You have a remarkable life story to share, full of meaningful experiences that could inspire others. But the idea of writing a memoir may seem daunting, especially if writing is not your strength. This is where partnering with a memoir ghostwriter can help turn your life story into an engaging and impactful book.
Save Time and Energy
Writing a memoir is a massive time commitment, even for professional writers. For those with no writing experience, it can be enormously time-consuming to learn the craft while producing an entire manuscript. A ghostwriter handles the heavy lifting of writing and structuring your memoir, saving you countless hours. This leaves you free to focus on recalling details and bringing your personal stories to life.
Consider the many ways you can save time, energy, and money by hiring a memoir ghostwriter!
Avoid Wasting Effort Rewriting
Ghostwriters get your memoir right the first time, preventing frustration from repeatedly reworking disjointed drafts. If you were to try to tackle your life story, would you even know where to begin? When I talk to first-time authors, they often feel they should start with their birth and move forward in time. That usually isn’t the correct strategy. If you have questions about this, please feel free to email me.
Prevent Research Rabbit Holes
Ghostwriters possess research expertise to locate memoir sources efficiently without wasting hours down fruitless internet rabbit holes or libraries. Trust me, you can waste months or years trying to track down a piece of information that shouldn’t go into your book. I had a client who hired me after spending months trying to track down the travel documents of his grandparents. Within minutes I showed him how to gather the information easily and effortlessly through Ancestry.com.
Gain Back Productive Hours
Most CEOs understand the importance of their time. They typically work sixty-hour weeks and have a family. Time spent trying to write their memoir alone takes away hours that could be invested in family, careers, or leisure. If you fall into this category, outsource your book to a memoir ghostwriter to maximize time.
Supplement Flagging Memories Quickly
Most people have difficulty conjuring up specifics about their past. They also have trouble knowing which incidents should be highlighted in their memoir. Ghostwriters can promptly research and fill gaps when the author’s memory is failing. With a few key questions, my clients usually spark a memory and feel a tremendous amount of relief. It beats spending days trying to recall details that end up plaguing you.
Avoid Time-Consuming Training
Attempting a memoir without any writing skills requires years of taking classes to gain proficiency. Ghostwriters have already put in that time. I’m also a writing coach as well as a ghostwriter and enjoy teaching my clients about the writing process when they are interested. I always start with the basics of how to structure a story and lead into the literary rules. Of course, some of my busier clients simply want the condensed explanation. I’m flexible and happy to instruct as much as my client wishes.
Avoid Expensive Editing Costs
Because ghostwriters produce clean manuscripts, you avoid paying steep fees for extensive editing and rewriting you’d need without one. If a client has a limited budget I will sometimes simply help them structure and outline their book, so that they can write the first draft. However, when that is finished, they are far from done. The next step will be to hire a few different kinds of editors to help them polish their book. This can cost anywhere from $5,000 – $10,000 depending on what kind of shape their manuscript is in.
In summary, ghostwriters’ skills save you months of work and thousands in costs associated with tackling a memoir alone. Their expertise makes your memoir a time and money saver. Let me know if you need any clarification or have additional questions!
Convey Impactful Life Lessons
When someone comes to me wishing to write a memoir, their number one goal is often to help others follow in their footsteps. The author has learned some valuable life lessons and they wish to record their successful actions (as well as their mistakes) so others can benefit. A memoir ghostwriter will help you shape your story to highlight positive takeaways, impart wisdom, or counter misconceptions. Future readers will learn from your life lessons on relationships, resilience, purpose, and more. Your memoir will become a valuable mentoring tool.
Share Hard-Earned Wisdom
Life experience brings wisdom. Yes, these lessons are often born from painful mistakes and hardships, but those errors are part of the journey. They should be recorded in your memoir. Be transparent about poor decisions, failures, and detours on your journey so others learn from your reflection. You might just save someone out there a lot of time and heartache.
Highlight Pivotal Turning Points
When you hire a memoir ghostwriter, they will help you explore how critical junctures or events changed your perspective or path, leading to growth. These can be hard to fully spot on your own. Through your book, your insights on redirecting energies and resources after setbacks provide hope to many others in the world who are facing similar situations.
Illustrate Virtues and Values
When a client first approaches me to write their memoirs, they sometimes have a few pages written. Sometimes they have a super rough first draft. Often these pieces are preachy, which would turn off a reader. No one wants to be told what to think and believe. A good memoir allows the reader to reach their own conclusions and make their own life decisions. A memoir ghostwriter will help you subtly convey values like perseverance, integrity, forgiveness, and kindness through storytelling. Remember the key literary axiom: Show don’t tell.
Spotlight Personal Change or Growth
An effective memoir traces your evolution over decades through phases of immaturity, regrets, reinvention, and amends-making. Delve into the mistakes that were made. This gives readers hope for change.
Some new authors will try to blame others for their lot in life. This is a huge mistake and readers will see right through it. A memoir ghostwriter will help you develop your character (yes, you are a character in your book) and give you the proper character arc. Readers need to be able to identify with you and take your journey by your side as they read.
Discuss Relationships Meaningfully
Your life story was probably not lived in a vacuum. Most likely you had a lot of important people in your life (some good, some not so good). Explore the ingredients, pitfalls, and communication essentials you discovered for sustaining loving relationships with partners, children, and friends.
Advise on Overcoming Adversity
Calamities happen. They are sometimes too much of a way of life these days. Your memoir can profile how faith, courage, support groups, and perseverance helped you conquer crisis or cope with grief.
I had a client who had lived through a very rough childhood. She was abandoned at an early age and was forced to live on the street alone. However, despite these hardships, she found it in her heart to forgive her parents. As a result, she was a very happy and successful person, who was able to break the chain of despair and raise wonderfully healthy and loving children.
Inspire Readers to Seize Opportunities
Through your memoir, you can candidly discuss how uncertainty held you back at times and what gave you the push to take that leap of faith toward long-held dreams. Through the last twenty years, I’ve helped dozens of people share their triumphant stories of how they were able to beat the odds to succeed despite some very trying beginnings. I am always excited to take on these stories because I know they will inspire others to overcome their barriers and pursue their dreams (large and small).
The most universal life lessons are often found in one person’s journey. I’m happy to help you shape your memoir to share the hard-earned wisdom that comes with living.
Preserve Stories for Future Generations
Over the years, many people have reached out to me because I’m a memoir ghostwriter. They have asked me to preserve their family’s story in a legacy book. These pieces hold a special place in my heart and I am always honored to become a historian for a family.
Well beyond your lifetime, these books will allow future generations to know you and your family’s story through your own words. The gift of your stories will be passed down, influencing countless descendants you may never meet.
Bring Your Ancestors to Life
A memoir allows you to vividly profile the relatives who came before you – their endearing quirks, life philosophies, fond memories, and lasting impacts on the family. Your ancestors are resurrected through your storytelling to inspire descendants.
Each family should appoint a historian to keep the stories and characters alive. In our family, that person was my brother. In my husband’s family, his father researched the family tree extensively. He created a beautiful handwritten scroll that detailed the Sherman lineage back hundreds of years. That is how we discovered that Roger Sherman had signed the Declaration of Independence. What a thrill it was for our children to see the original signature at the National Archives in DC.
Capture an Immigrant’s Journey
If your family immigrated to this country, your memoir will provide a bridge to the next generation who may feel detached from those roots. Convey the courage that enabled their better life. About half the memoirs I have written over the years captured an immigrant’s daring journey to North America. Many people fought to escape a brutal past in order to work hard and create wealth in this land of opportunity. We all need to know those individual stories and celebrate them.
Model Principles and Values
Ultimately, the values you live by and seek to pass on become your memoir’s guiding force. Your principles endure to steer your descendants’ moral compasses. In this age of video game, social media, and texting addiction amongst our youth, it might inspire them to hear of their great grandparent’s hard work and path to success.
In Conclusion
Hiring a memoir ghostwriter will save you a lot of time and energy. They will also assist you in sharing your life story in a meaningful way which will attract a readership. Whether you’re sharing your story with your children and the next generations of the world, or you simply want to help others, getting a little help will ensure your final book will be a compelling read.
