Writing and Publishing
an Autobiography
By Mary Kole
Mary Kole is a former literary agent, freelance editor, writing teacher, author of Writing Irresistible Kidlit, and IP developer for major publishers, with over a decade in the publishing industry.
Writing your life story, sometimes called a memoir, creative nonfiction, or an autobiography, is a daunting yet rewarding task. An autobiography can capture decades of your life experiences, from childhood memories to your coming of age, to changing roles as you mature, and beyond. Documenting the lessons you have learned, the people who have inspired you, and all of your accomplishments can be enriching for both you and your readers, especially if you intend to leave an autobiography as your legacy to family, friends, and colleagues—or aim for traditional publication to inspire (or entertain, or both!) a wider audience. If you’re looking to learn about writing and publishing an autobiography, you’ve come to the right place.
are You Qualified to Write an Autobiography?
The qualifications for writing your own autobiography are quite simple. The defining factor is whether you have lived through enough meaningful experiences to write about them. Autobiography is not generally the pursuit of someone who hasn’t had a lot of life experiences, not that there’s anything wrong with the latter. But people compelled to write a memoir or autobiography tend to have had unique challenges or events in their lives that they want to write about.
Whether these events were difficult or joyous moments for you, it doesn’t matter. If they made an impression on you then they deserve to be written down. Also, it maybe isn’t even about the events themselves and how sensational (or not) they were. You might be wondering whether your life experiences are “enough” for a market that seems drawn to scandal and intrigue. In fact, the meaning that a writer makes from their experience matters almost more than the event itself. Your insights, takeaways, and reflections are really at the heart of an autobiography.
Outlining Your Autobiography
Once you decide to document your life story, it's time to write an outline, before you dive into drafting the manuscript itself. The interesting thing about autobiography is that it doesn’t have to be a straightforward chronological narrative structure. You might be tempted to try the obvious “cradle to grave” (though, I hope, you are not in your grave yet, nor will you be soon!) approach, where you start with your childhood and move through your life in sequence. However, this is far from your only option.
As you outline, remember that a memoir or autobiography isn’t just the things that happened. Contemporary autobiography for today’s market (even if you’re not planning on publishing it for a wider audience) is a focused affair with a specific theme. You won’t (nor should you) include everything that has ever happened to you. An outline will be helpful in weeding out what fits your narrative and what might be extraneous.
A pitfall of writing an autobiography is that there’s too much experience to choose from. Remember to select events that fit your topic, as well as events where you have unique insights or reflections to share. Start by making notes about different events in your life and how they impacted you emotionally or intellectually.
You can organize your autobiography by looking at a specific sequence of events (a time in your life or an important relationship), by starting at a high or low point and going back to reconstruct how you got there (common in “quit lit” or addiction memoirs), and jumping back and forth between a contemporary plot thread and backstory or flashback.
Publishing Your Autobiography
Once you have drafted and revised an autobiography with the help of your outline, it's time to begin thinking about publishing your work either traditionally or independently (self-publishing). Traditional publishing requires authors to submit manuscripts to literary agents or directly to publishers until one decides they would like to acquire the work, produce it, distribute it, and market it. This option is fraught with obstacles and potential rejection, and can take years. The bar is very high for traditionally published memoirs, and elements like your author platform might come into play.
Self-publishing offers authors complete control over their book but will require a lot of effort and some expenses—like the services of a freelance editor, book designer, cover designer, and a print run, if you’re not opting for print on demand. You’ll also have to do all of the marketing and distribution yourself. (If you’re looking to simply print copies of your autobiography for loved ones, you can absolutely do this with less effort and expense. There are many tools to create cover designs and do basic layout yourself on a shoestring.) If your ambitions are to self-publish and reach a bigger market, remember that, at least at the beginning, every copy of your autobiography that sells will be the result of your efforts.
Both options are viable paths towards having a successful autobiography out there. Writing an autobiography is a great way for writers of any level of experience to practice their craft as well as document their lives for themselves and future generations (or complete strangers who might be going through similar experiences) alike.
Although this process may seem daunting at first glance, with some careful planning (outlining) and hard work (writing), anyone can write their own memoir—no special qualifications required. Finally, there are two paths available when it comes time for publishing: traditional publishing companies or self-publishing.
Don’t let any potential intimidation stop you. This is a story you know well—it’s your own, after all—and there’s no better time to write your autobiography then now, when you are motivated to reflect and share your insights.
Click here to purchase Writing Irresistible Kidlit, my book on fiction craft for MG and YA novels, out from Writer's Digest Books. This will show you my writing craft philosophy and give you lots of valuable advice, including tips for the novel revision process and self-editing. There are over 35 example novels cited and discussed throughout. It’s a valuable resource for any writer’s toolkit.
Click here to purchase Successful Query Letters, my book on query letters, including over forty examples with comprehensive notes on each one. There’s a ton of submission advice, best practices, and insider information in these pages, and you’ll really enjoy seeing what other writers are doing in the slush.