Memoir Authors discussion

How many of you have self pubbed your memoirs? I'm going to have mine edited this summer and I was interested in taking this route. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Thanks.

I self-published my book. What would you like to know?

Frederick wrote: "I self-published my book. What would you like to know?"

Hi Fredrick. I have several questions. First how did you go about pubbing the book? Did you use a certain company? Did you use a professional editor? I will have to because my grammar stinks. I'm a published writer in the romance genre and my editor teases about my horrible grammar. :) How did you market your book? Did you find Amazon easy to use? Those are a few to start with. I really appreciate your time and answering my questions. BTW...what is the title of your book?

Pauline, We have a family business of coaching, editing, and direct publishing, Knowledge Capture Editing & Publishing and the imprint is Midsummer Books. You can Google Alicia Rasley and/or Jeff Rasley for outside info about us. We provide all services for direct publishing. If you'd like to discuss specifics and cost, please feel free to email me at jrasley@juno.com. Good luck with your writing.

I used CreateSpace and purchased one of their packages that included two professional edits. They helped me design the front cover of the book, the layout of the inside. Since this was my first book and I didn't know anything about publishing so took one of their full packages. I found them helpful and they did everything they said they would. The only thing I would point out is that I had to make sure that they did everything the way I wanted it. It is easy to let them come up with everything then complain that it wasn't the way your wanted it.

As far as marketing, they offer the standard listings, Amazon, and such but you're really on your own to develop a demand for your book. I don't know what traditional publishers do to market someone's book, but self-publishing you're really on your own.

My book is titled "The Great Promise" and it is based upon my grandfather's WWI journal. I've received 4 and 5 star reviews so I expected it to do well but sales have been slow. I'm still pushing it any place I can and I still have hope. I just found out that the person that reviews books for the London Daily Telegraph is reading my book so I hope she gives it a good rating and then perhaps it'll help.

Pauline wrote: "How many of you have self pubbed your memoirs? I'm going to have mine edited this summer and I was interested in taking this route. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Thanks."

Hi Pauline. I self-pubbed my memoir: The Truth About Butterflies.

I went through Lulu. I paid for formatting, but for my second book, a collection of poetry, I did everything myself (also thru Lulu), and it came out just as good.

Pauline, I self-published my memoir. I used Amazon's CreateSpace for the paperback and Amazon KDP for the ebook. I did all the formatting myself by reading hundreds of tutorials :) It's possible, but it took me about a month! A graphic designer friend did my cover as a favor. If you have an image, CS has a program to design your own cover for free if you are that way inclined. So the publishing cost me next to nothing, however, I did pay for two editors, one friend who worked with me for a few months, and then a professional company who did the final edit. These were my only costs, and although quite high, well worth it.

All the best!

Hi Pauline (and everyone else!) I also self-published using CreateSpace. I did everything on my own, the formatting, the design. I worked on the book for about two years. I've had good responses, in addition to a couple of very helpful suggestions that would require putting out some money for editing. I'm not in a position to go that route at this time. Sales have been very slow, but steady. I've spent the profits (which are rather pitiful, actually) on Giveaways and other promotions. Good luck with your memoir!

Hi Pauline

I self published at the end of January this year, so am a real newbie, but it was a fascinating experience. I found that writing the book was the easiest part! Editing much harder - and I did pay a professional to go through it for me - I think that's priceless, sometimes we get too close to our own work and miss some pretty glaring errors (in my case a great love of commas, and one silly word that popped up surprisingly often!)

I published on Createspace and found it incredibly user friendly. I also used Osborne Porter Literary Services in SA to assist me with printing locally. The marketing part has been the hardest; however I've had some really good breaks, and have a review coming out in the SAA in-flight magazine for May. The success of some marketing efforts have resulted in the book getting acknowledged by two chain stores, and I've signed up with a marketing and distribution company (substantially reducing my profits - but that's OK, it's my first book and I need to get it out there). My book, Game for Anything, is going to the London Book Fair - very cute, seeing as I have never been there!

Good luck with your memoir. In my short experience marketing and editing are the two things you need to work hardest at. Oh yes, and be sure to double check the files once they've been edited so the wrong one doesn't go to the printers/online :( And if you do decide to shell out on printing, be very fussy about quality of printing and binding. Go and look at successful book covers, and talk to the people in the bookstores about what works and what doesn't - they are the ones that are going to choose whether or not to stock your book - based largely on that cover.

Good luck!

Hi Pauline!
I also self-published my memoir. I hired a professional editor, cover designer and interior designer. I had my virtual assistant format it for Kindle and Createspace (makes ebook version available at Apple and B&N). It was just published in January as well, and I am hosting my first Goodreads giveway now. Feel free to enter and you can have a good look at what a self-published book can look like. http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17...
-Susan

Hey,

I also self-published my travel memoir. I published on lulu and kindle KDP select. I think amazon is a great site and making use of the 5 days free promo is excellent to get your book out there. I was expecting to have about 100 downloads but since last August about 800 people have downloaded my book. It took a while at first but no people are leaving reviews and it's climbing up the best seller charts.

Go for it, memoir is a popular genre!

Good luck.

I would like to know from those authors if the income produced from their self-published works is enough to pay their electricity bill each month or enough to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks once a week. I can't fathom four plus years of work going to that end.

Well, Laurie. I've self-published three books and am pleased to say that I am well in the black. However, paying my electricity bill each month is not dependent on book sales, thank goodness! Please see my website with videos, bio and info on my three books--


"Come visit my web site!"
http://home.earthlink.net/~schaefer234/ Jill Schaefer

I self published my memoir, Expat Alien, on CreateSpace. I paid for a friend of mine to edit it and another friend designed the cover so my expenses were very low. I found CreateSpace very easy to use. They provide a template and you can just pop your Word document into it. I had to do some adjusting but not a lot. I used Kindle publishing for my e-book which was basically the same process. Then I went over to Barnes and Noble and did a Nook version. The major work comes after publishing. Marketing your book is the hard part. Takes a lot of time and energy. If you are doing this for the money, you should probably re- think it.

Hi Pauline, I've self published my autobiography and memoirs amongst other books. I launched my own publishing house, Nocton Publishing Ltd so I was able to register it with Neilsen and get my titles into Waterstones etc. My advice would be not to rush, use a good proof reader and someone who is good aat designing for your book covers. Then choose a good printer. Are you in the UK? I can recommend one that is really good, inexpensive and no delivery charge within the UK. david.honeywell@yahoo.co.uk

The short answer is NO. You have to be really LUCKY to make money on your book. The key to happiness is "Don't expect". You need a lot of money to sell your book, much more than what you need to publish it. But I am not discouraging you. Hoping is good, but leave the rest to destiny. If someone buys your book consider it as something you never deserved. That attitude will keep you happy. Cheers! Laurie wrote: "I would like to know from those authors if the income produced from their self-published works is enough to pay their electricity bill each month or enough to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks once ..."

Laurie wrote: "I would like to know from those authors if the income produced from their self-published works is enough to pay their electricity bill each month or enough to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks once ..."

David wrote: "Hi Pauline, I've self published my autobiography and memoirs amongst other books. I launched my own publishing house, Nocton Publishing Ltd so I was able to register it with Neilsen and get my titl..."

Laurie wrote: "I would like to know from those authors if the income produced from their self-published works is enough to pay their electricity bill each month or enough to buy a cup of coffee at Starbucks once ..."

Hi Laurie,
I make about $200 USD plus a month on my self-published book, but that requires a couple of hours of marketing each day. If I slack off for a few weeks, my sales drop. If you have a good product and are willing to spend time marketing it, you can make some money, though the income should be viewed as a plus rather than a necessity.

Leila wrote: "Laurie wrote: "I would like to know from those authors if the income produced from their self-published works is enough to pay their electricity bill each month or enough to buy a cup of coffee at ..."

Leila, I am more intermittent than you. I spend hours trying to promote one day and none others.
You are diligent at 2 hours daily = 60 hours a month.
The rewards for that effort are certainly not enough for anyone to retire on. I wish I knew the answer. You have a great book and you maintain a high profile through posts. The rewards don't meet the enormous effort. There must be thousands getting no rewards at all.
Yesterday I sat for hours at the hospital, waiting for my grandson to get his broken arm in a plaster. While there, two strangers told me they are writing books.
Now, I know that everyone has a story to tell but not everyone has the ability to write. That seems to stop no-one. Consequently, some really fine Indie books are getting lost. We are all struggling to find our way.
My ratings go up and down crazily, according to the promo give-aways etc. Wish I knew the answer.

There are so many different approaches to marketing, most either time-consuming or expensive. For one's mental health, Syed has offered sound advice.

Hi all,

I recently self published my first memoir. I've had books published before but doing it myself is an entirely different process. One thing I've found that helps is getting the word out to family and friends and connecting with local bookstores. Ask your support group to help promote your book and try to do a couple of book signings so people can associate you (the author) with what you've written. I'm doing a fun Q&A book signing at an indie bookstore in upstate NY called the Golden Notebook and hope to have a good turnout. http://www.goldennotebook.com/event/b...

Try any and everything you can to get your writing out there!

Writers, be very, very careful not to buy in to the packages sold to writers by so called "Publishers" like Xlibris or some others that tout publishing. They are not publishers, they are simply POD (Print on Demand companies) THey charge naive writers thousands of dollars and farm their work out to the Philipines or other countries to young people who are inexperienced, and non professionals that can mess up your work in a variety of ways at your cost. It can run into $20,000.Thousand dolars and more, and each time you sign an approval form, and they make another mistake, you are charged again for corrections. Createspace is free, and you can stay in control of your book.

Beware.

Well said, Joanne. I went with CreateSpace and as mentioned in message 13 for my three books am well in the black versus being in the red. You can find about publishing companies through Writers Beware website which lists all the companies to avoid.
http://home.earthlink.net/~schaefer234/

Jill, thank you for bringing Writers Beware to our attention. A great site.

Another great thing about self publishing with Create Space or another POD, is that if you find errors in your manuscript after publishing, you can simply upload a new version immediately for any future orders. For those who have already printed 1000 copies or so of their book, the errors can obviously only be fixed after all those books have all been sold.

Check out Bookgoodies.com for self-service type author's interviews, listing your memoir, etc. Here is mine:

http://bookgoodies.com/?s=With+Love+t...

Pauline wrote: "How many of you have self pubbed your memoirs? I'm going to have mine edited this summer and I was interested in taking this route. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Thanks."

Hi Pauline, an author I correspond with recommended someone who put my word document into the files for Kindle and Nook (the Nook file also worked for Kobo). She also designed a cover, and I was happy with her work. Very reasonable price, too.

Joe wrote: "Pauline wrote: "How many of you have self pubbed your memoirs? I'm going to have mine edited this summer and I was interested in taking this route. Does anyone have any advice or suggestions? Thank..."

Hi, Joe, who is this gem who did this for you?

Thank you, Bohdan!

If only you knew how computer-stupid I am (and how little time my husband has), but I'll try.

Hi, memoirs are extremely popular, I agree with the poster who said that. One of my three self-pubbed memoirs became a NYT bestseller and all the others are bestsellers, *happy dance*. I've also just published a book about how to write and publish a bestselling memoir. If anybody would like a free copy, please message me.
Victoria. :)

Victoria wrote: "Hi, memoirs are extremely popular, I agree with the poster who said that. One of my three self-pubbed memoirs became a NYT bestseller and all the others are bestsellers, *happy dance*. I've also ju..."

Victoria, I would love a free copy of your book on how to write and publish a bestselling memoir. Is it an e-book? If so please send it to jdobbe@hotmail.com. If not then I will send you my mailing address. Thank you!

Hi Jill, hope it's useful to you. What format ebook would you like? I'll sort it in the morning as it's late here in Spain. :)
V. :)

Victoria wrote: "Hi Jill, hope it's useful to you. What format ebook would you like? I'll sort it in the morning as it's late here in Spain. :)
V. :)"

Thanks Victoria and a PDF would be great.

Interesting article:

http://thefutureofink.com/self-publis...

Victoria wrote: "Hi, memoirs are extremely popular, I agree with the poster who said that. One of my three self-pubbed memoirs became a NYT bestseller and all the others are bestsellers, *happy dance*. I've also ju..."

Victoria, I would also love a copy of your book please! I have a Kindle if you have a mobi file or otherwise pdf is also fine. My email is summersleila@gmail.com.

Thanks so much for the kind offer! x

Victoria, me too please! Right now i am supporting a friend with her Memoires and i would Love to Show her that my advice is Not only coming Out of the Blue. I would Love a copy of your work. PDF please? Thank you sooo much for this generous offer!

(Angelikacharlemont@yahoo.de)

Thank you!!!

I self published my memoir, "Game for Anything" at the end of January this year. I was able to find an editor who would manage the editing process and book cover design and layout for me for a very reasonable price - I don't know if she's still doing it or not though as she was considering giving up. I ended up spending about R60 000.00 on print copies, and have almost made that back through physical sales. On Amazon it's going slowly, but in South Africa it's doing well on the shelves. Probably because it is a bit of a niche market - my book is about living in the Kruger National Park.

I found that the biggest breakthrough for me was in doing some strategic marketing at about the time of the book's release, including magazine reviews and articles in some fairly big publications (our SAA in-flight magazine being one of those). Once I had the marketing lined up, I sold to the shops in the Kruger Park, and even managed to get the book accepted by a book marketing and distribution company. I don't know about other countries, but in South Africa you can forget about approaching the big book stores on your own.

My point though is that I took a risk, and it's paid off, I'm now busy contemplating my third print run, and writing a sequel to "Game for Anything". Just don't make the mistake of printing a small and expensive print run first off - (I did, it was the most expensive 500 books I've ever printed). My next print run was for 1000 and cost almost the same as the first one, because it was litho instead of digital. My next one will definitely be a bigger print run, it just makes better sense.

I'm definitely planning to self publish my next couple of books too. I loved the experience.

Bohdan wrote: "I am strictly a self-publishing cyberauthor and use each E=Book as a promotion for all the others

"

Hi Bohdan

How many e-books have you written,and how are they doing?

I self published my memoir, Dangle Carat, this week. It is a lot of work doing it yourself, but it is so rewarding... I am having a blast. Earlier today I was listed at #71 in the top 100 humor books about love, sex and marriage

http://www.amazon.com/Dangled-Carat-u...

Lilo wrote: "Joe wrote: "Pauline wrote: "How many of you have self pubbed your memoirs? I'm going to have mine edited this summer and I was interested in taking this route. Does anyone have any advice or sugges..."

Hi Lilo, terribly sorry for the late response. The setup and cover was done by "Get It Together Productions" -- http://awritersaide.com/awa/

Kae was great to work with.

Joe

I self published my memoir "My Father's Prostitute: Story of a Stolen Childhood" through Lulu.com. I found it super easy to do and it's free to publish. They will push your paperback to Amazon, but not your e-book. You'll have to go through Kindle Direct Publishing for that, but that's even easier once you have the formatting down.

Whatever you do, don't skimp on the editing and professional cover design.