7 Steps For An Effective Social Media Marketing Plan

Social media is a vital marketing channel for businesses of all sizes. The common question a few years ago, “why should our business use social media?”, is now being replaced with, “how can our business grow with social media marketing?”.

As a social media marketer, this makes me very excited. What doesn’t make me excited is how many businesses are still trying to market on social media without a documented strategy. In this post, you will learn the seven steps your business must take to create an effective social media marketing strategy.

Step 1: Audit Your Current Social Presence

“Know thyself. Know the customer. Innovate.” – Beth Comstock

Before you strategize about where you are headed, take a quick look at where you are. A few areas to consider when auditing your business’s social media presence are:

• Which networks are you currently active on
• Are your networks optimized (photo and cover images, bio, URL, etc.)
• Which networks are currently bringing you the most value
• How do your profiles compare to your competitors’ profiles

We offer a total online presence audit that includes a deep analysis of your social media, content, SEO, and web structure with a presentation of key priorities and recommended plan – Check out our Total Online Presence Audit.

Step 2: Document Who Your Ideal Customer Is

“The aim of marketing is to know and understand the customer so well the product or service fits him and sells itself.” – Peter Drucker

You will want to get as specific as possible with this part. For example, if you identified your target market as parents it would be ok. However, if you identify your ideal customer as a parent that lives in the United States, is between 30 and 50 years of age, earns over $70,000, primarily uses Facebook and has an interest in outdoor activities you will have much more success.

Even the best marketers will fail if they are marketing to the wrong audience. Answer the following questions to help you come up with a highly focused buyer persona:

• Age
• Location
• Job Title
• Income
• Pain Points (that your business can solve)
• Most Used Social Network

Step 3: Create A Social Media Mission Statement

“What makes you weird, makes you unique and therefore makes you stand out.” – Dan Schawbel

Your social media mission statement will drive your future actions, so make sure you put some thought into it. This statement will make it clear exactly what you plan to use your social media presence for and should reflect your brand identity. Keep in mind your ideal customer when trying to create this statement.

An example mission statement might be “to use social media to educate current and potential customers about digital marketing, with a focus on social media marketing.” Once you have this statement documented, it will make it simple for you to decide what to share and create.

If it doesn’t align with your mission statement, forget about it. Businesses that post randomly without a guiding mission will fail. People follow experts, not generalists.

Step 4: Identify Key Success Metrics

“If you cannot measure it you cannot improve it.” – Lord Kelvin

How will you determine if your social media marketing efforts are successful? I am not just talking about gaining more followers, I am talking about making money. Afterall, it is hard to rationalize spending time and money on something that isn’t improving the bottom line.

A few metrics to consider measuring are:

• Conversion Rate
• Time Spent on Website
• Reach
• Brand Mentions
• Sentiment
• Total Shares

Step 5: Create and Curate Engaging Content

“Content is where I expect much of the real money will be made on the Internet.” – Bill Gates

Sadly, many businesses jump straight to this step. Hopefully, this post has made it clear that there are several vital steps that you must take before you start creating and curating engaging content to share on your social media channels.

Let’s now discuss the fun part, posting to social media. You know who your ideal customer is and you used that information to create your social media mission statement. Armed with this information it should be easy for you to begin creating and curating content. So, what exactly is considered content? Here are a few examples of content you could create:

• Images
• Videos
• Blog Posts
• Company News
• Infographics
• eBooks
• Interviews

The list of content ideas goes on and on, but make sure you focus only on forms of content that align with your mission statement, as well as your skill set. Content is what fuels social media, so it is crucial that you consider creating high quality, engaging content as a top priority.

I strongly recommend that you create a content calendar that outlines how often you will post to each network, which topics you will share and when you will share them.

Step 6: Invest In a Social Media Management Tool

“We live in times in which ordinary people can do amazing things using the right tools”

Most marketers have a secret, they leverage tools to boost their productivity. Ok, maybe it isn’t a secret, but without tools, marketers would face constant burnout (many do even with tools). When it comes to social media, having a social media management tool allows you to scale your efforts with ease.

One of the main benefits of a social media management tool is the ability to schedule posts ahead of time. Remember that content calendar you created? Make sure your scheduled posts in your social media management tool align with your content calendar.

Step 7: Track, Analyze, Optimize

“If you torture the data long enough, it will confess to anything.” – Ronald Coase

This may be the most important step when it comes to succeeding on social media. Even the best social media marketers rely on trial and error. It might seem basic, but tracking your results, analyzing the data and then making tweaks to optimize them is crucial.

Each previous step should be re-evaluated after you have had time to analyze the results of your marketing efforts. Let the data drive you. If it is telling you Facebook or Twitter is your most effective channel, consider doubling down.

A great social media strategy is never set in stone. It is a constant work in progress that changes when necessary. So get out there, create a strategy and start optimizing it as you continue to grow and learn more about your business and your audience.

Culled from Duct Tape Marketing

Post Tags:#content#Marketing#Social media#social media management#social media plan

How to Stem Book Piracy Using the Lean Principle

Book piracy is the biggest obstacle for publishing firms across the globe. Book piracy is described as an illegal and illegitimate reproduction of other people’s intellectual property for economic reasons, without prior consent or authorization. Forms of book piracy include local reproduction of fast-moving titles using newsprints or textured paper, abuse of publication rights, hi-tech reproduction overseas, circumventing the e-book version, illegal reprography, unauthorized or excessive production by printers, and translation without permission.

The effect of this illegal act is not limited only to the destruction it brings to the image and profits of the publishers, but also the immensity of economic, educational and intellectual losses it brings upon any country. Thus, book piracy is a crime that must be fought from multilateral fronts: from government, publishers, authors, marketers and other stakeholders. Since authors and publishers work more closely in the publication process, this article shares tips about the lean principle in fighting book piracy and bringing it to the barest minimum.

Go Lean

One of the major causes of book piracy identified by researchers is poverty. This is on the part of both the pirates and the buyers. Naturally, anyone will prefer to go for a product that is cheap, yet has the same content as the costly one. Talking about books, pirates don’t change the content; they simply adjust the packaging to make it affordable for buyers and profitable for the printers. There is a secret here. Most buyers are more concerned about the content of the book, not the package. Hence, it is important to go lean.

The Lean Principle is a process strategy that is adopted by industries and entrepreneurs to create value with less resources. This can equally be applied to writing and book publishing. It is simply about maximizing customer value while minimizing waste. In achieving this, lean thinking changes the focus of management from optimizing separate technologies, assets, and vertical departments to optimizing the flow of products and services through entire value streams that flow horizontally across technologies, assets, and departments to customers.

Pirates capitalise on the waste created by publishers to build a flow and establish pull. Ending book piracy will then require the need to maximize readers’ perceived values and reduce waste. There are five steps in the lean process:

Identify Value (Who are your readers? What do they want?)

This step involves the specification of value from the standpoint of the end customer. A secret to the success of many businesses is the devotion to identifying and specifying the needs of the market and creating values that customers crave. Customers don’t buy what you sell; they buy what they want. So, the key to selling and winning competitors is to produce what the buyers want. It is also important to designate customers into families by what is valuable to them.

Depending on the economic situation of the country, most readers are more interested in the content of the book, while some are interested in both content and how it is packaged: the paper texture and book cover. The error most publishers and authors make is spending so much on the package, assuming it will make it more attractive to buyers. But the irony is that the more fashionable the book is, the higher the price of the book. Hence, the purchasing power of the customers is exceeded. This does not mean descending to the production of potboilers, or paperbacks with low quality. It is simply finding a way to cure the waste.

2. Map the Value Stream (You may need to publish editions of the book)

Having grouped your markets into families based on their perceived value, identify all the steps in the value stream for each product family. Eliminate, whenever possible, those steps that do not create value.

What is the secret of top brands in the business world? Defensive Branding. One of the strategies is to create products uniquely for each market group without reducing the content of the product. So, whether the buyers are boxed up or not, they could still afford the product. The essence of this strategy is to defend their share of the market.

As publishers, it is not advisable to produce only one edition of a book. Some publishers produce both paperback and hardback editions. The goal is to map the value stream for the book. Why will a reader buy pirated copies of books if there are original editions that go for the same price? This is a unique way of blocking out pirates’ share of the market.

3. Create a flow (Avoid Scarcity)

After mapping the value stream and eliminating steps that do not create value, let the value flow smoothly. It is a waste if you have a quality and affordable product, but it is scarce in some places. You’ve just opened your door to pirates.  Book pirates take advantage of the scarcity of a book to launch their product.

Publishers must be effective in production, marketing, distribution processes and any other thing required to make the book flow to the readers in good quantity and at the right time. Appropriate editions should be distributed to the appropriate customers.

4. Establish pull (Be Impressive)

When products flow accurately, customers pull value from the flow. Establishing the pull is keeping the integrity, professionalism and service delivery of your publishing house which help to retain your paying customers, and perhaps increase them.

You should make your customers want more. Readers should be eager to buy books from your list because of the experience they get at the first time.

5. Seek Perfection (Win the market)

As value is specified, and value streams are identified, wasted steps are removed, and flow and pull are introduced, begin the process again and continue it until a state of perfection is reached in which perfect value is created with no waste.

Waiting on the government to make laws in stemming book piracy may take forever. That’s the truth, especially in countries with slow legislative and executive systems. Nevertheless, you can wipe out pirates from the market by taking advantage of the Lean Principles. Rise up to the challenge and review your processes and strategies.

Professional Writing: How to Ace Writing in the Second Person Narrative

Writing in the second person narrative means speaking to the audience from the perspective of a second person (other than yourself). What this means is that the writing will have a conversational feel to it, like you are interacting or speaking directly to another person.

Because of the conversational feel of second person narrative, this style is used less often in novels and short stories. Conversely, it is one of the most commonly used perspectives in songs and poetry. However, it is in business and technical writing that the second person narrative really shines.

Give Me a You!

When writing in the second person narrative, it is all about the pronoun “you.”

First, let’s cover the word “you” from a grammatical perspective. “You” is a really flexible pronoun. Generally, pronouns are either subjective (i.e., subject of the sentence), or objective (i.e., the object of the sentence). Here are a couple of examples:

You light up my life.

Here, “you” is clearly the subject of the sentence where “life” is the object.

I can’t live without you.

However in this sentence, “I” is the subject and “you” is the object. Sounds like “you” is also the object of someone’s affections. (Let’s hear it for love!) Also, unlike most pronouns, “you” can be either singular or plural.

You take the trash out.
I love all of you.

As you can see, “you” is singular in the first sentence and plural in the second. That is one flexible pronoun!

Isn’t It Romantic?

One great thing about the second person narrative is that it draws the reader or listener into the dialogue. It’s inclusive. It makes the reader a part of the action. Second person narrative does a better job of this than first person and a much better job than the third person. Let’s look at poetry for example.

You are my heart and my life.

Gives you goosebumps, doesn’t it? You are the object of this affection so you feel like you’re part of that relationship.

Now let’s change the sentence to a first-person narrative.

I see you as my heart and my life.

See? Not as many goosebumps. It’s a little more formal because it is coming from another person’s perspective. It is still romantic but the sentiment loses some power.

How about third-person perspective?

He saw her as his heart and his life.

Yeah, there are no goosies at all in this one. And if they are, it is from a distance. The action is happening to someone else, and while the reader may feel empathy and warm fuzzies for whoever the “her” in the sentence is, they still feel like they are on the outside looking in. Nothing is directed toward the reader so it’s not as personal.

If you think about it, the same could be said for music. How many love songs have been written to “you”? I don’t know for certain, but I’d guess the number is in the millions! And that is because—by writing the song about “you”—it puts the listener in the position of the one being loved, so they tend to feel it more. They can relate to the song as if a person (probably someone they know) is singing the song to them.

Examples of Second Person Narrative

Business Correspondence

Business correspondence is generally a combination of first person and second person narrative. The use of this combination allows for a more personal touch when communicating. Take a look at this example email and notice the many first and second person pronouns used (which means that it is written in a first and second person narrative).

Kevin,

I have spoken to the other supervisors and I think we need to address your ideas about the Christmas party.

1) We feel that a dunking booth would be inappropriate for the grand ballroom we have rented.

2) There is no such thing as a Santa Clown. It gave us the willies just thinking about it.

3) We feel that your suggestion of an entire ceiling made of mistletoe would discourage our female employees from attending.

4) Even though I anticipated the answer, I still checked and the grand ballroom most definitely does not allow Christmas bonfires indoors.

I thank you for your ideas – although human resources is having trouble finding any record of your employment with us.

With great concern,
Jim Myers, Supervisor

Technical Writing

Technical documentation is definitely better off using second person narrative and the pronoun “you,” since it is largely about conveying instructions.

You should always remove the nut from the bolt before removing the washer. It will enhance the life of your bolt.

Now let’s try it in the third person:

They suggested always removing the nut from the bolt before removing the washer. They felt it would enhance the life of his or her bolt.

Once again, the second person narrative clearly wins out because it makes the reader feel like the author is talking directly to them.

Presentations

Of course, presentations and speeches would be flat-out silly if they were done in the third person instead of first and second person narrative.

First and Second Person:

“I would like to raise a toast to my cousin and his new bride. I am sure you will make each other happy even though you live in two separate states.”

Third Person:

“The presenter would like to raise a toast to his cousin and his new bride. He is sure they will make each other happy even though they live in two separate states.”

Once again, it gives the presentation a completely different feel. It is impersonal, mechanical, and would likely result in the groom cutting his cousin off from the bar for the rest of the night.

Combining First and Second Person Narratives

Of course, there are uses for a combination of first and second person narrative when writing on a more personal level. The primary use would be personal letters. Much like emails, personal correspondence relies heavily on the first and second person narrative to give the reader a feeling of closeness with the writer.

Dear Mary,

I planted a garlic garden today. I hope the neighbours won’t complain when the wind blows in their direction.

Now the letter switches to second person narrative because it goes from telling the personal story of the writer, to speaking to or asking about the reader.

You were in my thoughts as I bit into that first, fresh piece of garlic. Yours was always the best I’ve ever tasted. So it made me wonder, “How does your garden grow, Mary?”

Second Person Narrative vs. Third Person Narrative

Let’s talk about writing in the third person for a minute, as a means of distinguishing second from third person narrative. The third person narrative takes the point of view of a third party that generally is on the outside of a story, looking in or narrating the events as they unfold. As you can guess, it uses third person pronouns like he, she, or them.

This is important to note because third-person narrative is generally reserved for storytelling and novels. It shows a dispassionate or somewhat omniscient view of the events that are being shared.

Now, that being said, writing in the third person can be used in business communications. However, it should be used only when you wish to convey a much less personal feel to your communication.

Hopefully, all of this helps you to understand second person narrative and point of view. If you have any questions or comments, feel free to jot down a note in the comments section below.

Culled from Magoosh

• PROFESSIONAL WRITING
• SECOND PERSON NARRATIVE

4 Reasons Why You Must Build An Email List

In a world where social media plays an important role in marketing, business owners often forget to build an email list. For some reason, they understand they need to be on social channels, but when I ask them about email lists they are lost.

Here’s where the problem comes in. You need to build an email list if you want to make it in business and there are several reasons why you should.

You don’t own social media.

Just last week, Facebook announced that it was doling out yet another algorithm change. In this change, Facebook said it would be prioritizing content from personal pages on newsfeeds (among other things).

This means business owners who don’t have the money for pay to play are up the creek without a paddle. It’s hard enough to get attention for free on business pages, now it will be practically impossible.

This is just one example of how you don’t own social media. Twitter and Instagram can make changes whenever they want as well. About a year ago, Pinterest was working great for me and then the algorithm change killed me.

So if you don’t want to get killed every time a social media company decides to make a change, build an email list. Even when you use social media, use it in a way that helps you build an email list by letting people know they can join one.

The money is in the list.

The majority of my sales come from my email list. Period. Sure, I have a few that come from social media, but people mostly buy from you when they know, like and trust you. Those who are on your email list are more primed to purchase because they have opted into hearing from you.

On a similar note, if you already have an email list but you aren’t actually emailing them, now would be the time to start. Remind them that you exist.

It’s the easiest way to market.

I personally believe that emailing your list is easier than coming up with social media copy all the time. Emails are easy to write and they tend to be more effective when it comes to getting your market to move.

The problem is most people make it more complicated than it actually is. All you need to do is write an email about mundane things that happen in your life and somehow relate it back to a service or product of yours.

For more information on how to do this successfully, I highly recommend reading Dot Com Secrets by Russell Brunsun.

It’s more effective than social media.

Although social media users are climbing, people with email accounts far surpass that of social media. Additionally, according to data from OptIn Monster, most people check their email first, not their social accounts.

This means that if you want to reach customers so they actually buy from you, the way to do it is to get them on your list.

Final Thoughts

If there’s only one thing you get from this article let it be this: Build an email list so that you have an asset you own.

Culled from Due

Post Tags:#email lists#email marketing#Market#media#Social media

How to Put Together A Marketing Plan for Your Book

If you are an author, then one of your goals in writing is probably to make sales and you most likely will if you have friends and family who are willing to buy your book.

But if you want to have large sales for your book, then it is important that you draw up a marketing plan. This is because having a marketing plan will help organize your sales strategies for professional review, help you save your time when marketing your book and it will also help you clearly define your goals. Now, your marketing plan doesn’t have to be very lengthy, it can be something you jot down in your note book or it could be something you write down on a word document page on your system, depending on what makes you feel comfortable.

So, here is a guide on how to put together a marketing plan for your book.

1. Define your goals: At this stage, you need to determine what you intend to achieve with your book marketing. Is it sales, recognition, or both?
2. Have a target number: After you have determined your goals, you need to have a target number for what you intend to achieve. How much money do you intend to have? How much interviews do you intend to attend relating to your book? These are some of the questions you should ask yourself.
3. State your book details: This is a very critical step because it helps you evaluate your books. Write down the summary of your book, the category it falls in, your ISBN number, your book format, the key words relating to your book and every other important detail you can think of.
4. Determine your target audience: Determine the people you intend to buy your book or know about your book. When you write about your audience ensure you are as detailed as possible. Write their age bracket, their estimated income, geographical areas and the likes.
5. Determine your book price: Determine your book price and don’t forget to have your target number in mind when you determine this. Also, consider your target audience and come up with reasonable price that will favour your audience and will also help you meet your goal.
6. Decide on your retailers: Then after settling on a price, you need to take note of all the platforms you would like to have your book on for sale such as Iwe, Amazon, Kobo, Okada and the likes. Also, decide if you will sell to your readers directly depending on the number of followers you have on your blog and social media platforms.
7. Decide on your promotional strategies: At this stage, write down how you intend to promote your book, who you will engage in promoting your book, how much you intend to spend on your book promotion and how much each promoter will cost you. Also, consider how much people you can reach depending on the platform you choose and have in mind your goal when deciding on your promotional strategies.
8. Review your strategies: After you have finished working on your book marketing strategies, take some time out to review your strategies. You can also give it to your family and friends to help go through your plan before you hatch it.

When you take the time out to write down every detail of your book and marketing strategies, you will be setting yourself up for success and you will be halfway to achieving your book goal.

If you have questions or are interested in marketing and promoting your book(s), please contact us on this page.

Do You Really Need That "Very?"

Do You Really Need That “Very”?

As both adjective and adverb, the word very is appropriate in many contexts, but when prefixed to a strong word like chaotic, it weakens the expression.

Very has its place in numerous useful idioms:

That lamp is the very thing for my new end table!

Private car ownership is all very well, but billions of cars take a toll on the planet.

–Do you like me? –Very much so!

This is the very last size six they have in the store.

–Private Jones, bring me my rifle. –Very good, Sir!

A phrase associated with Elvis Presley is, “Thank you very much.”

The word very derives from Latin verus, “true,” and in some contexts, it can still mean true in English:

“She’s the very epitome of class.”

“That’s the very truth, so help me.” (literally, the “true truth.”)

The use of very becomes questionable when it’s slapped indiscriminately onto adjectives that don’t need it.

With throwaway adjectives like good, bad, and nice, adding a very does no harm; it may even contribute a little meaning to mostly meaningless words. But with expressive adjectives like gory, heartbroken, and chaotic, adding a very has the effect of diminishing their power.

Here are examples of precise and powerful adjectives being vitiated by the unnecessary use of very:

 

The growth of the receipts has been very phenomenal.

I have a very stupefying headache today.

This guy committed very, very heinous crimes.

The man became very disconsolate after his wife’s death.

A child’s death leaves the mother very heartbroken.

 

All of these adjectives–phenomenal, stupefying, heinous, disconsolate, and heartbroken–already convey intensity of meaning:

 

phenomenal: (in this context) marvelous, extraordinary, fantastic.

stupefying: numbing, deadening.

heinous: hateful, odious; highly criminal or wicked; infamous, atrocious.

disconsolate: of a person: lacking consolation or comfort; forlorn, inconsolable.

heartbroken: overwhelmed with anguish, despair, or grief.

And, the adjective that prompted this post:

chaotic: utterly confused or disordered. (In Greek myth, Chaos is the “formless void” from which the universe came: earth, air, sky, water–all are mixed up and without order.)

Very has its uses, but next time you are tempted to put it in front of an adjective like overwhelming, you might want to reconsider.

 

**

Maeve Maddox

 

#vocabulary

#writing

6 Tips for World Building in Your Fantasy

 

Because of my love of world building, I’ve always been drawn to the fantasy genre and knew I wanted to try writing a fantasy. But I found out very quickly that crafting a breathing, living world isn’t as easy as reading about one. Suddenly, I needed to know how long it would take to get from one city to the next on horseback. And how long could a horse travel at top speed in a day anyway? When the main character got to that next town, what does the architecture look like? What’s the hierarchy of authority?

It occurred to me then that I wasn’t just building a world where the main character lives, I was building a world where thousands of people exist. If I wanted to make my fantasy feel real, then I was going to have to understand what was going on beyond my main character’s point of view.

With that in mind, here are a few tips I’ve learned to help craft realistic fantasy worlds.

1. Not every world needs to be based off of the European Medieval period.

I love “classic” European-based fantasy, and the fashion of the medieval period fits so well with the epic fantasy feel. But I’ve found that selecting other cultures as a base for your fantasy world can really bring that fresh feeling to your fiction.

2. If you do decide to base your fantasy world off a certain culture, do your research.

This is such an important detail. I know it’s tempting to start writing after plotting and creating characters, but researching about the culture and time period you’ve selected will allow you to pick the most important aspects to add. Research far and wide, even though you’ll only end up keeping about 10% of what you find. If you’ve done your homework, it’ll show in the informed decisions you make while writing and will make your world feel unique.

[Science Fiction and Fantasy Writing: How to Build Fantastic Worlds]

3. Say “yes” to yourself.

This is one I had a lot of trouble with in the beginning. It’s hard to trust your gut, but the worst that can happen when you’re writing a fantasy is to get too bogged down in the details. If you find that to be the case, you can edit them out. Better to have many details that you can par down than to have a bare and unimaginative world.

4. Only keep your best ideas.

This one might be in contradiction with the last tip, but it’s really important, too. If you’ve said yes to everything about your world that’s popped into your head, the likelihood of your story being long and reading slow is pretty strong. But now you have so many details to work with. Use the details to craft multiple sentences of the same topic, describing details in different ways. Half of my first drafts are sentences written over and over again describing things differently. It’s easier to shape your favorites after you’ve done the hard work of thinking them up.

5. Give your world a history.

Take the time to go through your world’s backstory, per se. Even if you don’t know who first decided to cultivate the land your bustling main city is on now, make sure there are at least rumors on how the people think their world was created. Nothing is worse than reading about a setting that feels like it just sprang to life because the main character came there. Know the history so you know what shaped your character’s minds—even if you only use a fraction of it.

6. Keep it simple.

Above all, simplicity is always the right choice. If you have to bend over backwards to explain something, it probably doesn’t need to be in your manuscript. If you need to drink an entire mug of coffee to interpret or discuss your world’s over-complicated magic system, you should rethink things. Chances are that the simplest answers are often the strongest, and these details will make your world crystal clear to the reader.

Fantasy novels demand lush worlds. Readers want to discover the world you’ve created as much as they want to meet your new characters. Crafting a world that feels unique isn’t always easy, but if you do it correctly, every place on the page will feel like its own character. And who knows, you might even get readers to say a swear word you created or utter nox when turning out the lights after finishing their new favorite book.

**

Source: Amber Mitchell on Writer’s Digest

• FANTASY
• FICTION
• WORLDBUILDING
• WRITING

Five Secrets to Writing a Fascinating Memoir

Writing a memoir is difficult and extremely time consuming. Like many things in life, if it were easy, everyone would do it. It is so difficult, in fact, that there are in all likelihood more memoir drafts on paper, computer hard drives, and various memory devices than memoirs published.

The rewards of writing a published work, however, can be beyond imagination. No words can adequately describe the feeling of seeing one’s book on the shelves of a bookstore for the first time. It is like Christmas morning and your birthday all rolled into one.

While the writing of a memoir is difficult, it is obviously not impossible given the number published. To assist the aspiring new author, I have distilled the problem down to five basic areas for anyone bold or insane enough to venture into these waters:

1. Was Your Life Interesting to Anyone Other than You?

Before any would-be author writes the first word of a memoir, they must decide whether the details of their lives have been so interesting that if put to paper, people would wish to read the work.

By the time most of us have reached middle age, we possess an abundance of experience in a specific subject or simply life in general. However, are those experiences interesting to anyone else other than ourselves? While each of us may feel our lives have been utterly fascinating, others may not find our experiences as enthralling. The best way to determine whether your life is worthy of a formal memoir is to speak with people other than family or friends about the issue. They are best suited to give you an honest opinion on whether your proposed memoir would be of interest. While almost everyone has at least one book in them, and there is an audience for almost every book, be rational in your decision whether to move forward with a memoir.

2. Time and Place

Once a person decides to write a memoir, they must resign themselves to the fact that time is perhaps the most important element in any significant writing adventure. Someone once said, “The most difficult part of writing was putting backside to seat.” No truer words were ever spoken. Writing a memoir piecemeal, a few minutes each day, is almost impossible. Rather, it should be attacked with an aggressiveness and sense of purpose, which can include writing for hours and days at a time. It is helpful to set aside a specific time each day to write, but impromptu sessions based upon sudden ideas are fine too. Never let a spontaneous memory or idea go unwritten or it will surely be lost. In addition, while devoting a great deal of time to the work is essential, take a day or two off from writing when you develop a case of writer’s block. It is not uncommon to simply lose focus from time to time. A little time off will generally put you back on track.

Equally important as time is a proper environment to write in. While Hemingway frequently wrote standing up from any place he could set a typewriter, most of us do not work that way. To write effectively, it is best to segregate one’s self in a quiet room away from family, TV, pets, and all other distractions. Let everyone in the house know that you are not to be disturbed for anything other than a true emergency during writing hours. Along these lines, be aware that the writing bug can cause family rifts. Children sometimes do not understand why mom or dad disappear each evening into the study with orders not to be disturbed rather than spending time with them. Also, spouses and significant others may find it difficult sharing you with your new lover known as the memoir.

3. Make an Outline and Begin at the Beginning

Before beginning to write your masterpiece, it is best to begin by writing the table of contents, as this will serve as the all-important outline. I discovered that my writing moved in a logical, easy flowing sequence by deciding at what point in life the memoir was to begin from, then chronologically writing about each phase. For example, do you want to begin your story from the cradle, or perhaps merely mention those years briefly and move right into the main story? Once the outline or table of contents has been completed, you may then fill in each section as you wish. In other words, while the table of contents must be in order, you do not have to write your memoir in order from beginning to end. Simply fill in each chapter as you outlined them and it will all fall into place. The writer should always attempt, however, to keep the information flowing chronologically and in a logical fashion.

4. Learn From Others

While plagiarism is a major sin in any sort of writing, there is nothing wrong with examining the memoirs of others to help with your own ideas. Decide what memoirs are similar to what you are trying to write. If you are a pilot for example, study the memoirs of Chuck Yeager or John Glenn. If you are an actor, read memoirs of actors for ideas. In the end, your writings must be your own but there is no reason to re-invent the memoir wheel.

5. Consider a Ghost Writer

Perhaps you have an idea for a great memoir, but you are not much of a writer. Do not let your amazing, exciting life go unwritten simply because you cannot put a sentence together. If that is your situation, find someone who can write to help you polish and structure the work. Perhaps you know a former English major who can help, or simply a well-read person willing to review your work and help correct the draft. While a draft may be as ugly as you wish, the final product must be clean, grammatically correct, and readable. There is also the option of merely sitting down with a writer and speaking your memoir to them, then let that person do all the work. Writers can be contracted for a price, or if you are fortunate enough to sell a publishing house on your work, they will provide the ghostwriter at no charge.

Credit: Writer’s Digest

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