Memoir Sells - Come at me.

To everyone who's been told or who has repeated that memoir doesn't sell

A memoir that is selling at the moment. Please note: this particular memoir is fairly raw at times, with some expletives, as she recounts her abuse.

Okay I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and I have something that needs to be said. I feel like I’m pulling against a rip tide, but here goes.

To every aspiring writer who has ever been told, memoir doesn’t sell….

To every editor or agent who says memoir doesn’t sell….

To every writing teacher, coach or mentor who repeats the words memoir doesn’t sell…

To everyone who’s heard the words “memoir doesn’t sell,” and died a little inside….

Yes. It does.

Not always, but it certainly does.

Maybe not for you (for a variety of complicated reasons—don’t give up and explore all of your options), but it sells.

People buy them

Read them

Listen to them

Talk about them

Share them with friends (as I did in a private chat just a few minutes ago)

Make movies or shows or plays or art or music about them (I have 2 movies, 1 play, and counting)

Repeat it with me. Memoir counts.

It sells. It speaks. It matters.

Your story can sell, can speak, will matter.

Never ever ever ever let anyone or anything tell you not to write, to lower or silence your voice, or not to even try.

We’re not going back.

Memoir sells.

Your story matters.

Get pushback? Make a list of memoirs you’ve read, or are on the bestseller list, or that you Google. Keep it by your desk or in your phone. When that discouraging voice rings in your ear, pull out your list and look it over again.

Am I an exception? Is the author of the book an exception? I tell you, every memoirist is an exception.

Every writer is an exception.

You are an exception.

I love memoir. I believe in it, I read it, I write it, I teach it, I sell it. Memoir sells.

Okay, come at me.

I am a memoir. I am selling. (Please note: This memoir is fairly raw at times, with some expletives, as she recounts her abuse..