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What Makes A Best-Selling Memoir?
Let’s admit it right up front.
No matter why you’re writing a memoir, I believe everyone would secretly like to have a New York Times best-seller.
For this to happen, first your book has to have that magic “something” that entices and intrigues agents, editors, and ultimately readers.
So right now I want to share with you some ideas of what that could be, so you can be thinking about it.
To borrow from fiction I want you to begin to think in terms of
· a classic plot device
· an enticing topic, or
· a universal theme
These things give your story the “something familiar” element of a high concept.
By the way, high concept is a term that came out of Hollywood to describe an unusual story that could be described in one sentence. (The classic example is the movie “Snakes On A Plane.”)
I want you to look for a marketing hook that’s going to grab an agent or editor’s interest.
To give you some ideas about how this works, let’s look at twenty examples of commercially viable topics and some best-selling memoirs from each category.
Please bear with me here, because my intention is for you to get a little overview of…
