When your memoir is still in the planning stage that is a good time to decide what audience you will be attempting to reach with your effort. The subject matter of the memoir will make it easier to conclude who will make up your audience. A story about childhood might be well suited for a younger audience where a story with mature subject matter and difficult issues will be better directed toward an adult audience. Your intended audience will determine your voice and the depth of the story.
Once you've decided what audience you are trying to reach then you can start outlining or making notes accordingly. The audience reach will have a bearing upon the language used as well as the complexity of what you will discuss in the narrative.
Audience becomes especially important when trying to market your memoir when it is finished. A memoir dealing with spiritual issues might be of interest to a Christian publisher to be mainly distributed in Christian bookstores. Highly specific stories catering to a particular niche market might be better to self-publish and self-market.
Before any marketing begins to happen though you must finish your memoir. As you write, think about who might be reading your work later on. If you establish a reasonably clear idea of the reach of your work you need to write with that in mind. Later you might change your mind and need to rewrite for a different audience, but if you've done your homework and remained consistent in your writing you should have a book that will be marketable to your intended audience.
Have you ever read a book that you didn't care for because it had been inappropriately marketed? Do you think an author should generally write most of their work for the same type of audience? Would it be more difficult for you to attempt to reach a youth market or an adult market?
I'm not sure who would read my memoir if I wrote one. I just finished a cousin's memoir and it's clear she wrote it for her grandchildren's benefit to share her life and memories in one place. I'm not sure you or anyone else would find it of interest. Just like I'm not sure anyone outside my friends/family would find my memoir interesting. I don't know what my 'hook' would be, unless I devoted it solely to the Grateful Dead years.
ReplyDeleteThe Grateful Dead niche could be a good one on which to capitalize since that will have a life that could extend for many more decades. The bottom line though is your readers would be the market you create. Any memoir has to tap into a crowd with a general interest in the life stories you have to offer and then creative market can do the rest of luring readers.
ReplyDeleteLee
I did a similar post yesterday when I focused on the "Readers" in blogging. It's important to know who we are writing for. Only then, we're able to deliver our message in the most suitable way.
ReplyDeleteAs for who would read your memoir, I don't know. Maybe if it's written in a way that the general people can relate to, and has a title that connects, it could sell.
I was telling my Dad the other day, that it would be nice if he wrote down his memoirs. I have some recipes written by my mom (she's not alive anymore), as well as a baby record book/diary she maintained for me till I was 2 years old. Those are the most priceless items I have of her.
I don't care if the memoirs sell or not. I think people should write them anyway for their kids and other loved ones, so that they feel close to you even after you're long dead.