How to Sell a Memoir When You’re Basically a Nobody
Bella Rose Emmorey
book editor, rogue behaviorist, digital marketer, writer, brand builder, plant aunt, and cheese enthusiast.
Your story and life matters. Especially if you found it valuable enough to write a book about it. But if you want to know how to sell a memoir, we’ll have to hit you with some hard truths right off the bat.
No matter how hard or insightful or interesting your life is, nobody cares if you’re a nobody. Meaning, if you’re not a well-known celebrity or have enough name recognition for people to be interested in your life, then you have to be strategic about how you position your memoir in order to sell it.
I’ll be clear: People will care about your life and memoir, but you have to cut through enough noise to make them realize it. And that piece is where marketing your memoir comes into play.
The #1 Way You’ll Sell Your Memoir:
Yes. It’ll be this simple, but it’s not easy. The best way you can sell your memoir is to not make it about you.
What? Huh? Isn’t a memoir literally about your life?
Well, yes. But that’s not why random people will buy it when they have no idea who you are. When Prince Harry or Matthew McConaughey launched their memoirs, people already had background into who they were enough that they were intrigued about what their own version of their story would be.
But you? In order to get people to care about your story, they have to care about what's in it for them. What value will they get by reading about the life of a stranger they know nothing about?
They don’t know your background.
They don’t know what your life is like now.
They have no idea what you could offer them that would be worth their time and money.
While this might sound a little depressing, it’s true. And what’s also true is that your life is of value. You just have to get your audience to see that before they’ll buy it.
Here’s how to do that.
How to Sell a Memoir by Not Making it All About You
Not everybody will want or buy your memoir. It should be meant for a specific audience who can gain something by learning about your life. If you want to sell copies, here’s how to do it.
1. Figure out what your memoir is about
"It’s about my life story!" No, it’s not.
If you’ve already written your memoir, I won’t tell you to rewrite it. But if you’re in the middle of it or are still editing, think about what it is you’re trying to convey by writing the memoir.
What is the main point of your life story? What made you want to write it in the first place? What are the common themes and elements discovered throughout?
In order to want to write a memoir, something had to be realized. There’s a reason you’re writing it. Even Matthew McConaughey had a reason—a theme, even. His book by the name of Greenlights is a collection of instances and stories in which he was either on the right path (green lights) or where he got stuck and had to solve challenges.
His memoir isn’t so much a story about his life as it is a lesson in looking for the green lights in life because those are the moments that will lead you down the path you’re meant to take.
So what is your memoir about? Focus on this theme in the writing and in the stories you tell. You can’t write the book about every moment and memory of your life, so you have to pick and choose which of them connects with your reason for writing it.
2. Title it effectively
A memoir with the title "my memoir" does nothing to speak to an audience. If you’re Oprah, it does. But if you’re Joe Schmo who lives in an apartment in a city of 30,000 people, it means nothing.
Your title is going to capture more of your audience than you think.
Jennette McCurdy's title I’m Glad My Mom Died is jarring and terrifying to most people. It’s a memoir. And that’s what she chose to title it? Right away, she’s speaking to a very specific piece of the audience and also letting you know that this memoir is about her relationship with her mother.
Here are some other great memoir titles:
If you go to the memoir category on Amazon, you’ll find a ton of titles that will give you a peek into the world of its lesson.
3. Promote the message, not the book
The last thing that will help you sell a memoir is telling people to buy your memoir. Most people aren’t interested in someone’s life story without knowing how it’ll impact their own life.
This is why I always tell people to stop posting pictures of their book and instead talk about the message of it. What you’re promoting is the content of the book, not the book itself.
The way people access all the lessons, and the stories that showcase them, is by buying and reading the book. Enough Canva-created book mockups.
Instead, tell a story from within the book. Talk about something you learned and then tease the story as something for them to read the book to get access to. You can certainly still post a picture of your book every now and then, but the primary method of marketing a memoir should be about the overarching message.
If your memoir is about motherhood and the struggles that come with it, an Instagram post with a message to mothers—be it an anecdote, a bit of advice, or some helpful insight—will better promote your book than another 3D render of your cover slapped on top of a mountain range.
4. Place it in the right categories on Amazon
If you're publishing a memoir as a nobody, you're probably self-publishing. Which means if you try to get it seen in the memoir category on Amazon, you’ll be competing with Michelle Obama, Matthew McConaughey, Jennette McCurdy, Prince Harry, and others with tens of thousands of reviews.
You need a different avenue to be seen. Those avenues come in the form of audience-specific categories on Amazon.
When you publish, there are initially 3 category options, but if you contact Amazon, you can get up to 10. Use them all.
What categories do you choose? The ones that coincide with the messages and themes of your book.
In the example above, Broken Like Me is Joseph Reid’s heart-wrenching story about his personal challenges navigating suicidal thoughts and what’s helped him stay alive. While still a memoir of his life to this point, it’s listed in categories like Depression, Emotions & Mental Health, because that’s where the audience who most needs that book will find it.
The best thing you can do here is take your list of messages and themes from the first step, and search for those exact categories in Amazon. This will do more to help you sell your memoir (assuming you have your description and other algorithm-triggering goodies set up appropriately) than shouting about it into the internet void.
Your story matters to a lot of people who need to hear how you navigated the life you’ve had. If you want to make it have the most impact, make sure it's seen by the right people who know how they’ll benefit from reading it.
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