Hi everyone
I finished my auto-biography quite some time ago and have had no joy in getting interest from any of the publishers and agents that specialise in memoirs/auto-biography. I guess not being famous doesnt help. I obtained all of the publishers and agents from The Writers and Artists Yearbook and followed the guidelines for everything. I received a 'thanks but we are not currently taking on any new authors but the best of luck' from most of those I contacted with a couple not replying. I really do not want to go down the route of self-publishing and with so many other websites claiming to help with publishing I just seem to be coming across more and more sites that tell you to be very cautious who you contact. I am sure that those who have also been rejected feel like you havent been given a good enough opportunity to sell your book as the company usually only require a couple of chapters and a brief outline and this isnt always enough. It is approximately 70,000 words. I have it as an attachment on Word and as a hard copy and that is it. It has not been edited or proof-read. It is just my work with my level of English Language. Does anyone have any useful advice for me? I really do not want to give up on it as there are a lot of issues that I have dealt with in my life that I am sure others would be interested in reading. I dont just want to put it down to therapy but also dont want to make an idiot of myself by trying to publish something that isnt worthy. Thanks. Debbie

Hi Debbie, and welcome to WW.

On a general note, autobiographies are difficult to place unless you're famous or have led a life with enough interest to make your story stand out from the crowd.

More specifically, if your work isn't proof-read or edited then you're not giving it a cat in hell’s chance. Publishers expect writers to polish their work to a high standard before it’s submitted to them, so you need to get that done before you send it off anywhere else.

I would suggest you join the Memoirs group, start posting short sections of your autobiography there and ask for some feedback. It would benefit your own writing to read the work of other members and offer feedback to them.

Hope this helps

Dee

Hi, Debbie, and welcome to WriteWords

As Dee says, it is very difficult to get an autobiography published unless you are famous, although it's not impossible. I love autobiographies, and there's a stack of them beside me, including the vet James Herriot; the Yorkshire schools inspector Gervase Phinn; Deric Longden; Joan Kent; the Irish poet Thomas Walsh; another irishman Bryan Gallagher... several of them initally wrote for Radio 4, eg, R4's Home Truths, and built up an avid following before expanding their collection of anecdotes into an autobiography. These days one can 'get it out there' via blogging which has led to book offers for some avidly followed bloggers.
One thing to bear in mind is minimum manuscript length is 80,000 words, so I would add an extra 10K to yours to give it a better chance with Agents and publishers.

As for self-publishing, if you go that route, then I would recommend doing it via the Lulu Print On Demand (POD) publishing site. Don't bother with ISBN numbers or trying to get it into Amazon or the bookshops, just do it for friends and family, and buy a few copies yourself to hand round at Christmas.


- NaomiM

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I have to add, though, that 'issues' don't tend to sell autogiographies (unless it falls into the 'misery memoir' genre) but rather an interesting line of work full of funny and poignant anecdotes and an historical record of the times, is what publishers seem to prefer.