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  • 02-05-2018 11:02am
    #1
    Rubecula
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭


    I am going to start an auto biography as folk keep telling me to do so, no idea where to send it though, any ideas? will it be alright to send i to any publisher going?


Comments

  • #2
    Das Kitty
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 17,231 Mod ✭✭✭✭Das Kitty


    Rubecula wrote: »
    I am going to start an auto biography as folk keep telling me to do so, no idea where to send it though, any ideas? will it be alright to send i to any publisher going?

    Hey Rubecula, publishers tend to vary on what they will or won't publish. I would say to write it first, see what it is then. The line between memoir and fiction is not a clear one. Many of the best fiction books I've read in the past few years are basically memoir. (All my puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews as an example)


  • #3
    km85264
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 146 ✭✭km85264


    The degree of interest a publishing house will take in your autobiography will likely depend on the degree of celebrity that you have. If you are an unknown with an interesting story then, as Das Kitty suggests, you will need to build it like a novel to have any hope of commercial publication. You need to really build a human story with a tag line that gets people hooked.
    You might want to consider a course in memoir writing first, if you've not done one, it will get a lot of ideas straight in your head. Then you need to write it and have lots of people read and feed back to you. Once you feel you have something saleable, you're better off approaching agents; do some research, find agents that have experience in what you're looking to sell.
    If what you have is not commercial, you might want to look at self publishing, but that's a whole 'nother minefield.


  • #4
    Rubecula
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 8,551 ✭✭✭Rubecula


    Das Kitty wrote: »
    Hey Rubecula, publishers tend to vary on what they will or won't publish. I would say to write it first, see what it is then. The line between memoir and fiction is not a clear one. Many of the best fiction books I've read in the past few years are basically memoir. (All my puny Sorrows by Miriam Toews as an example)

    Hey Ms Kitty LTNS :) Thank you for your invaluable advice :) you will maybe remember my snippets in the O&O forum?
    km85264 wrote: »
    The degree of interest a publishing house will take in your autobiography will likely depend on the degree of celebrity that you have. If you are an unknown with an interesting story then, as Das Kitty suggests, you will need to build it like a novel to have any hope of commercial publication. You need to really build a human story with a tag line that gets people hooked.
    You might want to consider a course in memoir writing first, if you've not done one, it will get a lot of ideas straight in your head. Then you need to write it and have lots of people read and feed back to you. Once you feel you have something saleable, you're better off approaching agents; do some research, find agents that have experience in what you're looking to sell.
    If what you have is not commercial, you might want to look at self publishing, but that's a whole 'nother minefield.

    thank you for you excellent advice :cool:


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