If you’re capturing your life in print for your family, for your own gratification or to inspire readers, rather than aiming to set off Hollywood screenplay bidding wars, these trends don’t even apply to you. You’ll write the memoir that suits you best, and it will be timeless, not trend-driven.There are no rules, but there are four steps:

1. Theme/framework
2. Writing
3. Editing/polishing
4. Self-publishing

You’ve researched this, too, and you’ve been shocked at the price for getting help with any one of those steps, much less all four. That’s because most memoir sites promise to commercialize your work. They’ll follow a formula based on current memoir trends, because they want to convince you that they can turn your memoir into a best-seller. These sites overwhelm you with unnecessary information not to help you, the memoir author, but to address Search Engine Optimization (SEO) algorithms so they can sell more.

That’s not what we do at Write My Memoirs. Our small community of coaches, writers and editors are every bit as skilled as any you’ll find, and we charge appropriately for their expertise and the time they’ll spend helping you craft a compelling, enjoyable read. But you won’t pay an upcharge for other websites’ commercialization, the marketing that follows, and the pages of intimidating “advice.” You can sell your book if you like—we have ISBNs available for you—but our organic process of capturing your story takes a noncommercial path.

If you want help with any or all of the four steps above, choose from our services or save money by selecting one of our packages. If you’d like to talk about what’s right for you, schedule a call. One year from now, you can be holding your published memoir in your hand. And at that point, it will be a big deal!

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