Every one of us has a life story. If you’ve ever wanted to see your life story on the printed page, keep reading…
Dear Future Memoir Author,
There is not a person alive—myself included—who doesn’t have a story to tell. Some of our stories are courageous. Others are depressing… others are horrific… and still others are life-affirming.
So, what kind of story do you have to tell?
What is a Memoir?
Life is full of mundane events—for instance, doing laundry, mowing the lawn, or sitting in traffic. Every one of us has gone days, weeks, months, and possibly even years without having anything noteworthy happen to us.
Every so often, however, something happens in our lives that is not just exciting or interesting, but is actually life-changing. For better or for worse.
It is these life-changing events that make for really great memoirs. Unlike an autobiography, which can cover every ho-hum thing that has ever happened to you, your memoir will focus on a specific time period—or even a specific moment—that had a profound effect on your life.
It could be something positive—taking a trip around the world, spending a week with your baseball idol at a fantasy camp, or rescuing your brother from a burning building.
Or it could be something negative—losing your mother to leukemia, having your leg amputated after a shark attack, or being held hostage for two weeks in a foreign country.
In other words, your memoir will be written with a specific purpose, or theme, in mind. It will detail an influential part of your life that other people will benefit from reading.
Some popular memoirs you might have read are:
- Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert
- Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCourt
- This Boy’s Life by Tobias Wolff
- Orange is the New Black by Piper Kerman
- Growing Up by Russell Baker
- Winter Journal by Paul Auster
- The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
- The Woman Warrior by Maxine Hong Kingston
- A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway
- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou
Why Should I Write My Memoir?
There are several different reasons why you should consider writing your memoir. Among them:
Legacy—Did you have a profound experience as a teenager that your own kids would benefit from reading? A memoir is the perfect gift to give to your children.
Self-Awareness—Although writing a memoir can be mentally exhausting, the emotional and spiritual rewards can be priceless. By examining parts of your life you hadn’t thought about for years, you’ll undoubtedly learn something valuable about who you are as a person.
Imparting Wisdom—If you’ve experienced a grueling life lesson (illness, tragedy, etc.), you might have a strong desire to impart what you’ve learned to the world. What better way to do this than by writing a memoir about your experience?
But I Don’t Know How to Write!
That’s where I come in.
I have nearly 30 years of writing and editing experience (see About Me for the specifics), and when you hire me to write your memoir, I guarantee to make your story shine.
Your final memoir will read like a novel—a novel where you are the main character.
How do I do this? Well, writing a memoir is like putting together a huge jigsaw puzzle where half the pieces don’t even belong—but we still have to turn over all the pieces.
When we first meet together in person, I’m going to help you perform an exhaustive but exhilarating “memory-mine,” in which you describe to me (in as much detail as you can) every single memory or anecdote you might possibly want to include in your memoir.
Once you talk about your first memory, another memory will come. This will trigger another memory… which will trigger another memory… and so on.
As we conduct this interview, you’ll be amazed at how much specific detail you remember about your life. All told, we’ll talk for about 15 – 20 hours (over 3 or 4 days, although with the miracle of Skype, we can spread this out as needed), until we have more than enough material for a full-length memoir.
During our time together, you’re going to lay out all the puzzle pieces of your life. My job will be to figure out how these pieces fit together in such a way that your final memoir is something you’ll truly be proud of.
Your Investment
There are a few things you should know before you hire me to ghostwrite your memoir:
- Our interviews will be completely confidential. Other than having them transcribed, nobody will know what is said except you and me. In fact, unless you tell people, nobody even has to know you had help writing your memoir.
- Your name alone will appear on the book cover, and you will own 100% of all the book rights. The final product will be 100% your book. I’m just the guy who comes in (like a ghost) and helps you get your story down on paper.
- My fee is all-inclusive. It covers travel and technology costs—which includes flying out to meet with you for our initial interview. It covers transcription costs, proofreading costs, and cover design costs. I will even write a query letter and book proposal you can send to publishers.
When all is said and done, your printed memoir will be approximately 250 pages long—around 60,000 words.
My writing process, which I break down in detail here, takes exactly 39 weeks. My fee, which includes everything I talked about above, is $30,000 (payable in monthly installments). This is on the low end of the memoir-writing scale—some ghostwriters charge $150,000 or more!
Now, because during these 39 weeks I will literally be living, breathing, and dreaming your project, I’m only looking to work with somebody who has a passionate desire to write their memoir.
If you are that person, call or email me today! I promise that in less than a year, you’ll be glad you did!
Jim Gratiot
916-805-4875
jimgratiotghostwriting@yahoo.com
P.S.: If you’re not ready to write your memoir but know somebody who is, have them mention your name when they call. When they hire me to write their memoir, I’ll send you a check for $500.
Jim Gratiot Ghostwriting 