How to Write a Biography

Writing your personal story may be the most important thing you ever do. Everyone has a story to tell, but very few people take steps to make the memories in their minds translate into stories other people would enjoy reading, not to mention the work that follows in getting it published and then finding a way to promote your book.

So how do you maintain your momentum and go from a fleeting thought to a finished manuscript? Start by brainstorming the most important events in your life. You can fill in the details later.

In order for your audience to enjoy your memoir, they’re going to want to learn about your personality, not just a factual accounting of events that occurred to shape your life’s history.

Think about how you wanted your life to impact society. Flesh out a list of adjectives that best describe who you are, and use those to illustrate the memoir of your life. What tragedies and triumphs did you endure and how did it affect who you are today?

The key to getting your biography published isn’t in becoming famous first. It’s in relating your story to others in a way that makes them care. A list of facts won’t work, but meaningful selections of true vignettes of your life will.

While millions of people never get past the idea of writing their life’s story down, others go the added step and finish their memoir. But out of those who finish, only a small fraction ever actually take time to get it published and in front of a paying public.

Maybe your reasons for writing a biography were purely self-serving. It’s therapeutic to write down events and work through them emotionally. But the most compelling stories on the shelves of bookstores today are those by ordinary, everyday men and women whose lives we can relate to.

Here are some tips to help you get your biography into print from a bona fide publisher:

1.) Skip the vanity presses. Self publication isn’t the way to go – find an agent and publisher in the traditional way.

2.) Format your manuscript to official standards in the industry today.

3.) Have someone else proofread your biography.

4.) Be willing to rewrite if an agent tells you that a certain area needs to be tweaked or polished.

5.) Contact an agent by mail or email if they accept digital submissions and only send in a query letter where instructed.

6.) Make sure you only approach agents and publishers who handle memoirs and biographies.

Once you get accepted by an agent or publisher, they’ll hold your hand through the publishing process, but your work’s not done yet! You still have to promote your book.

Much of the promotion that you take on will be a self-led endeavor. But as any experienced author knows, you really should entrust most of the promotional tasks to a third party who can pre-sell your book to your target audience.

In-house promotions just don’t cut it in the modern world – not when a large majority of the books bought are purchased online amid a buzz of peer-to-peer recommendations and referrals.

If you stick to localized book tours and small town signings, you’ll be missing out on the viral demand that can be created from someone experienced in harnessing the demographic within the web 2.0 world that lets you dominate your earning potential on a global basis.

The Internet isn’t just a one-horse pony where you slap up a website and hope people trickle in to buy your memoir, either. There are many elements of the World Wide Web, and if you employ the services of a specialist, they can help you reel in interested prospects based on their search habits – just as bookstores have mastered the art of layout in helping visitors find their topics of interest.

Third party Internet experts can promote your book by generating a viral buzz that works exponentially. As one person discovers your biography, they’ll buy, read, and refer other Internet users to the same publication. It’s an endless stream of online activity that works to showcase your hard work.