What if you are writing a memoir or biography?
Memoirs are as varied as their authors. Here are some of the most common types.
Where will your memoir be placed?
An escape, a journey, a transformation — these are the matters of memoir.
CELEBRITY
This one is obvious. Either YOU are famous or you are the family / sibling / child of a
famous person. Any level of fame is appropriate and there are readers for every type
of famous person from church leaders, serial killers, politicians, community leaders,
and literary figures to mega stars. Readers are interested in an insider view of your
life with this person.
For example
Believe Me: A Memoir of Love, Death, and Jazz Chickens by Eddie Izzard
Becoming, Michelle Obama
Extreme, Sharon Osbourne
Sisters First, Stories from our Wild and Wonderful Life, Jenna Bush Hager &
Barbara Pierce Bush
If you are NOT a celebrity (or writing about one) your book will fall into one of the below categories
EXTRAORDINARY STORIES
This is a very general category but in these books you meet pretty regular people
who have done amazing and recognized things from building a clinic in Afghanistan
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson and David Oliver Relin to running the Great
Wall of China Running Barefoot by Amy Harmon. This is if you have DONE
something and have a story to share.
Most of these fall into a story structure I call ‘I did it/It happened to me’ and tell the
stories about how the author overcame odds or found solutions. They can be about
anything ... moving to a remote village, teaching English in Cambodia, dreadful
families, health, abuse, marrying a mobster, weight loss, fitness, disease, accidents,
disasters, divorces, drinking, drugs, murder, prison … the list goes on. They often
contain a personal solution and a personal message.
For example
I am Malala, Malala Yousafzai
Running Barefoot by Amy Harmon
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
HEALTH (general)
This is a general category (shelf) and see below if you can segment it. It can be a
frank discussion of how you dealt with a health problem, big or small. It can be your
own, a child’s, family member or friend. Examples are: Parkinson’s disease, diabetes, obesity, autism, cancer, Myalgic Encephalomyelitis (ME). A book like this needs to give some sort of hope and practical advice and solutions – even if not an answer.
For example
Tell Me Everything You Don’t Remember: The Stroke That Changed My Life,
Christine Hyong-Oak Lee
Get Me to 21, The Jenna Lowe Story, Gabi Lowe
Sick: A Memoir, Porochrista Khakpour
MEDICAL SURVIVAL
These memoirs are often about medical emergencies, terrible accidents, a fight back
to life, or a blow-by-blow account of the accident and recovery (or not). A life-and-
death struggle. They often have a shorter time frame than a long health journey.
For example
When Breath Becomes Air, Paul Kalanithi
The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jean-Dominique Bauby
Brain on Fire: My Month of Madness, Susannah Cahalan
CULT / RELIGIOUS SECT INSIDER
Typically written by someone who was part of a cult, under the influence of a guru, or
who has an insider view on a religious sect or religion such as Scientology, Seventh
Day Adventists, Islam, Isis, yoga, or who is even perhaps a guru’s lover…
For example
Escape, Carolyn Jessop
Beyond Belief: My Secret Life Inside Scientology and My Harrowing Escape,
Jenna Miscavige Hill
In the Days of Rain: A Daughter, A Father, A Cult, Rebecca Stott
INSPIRATIONAL / SPIRITUAL
This is a very broad category. It is about sin, searching and redemption played out as
a personal quest. These can be warm and funny or deep and meaningful, or any
flavour in between. It can include any religion although each religion will fall into its
own category (and often shelf in a bookstore)
For example,
Eat, Pray, Love, Elizabeth Gilbert.
Girl Meets God, Lauren F Winner
The Faith Club: A Muslim, a Christian, A Jew: Three Women Search for
Understanding, Suzanne Oliver
SPIRITUAL - Near Death Experience (NDE)
These very specific stories need to include a NDE and include the descriptions of
coming back.
For example
Dying to be Me, My Journey From Cancer, to Near Death, to True Healing,
Anita Moorjani.
Proof of Heaven, A Neurosurgeon’s Journey into the Afterlife, Eben Alexander
SPIRITUAL / INSPIRATIONAL (expert)
You need to be a practitioner of some sort to write this. Traditionally this would be
more of a non-fiction book, but the lines can cross. You can be a life coach,
transformation coach, religious leader, breath work guide, shaman, and so on. The
difference here is important; you are sharing your story, but you are also sharing
processes, techniques, recommendations or solutions to the “layman”.
For example
The Seven Spiritual Laws of Success by Deepak Chopra
The Power of Now by Eckhart Tolle
Finding your own North Star, Martha Beck
You can Heal your Life, Louise Hay
BUSINESS
This is more cut and dried and a very popular category. It includes any memoir that
details your work life, success, failures, rise, fall, triumphs or success – from big
business, corporate, entrepreneurs, hairdressers, and make-up artists. Please note if
you are a recognised name or a celebrity this will fall under ‘Celebrity/Business’.
For example (celebrity)
Screw It, Let’s Do It, Richard Branson
Lean In: Women, Work and the Will to Lead, Sheryl Sandberg
For example (not celebrity)
Good to Great, Jim Collins.
Slacker MBA: A Business Memoir, Michael Pollard
How to Fail in Sales, Derek Wykeham
Setting the Table, The Transforming Power of Hospitality in Business, Danny
Meyer
FOOD
This is a new and very popular genre. It can take almost any form but it an ode to
your love of food, relationship with food, or food solutions for others. This is not a
cookbook genre but a memoir wrapped around food.
For example
Trail of Crumbs. Hunger, Love and the Search for Home, Kim Sunee
My Life in France, Julia Child
Kitchen Confidential, Anthony Bourdain
Blood, Bones and Butter: The Inadvertent Education of a Reluctant Chef,
Gabrielle Hamilton
I Loved, I Lost, I Made Spaghetti: A Memoir of Good Food and Bad
Boyfriends, Guilia Melucci
FAMILY AND PARENTING
These are memoirs, often amusing, about family relationships and life with kids.
They will often sit on the parenting shelf rather than the general memoir shelf. They
can be solution-driven or simply confessions of parenting woes, mishaps or realities.
Bad Mom, Fussy Pot Mom, Strict Mom, Drunk Dad, Bossy Dad…
For example
Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, Amy Chua
Stuck in the Middle with You. A memoir of parenting three genders, Jennifer
Finney Boylan
Confessions of a Paris Potty Trainer: A humorous parenting memoir, Vicki
Lesage
TRAVEL
Your journey. Any journey. It can be to other countries, on the road, a hike, a
pilgrimage. This is a specific genre and readers know it and like it.
It can be amusing, dramatic, factual, descriptive, laced with food, wine, sex, dating or
culture.
For example
Notes from a Big Country, Bill Bryson
Down the Nile Alone in a Fisherman’s Skiff, Rosemary Mahoney
Africa Trek, Sonia et Alexandre Poussin
Wild, Cheryl Strayed
I SURVIVED
Surviving a terrible boss, loss, war, starvation, disease, poverty, a beating, decades
of abuse, drug abuse, illness or mania. These are stories of courage where the writer
overcame harrowing circumstances and beat incredible odds. They can sit on the
‘inspirational’ shelf or on the ‘biography general’ shelf.
For example
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou
I Have Life, Alison Botha
A Boy Called It, David Pelzer
Behind Closed Doors: A Daughter’s Story, Daniella DeChristopher
Manic: A Memoir, Terri Cheney
ZEITGEIST
This is a genre I am lumping together. It is a memoir that evokes a certain time gone
by and captures readers interested in this time. There is a large demand for these
memoirs. They can fall into specific time periods or places – like Holocaust,
Rhodesia, Vietnam, Baby Boomers. The story does not have to be extraordinary, but
more to really make come to life a time, era or setting.
For example
Don’t Let’s go to the Dogs Tonight, Alexandra Fuller
Running with Scissors, Augusten Burroughs
EXPERT NON-FICTION
You need to be an expert or professional practitioner of some sort to write this. You
could be a sales expert, business or life coach, yoga teacher, car mechanic,
businessman, or shaman. The difference here with a non-expert is important; you
are sharing your story but you are also sharing processes, techniques,
recommendations or solutions to the ‘layman’. This can be a workbook or straight
non-fiction,
For example
The Dukan Diet, Dr Pierre Dukan
How to Win Friends and Influence People, Dale Carnegie
You Can Heal Your Life, Louise Hay
EXPERT NON-FICTION (Business-to-business / Expert to professional)
This is when an expert in a particular field is writing for other professionals in the
field. This may cover how to improve your professional expertise and develop your
continued professional development (CPD).
For example
Hacking Marketing: Agile Practices to Make Marketing Smarter, Faster, and
More Innovative, Scott Brinker
Content Inc.: How Entrepreneurs Use Content to Build Massive Audiences
and Create Radically Successful Businesses, Joe Pullizi
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