In time for Christmas: Publishing options for your mini-memoir

Following up on recent posts, we’re encouraging you to give an early edition of your memoir as a Christmas gift to family and close friends—even if you’ve written only a few vignettes. Give them what you have completed and promise them a completed memoir soon.

Click on these links to recent posts covering your: 

• Title
• Dedication
• Table of Contents
• Introduction

Today we’ll look at your publishing options—BUT FIRST: Before you publish, edit your vignettes thoroughly.

Check for errors in grammar, punctuation, redundancy, unnatural dialogue, and confusing passages. Rearrange sentences or paragraphs if they’re not in the right order.

You’ll find a lot of help in Self-Editing Basics: 10 Simple Ways to Edit Your Own Book. The first seven points are relevant for you now. The whole list will be relevant in the future when you do a thorough edit before publishing your completed memoir.

Click on Editing Checklist for Writers for help with common errors writers often make in their first drafts.

Make changes to your manuscript and set it aside for a week or so. When you get it out again, read it aloud. Your ear will catch awkward spots your eyes missed earlier—like clumsy words, pacing, and sentence structures.

Below you’ll find a few options for publishing your mini-memoir, your early edition:  

• Your local print shop or office supplies store can publish a spiral-bound copy.
• Print your stories on your own printer and put them in a three-ring binder.
• Make a chapbook. Click on How to Make A Chapbook—An Illustrated, Step-by-Step Guide.
• Publish your book through a company like Blurb. I hesitate to recommend businesses, but I have published a couple of small books (with both text and color photos) with Blurb.  Click on Trade Books at this link.

You still have nine weeks to put together a mini-memoir for Christmas gifts. You can do this!

Let us know if you’re making an early edition

of your memoir for Christmas.

We want to congratulate you

and celebrate with you.

Leave a comment below

or at SM 101’s Facebook Page.

Tuesday Tidbit: If you’re giving an early edition of your memoir for Christmas, it needs a Table of Contents and an Introduction

Have you decided to give an early edition of your memoir to your family for Christmas? I  hope so.

If you haven’t completed your memoir—even if you’ve written only a few vignettes—no problem. Give what you have completed. 

In recent posts, we’ve covered your memoir’s Title (If you’re giving your family an early edition of your memoir for Christmas, it needs a title) and Dedication Page (Your memoir: Does it have a dedication page yet?).

Today let’s think about your Table of Contents and Introduction.

Table of Contents:

If you’ve written a collection of vignettes/chapters, give each a title and create your Table of Contents: List those stories and include page numbers.

Introduction:

Think of your intro as a letter to your readers. Tell them why you wrote your stories. (See Deuteronomy 4:9 and Psalm 66:16.) Explain that a memoir is just a segment of a person’s life (review the definition of memoir). Tell them what you hope they’ll discover in your stories. Make it personal. Humor is good. Love is a must.

Here’s excellent advice from Frank P. Thomas:

“Avoid making any apologies . . . for your life, for your writing, or for anything else. You are better than you think. So be positive.” (How to Write the Story of Your Life)

For now, make a commitment to give what you’ve written—however long or short—as a down payment, a pledge of more to come. Promise your recipients a finished memoir in the future—maybe next Christmas.

Your memoir: Does it have a dedication page yet?

Have I convinced you to give family and friends an early edition of your memoir for Christmas? —as a preview, a sneak peek, a promise of your completed memoir soon? I hope so! (Click on this link: You might already have the perfect Christmas gift for your family.)  

You can do it! Even if you have written only a few vignettes so far, you can print them and make them into a meaningful gift—a gift of yourself.

In Tuesday’s post, we looked at your need to pin down a title. (Click on If you’re giving your family an early edition of your memoir for Christmas, it needs a title.)

Today we’ll look at the dedication page.

Do you know what a dedication page is?

It often begins with “For” or “I dedicate this book to…” followed by names of people for whom you’ve written your memoir.

But if that seems too spare and dull, get creative—give your dedication some pizzazz!

Lucille Zimmerman over at Wordserve Water Cooler is fascinated with book dedications. She says the book dedication is not “the acknowledgments page where you thank everyone who ever helped you,” but rather it’s “that mostly blank page tucked in the beginning of a book, after the title page and publishing credits.” Her blog post, 7 Ways to Do Book Dedications, includes charming examples for you.

A book dedication should be personal. Joseph C. Kunz, Jr., emphasizes the emotional connection a book dedication can create and writes, “Whether your book’s dedication is only a few sentences or an entire paragraph, you shouldn’t miss this opportunity to give the reader a small look into your life’s story.” Click here to read his post, Book Dedications to Spur Your Imagination, which includes a dozen sample book dedications for you.

Study dedications in books you have on your shelves, or go to the library, or check out the “Look inside” feature on Amazon.com. These will give you added inspiration.

In crafting your dedication page, ask yourself: Which special people did I write this book for? And why did I write it for them?

Your memoir: A gift that will live long beyond your lifetime.

Tuesday Tidbit: If you’re giving your family an early edition of your memoir for Christmas, it needs a title

If you’ve written a few vignettes for your memoir, consider giving your family an early edition for Christmas. (See Thursday’s post, You might already have the perfect Christmas gift for your family.)

Think of it as a preview, a pledge of more to come, a promise that you’ll hand them your finished memoir in the future.

You have about ten weeks to get it ready! You can do this!

In addition to editing and polishing your stories (very important!), begin working on the documents you’ll place at the beginning of your book.

For today, let’s work on just one: the title page, the first page your readers will see. Your title will appear on the front cover of your memoir and also on your title page. Give yourself a by-line. Your title page might look something like this:

From Desert to Mountaintop: A Journey to Joy

by Jane Jones

And remember, you can always finalize your title later when you’ve finished the whole memoir. Consider this first title just a working title. Feel free to use it for your preview edition this Christmas.

Check out these links to my earlier blog posts about titles. They’re packed with good info for you.

Does your memoir have a title yet?

Craft your memoir’s best title, Part 2

Your memoir’s title, Part 3: The art part

Your memoir needs an outstanding subtitle

There you have it—your Tuesday Tidbit.