Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Every ordinary life story is extraordinary!

Rupert Murdoch: Never a Memoir?

Rupert Murdoch apparently never wrote a memoir. Here’s why.
Rupert Murdoch: Never a Memoir?
In light of the current scandal surrounding publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, I thought I’d take a look at his memoir. After all, an 80-year-old man whose professional life revolves around the written word must have penned at least one autobiography, right? Apparently not.
There are plenty of Murdoch biographies, the most recent a 2008 unflattering portrayal, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the World of Rupert Murdoch, by Michael Wolff. Reportedly, Murdoch cooperated with this biography, but the author turned against him. This drives home the point we make here at Write My Memoirs over and over: own your life story. Even if you’re not the subject of an entire biography and the only press you get is people’s comments about you on Facebook, why would you risk letting other people define you? Write your own story so at least it’s out there as your perception of the truth.
I’m baffled by the lack of a Murdoch memoir. Three years ago in reviewing The Man Who Owns the News, slate.com noted that biographer Wolff found Murdoch “unburdened by [the] human need to be liked??? as well as “bad at explaining himself in interviews and generally devoid of self-awareness.??? So maybe that combination adds up to zero motivation to write about yourself. These days Murdoch may find that he’s asked to explain himself quite a bit, and the dark side of his memoir will more or less write itself.

In light of the current scandal surrounding publishing mogul Rupert Murdoch, I thought I’d take a look at his memoir. After all, an 80-year-old man whose professional life revolves around the written word must have penned at least one autobiography, right? Apparently not.

There are plenty of Murdoch biographies, the most recent a 2008 unflattering portrayal, The Man Who Owns the News: Inside the World of Rupert Murdoch, by Michael Wolff. Reportedly, Murdoch cooperated with this biography, but the author turned against him. This drives home the point we make here at Write My Memoirs over and over: own your life story. Even if you’re not the subject of an entire biography and the only press you get is people’s comments about you on Facebook, why would you risk letting other people define you? Write your own story so at least it’s out there as your perception of the truth.

I’m baffled by the lack of a Murdoch memoir. Three years ago in reviewing The Man Who Owns the News, slate.com noted that biographer Wolff found Murdoch “unburdened by [the] human need to be liked??? as well as “bad at explaining himself in interviews and generally devoid of self-awareness.??? So maybe that combination adds up to zero motivation to write about yourself. These days Murdoch may find that he’s asked to explain himself quite a bit, and the dark side of his memoir will more or less write itself.

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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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