Financial Costs of Publishing a Memoir

Few topics are hotter among aspiring memoir writers than the debate about the value of going public with your story. Most of the debate centers around the issue of upsetting family and friends. That is a valid concern. Far fewer consider the financial cost, and far too many authors end up feeling discouraged and disillusioned as they bathe in red ink. Let’s take a look at the facts.

Publishing costs vary from one individual to another, and depend on a combination of your skills and your publishing strategy. For example, for The Albuquerque Years, I had the skills to do my own editing and layout and create a professional looking cover myself. Then I uploaded the files to Lulu.com and have finished books available without investing a single cent.

In contrast, I know people who have spent $2000 or more on professional editing and layout services, cover design, and press preparation. Some spent another large chunk of cash on a press run of several hundred or a thousand books and promotional aids. One friend invested over $5000 by the time all the prep, printing and publicity was done.

Is it worth it? For me it definitely was. I never planned to make money on The Albuquerque Years and didn’t add any royalty mark-up to the price. I purr like a kitten with a saucer of cream when someone orders a copy, and a gratifying number have done so.

According to a post on “Sales Statistics” in the blog How Publishing Really Works, average sales stats for most individual books, especially self-published one, are plummeting — hardly surprising, considering the glut of new titles. According to this post, in 2004, Publisher’s Weekly reported that only 83 of more than 18,000 iUniverse titles published that year sold more than 500 copies. It goes on to quote iUniverse VP Susan Driscoll’s admission in the New York Times that in 2008 most iUniverse authors sold fewer than 200 books. Author’s House titles did even worse, with an average of around 54 sales per title.

Let’s do the math. The least expensive package available on iUniverse right now requires the aspiring author to invest $599. Editing, promotion, and other services are available at additional cost. If you sell 200 books, that basic investment works out to $3 per book. It’s not easy to discover the royalty structure on iUniverse, but if you exceed $5-$6 per book, you’ll probably price it out of the market. If you add the cost of professional editing, you are unlikely to break even at the 200 book level.

If you need to pay for editing, layout and cover design help, even with a no-cost Print On Demand (POD) option like Lulu.com or Createspace.com, you’ll have to sell a huge pile of books to break even.

So, where does that leave you? If you feel compelled to write and publish a book about your life, go for it. Go for it with gusto. As you write, keep these factors in mind:

Forget any idea of making a profit. Focus instead on the pleasure of completing a project that will prove satisfying for the rest of your life. If you lose money, consider it an investment in personal education and gratification.

Write primarily for personal satisfaction. Think like a Visa ad: “Editing, $1200. Proof-reading, $300. Layout, $500. Holding your dream in your hands, Priceless!"

Be realistic in your planning. Don’t spend hundreds or thousands of dollars on editing services in the blind hope they will help you sell a book unless you can afford this as a personal indulgence or training. It may pay off occasionally, and it may help you land an agent and commercial publisher, but if you do land an agent and publisher, your per-volume royalty will average around $1 per book, and you are unlikely to get an advance.

Keep hope alive. Even knowing that the chances of having your book hit it big and sell hundreds of thousands of copies is akin to that of winning the lottery, some do. Yours could. Dream big, plan smart, and learn everything you can about marketing books.

There is a back door around these costs. Form a collaborative with other writers, local or on the web. Trade proof-reading services with trusted and discerning friends. Brush up your layout and formatting skills. (The Heart and Craft of Lifestory Writing has a chapter to help with this.) Join a writer’s group or take a class to improve your skills and get feedback on your plot, character development and other story elements. Use the online templates on Lulu or CreateSpace to design an attractive cover.

With these economizing measures, your writing skills will improve and you can have a book you’ll be proud of, your family will cherish, and you can promote as much or as little as you like. However you publish, please let me know you did it, so I can celebrate with you.

Write now: do some research and come up with a balance sheet on what your anticipated publishing cost would be with various alternatives. Then devise a plan for getting your story into print.

The Sound of Paper

Photo credit: A Second Story (Flickr.com)

What is the sound of paper? Julia Cameron wrote a book by this title, The Sound of Paper. I began reading it some time back and found it so inspiring that I returned the library copy, determined to order my own. Today I remembered the title and hit the 'net, looking for more information.

That search activated a synapse deep inside Google, the cerebral cortex of cyberspace, linking to an essay, “The Sound of Paper”, posted on the Moleskinerie blog site by Pinkadelic. The essay lists a dozen sounds of paper, such as

It's a note uncrinkling on its own after being passed under bubblegum-painted desks. Do you like me? Circle Yes or No. Yes.

Pinkadelic puts the sounds into contexts, as we do when we insert sound into stories, and her results are polished to a sheen.

Her post intrigued me in a couple of ways. I admire her craft and her imagination in finding these examples. And it reminds me that awareness of the raw data of sound lies deep beneath these descriptive gems. Basic awareness is the fuel for the sparkle in your stories.

I let my awareness wander to all the paper-connected sounds I can think of:

Rattle Rustle Crumple Rip Crinkle

Flip Tear Snap Rub Clack

There are surely more, but this list will do.

Few of these sounds mean much unless they are put into a context, like “The resulting clack emphasized his point as Maynard sharply tapped the edge of the document against the table.” Or, “The sound of shuffling papers alerted me that Terry had finished the edits.”

Including references to sound, indeed any of our senses, enriches your stories, adding a note of realism and credibility hard to achieve any other way. Becoming intensely present in your surroundings, then cataloging your sensory input will fill the bins of your brain with enough fuel to sparkle up all the stories you can imagine.

Write now: sit quietly for three minutes, listening intently to your surroundings, then make a list of all the sounds you notice. Pick three of these sounds and weave them into short descriptions.

Following the Whispers

“There is no such thing as an average memoir, but if there were, Karen Walker’s story, Following the Whispers — Creating a life of inner peace and self-acceptance from the depths of despair, would not be among them.”

So begins the review of Following the Whispers that I wrote last month after reading this remarkable book that is hot off the press. Rather than going into detail about the book here, I encourage you to click over and read that review.

I was especially impressed with Karen's amazing ability to compress a huge chunk of life into a mere 163 pages, and to do it in a way that feels complete, without loose ends. Wanting to know more about how she accomplished this feat, I contacted her and invited her to be the first guest on a new series of podcasts that I am launching to supplement the written content of this blog.

As you listen to the fifteen minute interview, you'll discover that we ran far afield of our original topic, covering some interesting territory like the personal transformation she underwent during her twenty-year journey to complete this book, self-publishing, and personal essays. Tune in to learn the secret of writing a juicy and compelling essay. Click the arrow on the audio player below to listen to the podcast now, or right-click the link below and select "Save Link As" to download it for listening later.

Note: Since publishing this post, I discovered the player does not appear in Internet Explorer, due to conflicts between Google's Blogspot software, code for the Google MP3 player and IE requirements. If you don't see the player, left-click the link below to play the podcast, and right-click it to download the file. Of course you could switch to Firefox... I see myself climbing another level of the learning curve very soon!

Right-click to download MP3

For further information about Karen and to read some of her stories, visit her website.

Please let me know what you think of the podcast. I'm considering doing them every now and then, and I welcome suggestions for guests. I encourage you to suggest yourself if you have some experience to share about life writing and/or a self-published book.

Write now: use the secret Karen shares in the podcast to write a personal essay.

It's Five O'Clock Somewhere

You’ve heard the saying “It’s five o’clock somewhere” used to justify an early cocktail hour. Likewise, on any given day, it’s somebody’s birthday. If you happen to read this on your special day,

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO YOU!

I shall use your occasion to talk and write about birthdays and writing about them. Anyone who has a few years on their timeline has some birthdays that they remember more fondly than others. The fond memories may include parties — surprise or otherwise, special gifts, special celebrations. The not-so-fond ones may include passing dreaded milestones, generally ages ending in zeros. These occasions are worth writing about, as essays or stories.

One of my best birthdays was the year I turned 18 and my parents turned an ordinary gathering of friends into a really special event with a huge surprise: an ice cream birthday cake from Baskin Robbins.

Turning 21 was a real non-event. I had German measles. Besides, I was already married to a grad student, and we hardly had an extra nickle to celebrate, even if I hadn’t been sick.

On birthday 23, I decided to quit having birthdays. By late afternoon, nobody but my hubby had even wished me a happy one. No cards, no phone calls. (Not that anyone outside the family knew what day it was.) Just as I was imagining lighting a million candles on my pity party cake, my mom and brother drove up with a huge split leaf philodendron plant and redeemed the occasion. I made a resolution not to ever again let the absence of recognition spoil my birthday.

When 30 rolled around, I knew I was supposed to start feeling old or angst-ridden, but I couldn’t convince myself anything had changed, and hardly noticed. 40 was a different story. I’d always assumed that by the time I turned 40, the full extent of my astonishing wisdom would become appreciated. I expected all sorts of new respect and red carpets. To my horror, the day came and went, and not a thing changed. I was fell into a black pit of disappointment that lasted for weeks.

On number 41 I threw a dinner party for nearly 20 people, knowing it was the last year our family would all celebrate together for a long time, and my last chance to celebrate with friends in Richland. Nine days later we bought our house in Pittsburgh was accepted.

I threw my own party again to celebrate half a century. The next day I hopped on a plane and flew off to Seattle to meet our first grandchild.

Number 50 found me at an Elderhostel at the Volcano Center on The Big Island, joking that I was now old enough to be there unescorted.

I spent birthday number 60 in Austin with our daughter and her in-laws and moved on to celebrate Fiesta in San Antonio.

Last year I began celebrating my birthday high above the North Pole, arriving in Beijing before the day was over.

That’s the short list of my Big Birthday Moments story idea list. To do them justice will require pages and pages, with plenty of narrative to interject the meaning they held and hold for me as a time of transition, a season of beginnings and endings, and an occasion for gratitude. And then I shall decide whether to continue celebrating or swear off.

It's five o’clock somewhere, and somebody’s birthday to boot, and what a great excuse to celebrate now!

Write now: jot down a summary of your memorable birthdays, both good and bad. Include as many details as you can remember, food, drink, friends. Or maybe you spent some alone. Did you enjoy them or hate them? How d you feel about your age now? Let it all hang out. Then pick one specific birthday and write a proper story about it.

How Herm Started Writing Lifestories

Today’s post features a guest writer, Herchel “Herm” Newman. I’ve known Herm for many years now, primarily through his writing and YahooGroups postings, though we do e-mail offline now and then. We met on the Lifestory Writing Yahoo Group, perhaps seven or eight years ago. Over the years he’s posted around one hundred stories, and each one has been tantalizing, full of rich love and Truth. A few years ago one of his stories was selected for inclusion in Chicken Soup for the African American Soul.

Currently Herm is also a member of the Life Writer’s Forum YahooGroup which I co-host with Jerry Waxler, author of the Memory Writer’s Network blog. Last week a thread of discussion prompted Jerry to request that Herm share some of the resources and strategies that helped him get started writing life stories. Herm’s reply is so rich and helpful that with his permission, I share it with you:

One of the first things I did was search the internet for people who were already doing what I wanted to do. My search led me to the "Lifestory Writing Group" which was a good entry point. That's where I met Sharon and others who fed into my quest to write something in a meaningful way.

I also began to read. I like the way Max Lucado writes. I read some of James Patterson and Howard Fast. Reading makes for better writing. I subscribed to "Writer's Digest" which in between all the ads has some great information.

I shared my stories and left my pride in my back pocket. Constructive criticism is free education. Because I truly wanted to do something that not only I, but all my family could be proud of, I dared to just do it. To write one must write; right?

I also began to watch with a critical eye the TV shows, "The Waltons", "Little House" and others to see how they crafted a story. I listen to different preachers to see how they make a point and address a crowd. I observe people and engage them with questions to see what stories they might tell about their passion in life.

People are telling stories everywhere and when I meditate I look to see what pops up and ask myself, 'Why was that memorable?' I don't want to write like anyone else, but I can learn from others and incorporate that into my own style.

Draw a picture with words and give it a voice, some texture and even a fragrance. I keep chasing that.

Herm

I thank Herm for his words of wisdom and hope you also find them inspiring.

You can read several of Herm’s stories on The Elder Storytelling Place, and his story, “Back in the Days of Black and White”, is featured in my free eBook How to Make Your Pages Picture Perfect. You can find the link to download that eBook on the Resources tab of my main website.

Write now: take action on Herm’s suggestion to “draw a picture with words and give it a voice, some texture and even a fragrance.” And, enter your e-mail address in the box in the left sidebar on this page to join the fun and inspiration and get your questions answered in the Life Writer’s Forum writing community.

What is Truer Than Truth?

Every now and then threads from different corners of my experience converge and twist together, forming a vortex of intense meaning. This just happened again to remind me that writing Truth takes many forms, and that life writing can include fiction.

The first thread: discussions in a couple of online groups about the nature of Truth. A general agreement emerged that there are levels and facets of truth. Factual truth and meaning don't always coincide, and for the purposes of memoir, meaning trumps fact.

The second thread: an e-mailed link to a TED video of Isabel Allende's talk, “Tales of Passion.” She leads off with the question, “What is truer than truth?” The answer, according to an old Jewish tale, is the Story. (She has a lot more to say that’s well worth listening to, and she’s funny to boot.)

The third thread: reading William Young's bestselling novel, The Shack. This story rang true to me from the beginning. When I read “The Story behind THE SHACK” at the end of the book, I discovered that the book was pulled directly out of life experience, telling William Young's truth in an innovative way that skyrocketed it to #1 on the New York Times Bestseller List where it has remained for ten months and counting.

Young tells how he began with no plan other than to jot down some thoughts as a Christmas gift for his children. Over a period of months of writing during his bus commute, he gradually stumbled onto the idea of transcribing memories of some conversations he'd had with God. Although he began with no sense of grammar, rules, structure or direction, three men who lived the truth of the book as they worked with him helped him give birth to this independently published blockbuster.

This vortex of meaning underscores for me the power of starting without a preconceived notion of where you plan to go, pouring your heart onto paper, then shaping the story that emerges. Not only does it validate the hunger Americans feel for a new look at old beliefs, the success of The Shack should give great courage to those who fear direct disclosure. Sometimes truth is most powerful when it acquires the trappings of the fantastic.

Write now: write a letter to God about something important to you. It might be a love letter to God, or a prayer, or lots of questions about things you need help with. You can share this letter, file it away, or burn it. What you do with it matter far less than the writing itself.

Onerous Grammar Rules Suspended

Lifewriters of the world, rejoice. In response to growing pressure from writers overwhelmed by the economic crisis and other stress sources, leading grammar authorities announced that many basic grammar rules that have plagued people for centuries are being suspended.

“These demands came partly from the burgeoning Print-On-Demand and related self-publishing venues. Authors seeking to gain control of their own destinies feel unfairly burdened by the need to have professional editing. This decision will allow them to maintain their integrity and self-respect as they churn out material that would have been considered deplorable even last year,” reports publishing industry expert Sasha Greinhaus.

“We hope to make writing fun again for ordinary people," quipped Jack Merrigeld, a critic noted for scalding rebukes of the grammatically inept. "I have seen the light. I've become awakened to the power of personal choice and freedom of expression.”

Typical of the rules suspended include

• The need for complete sentences. Thought fragments are fine. Just get those words on paper.

• Comma regulations. "Commas have always been the most baffling and misused piece of punctuation. Authors should use them whenever they feel appropriate and let it go at that."

• Dialogue formatting. Don't worry about those pesky quotation marks, or where the commas and question marks go. Just write what you want to say and let the reader puzzle it out.

• Dangling participles. "You've probably remember this phrase from school days and have no idea what it means. Now prepositions are fine to end sentences with."

More about this exciting news can be found on the website http://www.aprilfool.com.

Write now: do some freewriting by these new guidelines which have always been appropriate for freewriting. Maybe you'd like to write about April Fool jokes you have enjoyed through the years. Whatever you write about, have fun.