How to Write a Memoir

how to write a memoir

The Big Question: How to Write a Memoir?

This post tells you how to write a memoir. Without too much trouble, too much time, or too much money.

By Karen S. Cole

You need a memoir ghostwritten, for yourself or a family member.

But first, what is a memoir, exactly? And how do you go about writing one; how to write a memoir, is that your pertinent question? Should you write it yourself, or should you hire a professional ghost writer to create or at least assist you in creating your memoir?

And how is a memoir or memoirs any different from a biography, an autobiography, a journal or a life story? A memoir is more particularized, in that it may feature only part of someone’s life. The significant portion that you might want to write a book about, or you could feature the person’s entire life story.

This is the memoir or the memoirs of someone, no matter who it is about.

Do you need your family’s exploits, or those of a particular family member, chronicled by a memoir ghost writer? Chances are you do. Every year, thousands of people want to write a memoir about either their own lives or the lives of their loved ones.

Most times, a representative of someone who may be dying or has fallen ill chooses to facilitate the creation of a memoir, biography, autobiography or life story, based on the entire or part of the life and times of a beloved family member.

Sometimes someone wants to finally put his or her own life down on paper, having a fascinating story to tell about how they ran a business, discovered something new, or otherwise has an incredible history to relate.

Such a person clearly wants to write his or her intriguing memoirs, but in many cases is simply unable to do so. This can be due to not having the needed writing or English language skills, or not having enough time or other resources to put toward this very important task. Lots of people, therefore, would like to hire the services of a professional memoir ghost writer.

When looking for a ghost, the best method is to research your potential writer’s career and how many memoirs he or she has penned.

Were the ghost writer’s various memoirs published, and can you view samples from them, are questions you may ask. It may not matter much whether the memoirs were commercially published or sold well. Due to the memoir ghost writer working on a project solely for the sake of the family’s memories. And their not needing the memoirs to be marketed or saleable. Often, a family merely wants something professional down on paper for its children’s sakes, and nothing else.

In order to find a great memoir ghost writer, research your prospective writer’s portfolio and resume, asking for several samples to go by. Try your level best to establish a close rapport with the memoir ghost writer.

Make sure you have ample communication lines open, so that you can work closely with your writer to ensure that the project will turn out as beautifully and memorably as you require for your memoir or that of your beloved family member. Finally, be sure to set aside enough of a budget to pay your memoir ghost writer, as this is always a needed concern.

Another writer creates a biography about the book’s subject. And the book’s subject, if he or she is the writer, is the author of an autobiography. While a life story is similar to a memoir – it’s about the person’s history and life.

And a journal is similar to diary entries, compiled personal notes made in intervals, by the subject of the book in question. Some people like their memoirs to read like journal entries. Learn how to write a memoir if you want it to be successfully commercially published and sold.

Can you tell me more about how to write a memoir?

When you determine how to write a memoir, how do you go about hiring someone to do the work on it? Well, it depends on for whom you’re having the memoir written.

If it’s just going to be for family and friends, you might want to write out the manuscript yourself. And then find a professional book editor or book coach to complete it. If you’re not interested in book sales, this could be a more cost-effective method for you. Editing a book costs much, much less than having it ghost written.

When you hire a book ghost writer to show you how to write a memoir:

If you use someone decently experienced who can help you create a salable, marketable book, you will be laying out thousands of dollars. But if you hire a book doctor or editor instead, the work may only cost a few hundred dollars. Or at least only a couple thousand dollars, not in the tens or hundreds of thousands like ghostwriting costs.

So if you don’t want to create a huge market for your book and are only having it prepared for a small circle, this is how to write a memoir. Hire an editor, and possibly a book coach, to assist you. The book coach will help you structure your manuscript in a polished manner, and a book editor will help you prepare it for publication, making it read soundly and professionally.

Should I hire a ghostwriter – is that how to write a memoir?

If you really want to hire a ghost, research your choices carefully. You will be laying out a significant chunk of your money. Be sure you have researched the ROI potential of your book sales. Do you have an audience for your book? Are you targeting the writing and ideas of your book for that specific audience or audiences?

Do you know how to structure the keywords of your book title? And within the content of your book, so that it will come up in search engines, etc.? The latter is important nowadays, especially when it comes to ebooks versus print copies. But even hard copies of your book will need to contain several relevant keyword phrases.

You should get your book onto Amazon, Barnes & Noble, SmashWords and Google Books, too. The last one on that list is the one you mainly need to target your keywords for, as your book will come up under searches for specific keywords mostly on that site. So you want to get a published copy, full of relevant keywords where your book can be found on Google, Yahoo, MSN and Bing, onto Google Books.

How to write a memoir involves relevant keywords and SEO practices.

Include the most important keyword in your book title. That way, your book will be found by your most appropriate audiences when they do an online search. Of course, a lot of people don’t really want to sell their book. So much as they simply wish to get the memoir of a family member down in permanent book format.

But if you want lots of people to actually read your memoirs, it’s advisable to remember your audience. And the keyword method of enclosing these highly advisable terms within the title and pages of your manuscript. So that it will be found by the most appropriate readers for your completed, polished and professionally presented beloved family member memoirs.

GHOST WRITER, INC. (c) 2023 – How to Write a Memoir 2023 and 2024

By Karen

Ghost Writer, Inc. is a full services book ghostwriting agency.