Episode 3 is up. Today’s video is about the audience for your memoir.
I’ve realised that some people expect to find my book on Amazon or Bookshop.org. In fact, it’s available only through my website. I’m still handwrapping every copy.
That tells you that this remains much the same as it started: a small, intimate project. About forty people agreed to receive my emails while I was writing it. That number increased steadily, so that at the time of writing 138 of the 250 copies in the Collectors Edition have already found a home.
This smallish audience has been warm, generous and patient. I didn’t want to send the book into the publishing machine and wait for someone to tell me whether it was any good. The subject is too raw for that.
If you’re thinking about writing memoir – or any project drawn from lived experience – I’d suggest you keep a small audience in mind. Not the market, not “readers” in the abstract, but a specific handful of people who already care about the work, or would if they knew about it.
The audience shapes everything else – what you can say, how honest you can be, what needs explanation and what doesn’t.
Start small. You can always widen later.
Episode 3: Instagram | LinkedIn
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