Memoirs and legacy books have never been more popular. It is natural to want to memorialize oneself, to create a written portrait of one’s life to pass down to children and grandchildren, or to publish one’s story as a lesson from which others can learn.
However, not everyone who wishes to tell their personal story has the ability to write, and many who do need help shaping their stories or sharpening their words. Writing and editing memoirs and legacy projects can add to a professional freelancer’s income stream.
Ghost Writing Memoirs
For writers with a strong resume, ghost-writing the memoir of a celebrity can be quite lucrative. A celebrity’s name can sell books, but that doesn’t mean they can write them. Some ghostwriters work independently, others work for companies like Kevin Anderson & Associates.
But most clients will be like mine. Deborah Nelson wished to write about losing her daughter in a tragic incident and how her own life spiraled into a “black hole” afterward. She had several false starts, a journal she’d kept, newspaper articles, some notes; but she didn’t know how to pull it all together. She sent me her materials and, after several phone conversations and numerous email interviews, I ghost-wrote the memoir for her, retaining as much of her own words and voice as I could. She self-published her book, The Last Portrait: A Psalm for Monique, and made it available on Amazon. She had many speaking engagements and book signings. She even joined an advocacy group which gave her book greater exposure.
Legacy Writing
Others of my clients have interesting but less tragic stories to tell. A CEO of a successful company was given a gift subscription to a yearlong legacy project by his children. The company, StoryWorth, emails him a question each week: What was your childhood like? Describe the first vacation you remember going on. What was your first job and how did it work out? How did you meet your wife? This client, it turns out, is quite a good storyteller. What he needs is editing and some rearrangement of story elements to make his stories flow.
That’s why he approached me. Each week he sends me his draft and I do a combination of developmental and copy editing of the manuscript, sending him the marked up draft and a clean copy for him to submit. At the end of the year, StoryWorth will bind his collection of stories into a keepsake book and provide copies for his children and grandchildren.
Novelist and screenwriter Rebecca Spindler recently gave up her day job as an events manager and took a position with Story Terrace, one of the many online autobiography and memoir writing companies, allowing her to work from home and add to her writing resume. Rebecca has her own page as a Premium Writer and takes freelance work as well.
Teaching Memoir Writing
Teaching how to create a memoir is another way for a writer to make use of their skillset. Personal writing mentor Julie Tallard Johnson has taught both for the University of Wisconsin-Madison and online. Local colleges, community centers, and senior centers are good places to approach for this kind of assignment. There are also opportunities to teach online with websites such as Udemy or Gotham Writers.
Memoir Freelance Marketing
So, how does one tap into the memoir market as a writer, editor, or teacher? The same as for any other freelance work: through word-of-mouth, social media, connecting with a local college or university’s community outreach department, adding “Legacy” or “Memoir” writing to your freelance webpage, business cards, and advertising copy, and speaking at local libraries or civic group gatherings. In other words, networking…networking…networking.
Whether ghosting for a celeb or helping the Average Jane or Joe to create a legacy to hand down to children and grandchildren, the memoir genre can be both gratifying and profitable.
Bio: Peggy Joque Williams is a writer, editor, and novelist based in Madison, Wisconsin. Her work has appeared in The Christian Science Monitor, Writer’s Digest, FundsforWriters, and numerous online sites and blogs. She has co-written and published two mystery novels, On the Road to Death’s Door and On the Road to Where the Bells Toll. You can find out more about her through her website: www.peggywilliamsauthor.com
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