Writing & Selling Your Memoir: How to Craft Your Life Story So That Somebody Else Will Actually Want to Read It Book

Intro: Why Write Your Memoir? 1

Part I preparing to write

Chapter 1 Understanding the Genre 6

Chapter 2 What's Your Hook? 29

Chapter 3 Setting Your Parameters 46

Part 2 the memoirist's toolbox

Chapter 4 Structure: Designing Your Memoirs Blueprint 64

Chapter 5 Voice: How to Find It, How to Use It 84

Chapter 6 Dialogue & Pacing, Killer First Paragraphs, and Awful First Drafts 104

Part 3 becoming the kind of writer publishers want

Chapter 7 Setting Goals & Deadlines: Why a Writer Without Either is Looking for Trouble 121

Chapter 8 The Three Major Distractions: How to Avoid Them So You Can Stay Focused and Produce Your Best Work 129

Chapter 9 Being Stuck Productively 142

Chapter 10 Editing Your Work and Improving Your Craft 147

Chapter 11 What's Your Platform? Why You Need to Be Able to Answer This Question Before You Approach Agents 159

Chapter 12 Social Media: The Best Thing to Come Along for Authors Since Coffee 173

Chapter 13 Everything You Ever Wanted to Know About Literary Agents and How to Get One 184

Chapter 14 Your Book's Publication From Point A to Point B 203

Chapter 15 Controversy: Navigating the Difficult Waters of Memoir Writing 215