Post #49 – Women’s Memoirs, Book Business – Kendra Bonnett and Matilda Butler
Jump the Shark. The Urban Dictionary defines it as the “moment when something that was once great has reached a point where it will now decline in quality and popularity.”
Have the steady stream of political and celebrity memoirs combined with countless numbers of memoirs by the rest of us detailing and exposing every aspect of our human struggle worn this genre out? Ben Yagoda, author of Memoir: A History, thinks it possible. He wrote: “The main reason for the ebbing of the memoir tide is ecological; we are running out of good true stories. Every stunt worth undertaking has been undertaken; every disease worth chronicling has been chronicled.”
Reports of memoir’s death may be greatly exaggerated
Perhaps, as Yagoda suggests, every plague, every illness, every outrage has been told. We’ve certainly seen great growth in the genre. R.R. Bowker, a leading source of bibliographic information, reports that between 2002 and 2009 the category of biography–which includes memoir–grew 79 percent. More than 12,000 biographies, autobiographies and memoirs were published in 2009.
We’ll have to wait for the dust to settle on 2010 before we’ll know if memoir is slowly burning itself out or remains as strong as ever. Either way, however, you’re going to need to promote your memoir more aggressively than ever. Even if memoir is contracting, interest in the genre will not disappear. Memoir will always have its place. You may, however, have to work harder to capture an audience.
And if memoir remains as popular as ever, you need to ensure that your book is found within a sea of titles.
So take heart, gird your loins and commit yourself to the challenge of getting found…now more than ever. I’ve created a short video for you on what it’s going to take. Pay particular attention to my fourth bullet.
Be persistent and consistent
I truly believe that the means you employ to build your presence–YouTube, blogging, Facebook, Twitter, or some other combination of social networking tools–are less important than your commitment to keep going. At first, you’ll feel alone…that no one knows you exist. You’ll be frustrated by the few views you receive. You’ll plead your few friends and followers to P-L-E-A-S-E leave you a comment. You’ll wonder if anyone out there cares.
Keep going. Remember that Google IS your regular visitor and always reading you. It may take six months to a year for you to gain traction. And that is your challenge…to remain resolute and committed. Set a schedule for your posting and don’t waiver. Some days it will be hard to keep going. Just do it.
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{ 2 comments… read them below or add one }
The allure of compelling stories about real people never fades. The allure of memoir, too, is that it promotes a community of people sharing their stories, garnering meaning from those stories and putting their own stories down on paper, whether as memoir, fiction or creative non-fiction. Memoir, one could argue, is the genesis of storytelling – the old adage, “write what you know” says it all.
Susan, I agree with you. There is a lot of discussion/questioning among people who look at memoir as just another genre. But your points are well taken. Memoir is storytelling and that’s the backbone of so much of our writing. I see elements of memoir in many self-help books and creative nonfiction. I too think memoir will be with us for a long, long time.
I just want to make sure that writers are doing everything they can to distinguish their books from others on the shelf. And that requires starting to build a platform early enough. Thanks for sharing your thoughts.