My Girlfriend has been advised many times to write about her life, it's been a horrendous life mostly, her childhood starting with sexual and physical abuse from a very early age, this only got worse as she grew older.

As she reached 17 she started using men to get her own back, but quickly fell back into abusive relationships, and limped from one abuser to the next, one of the abusers left her in a coma for 3 months, along the way one of her children was abused, then on the day she went to court (to have the abuser banned from seeing his kids) her new son was murdered by his uncle (who was babysitting).

Then in the subsequent murder trail, there was a court verdict (that many people likely remember) that led to the law being changed, later there was a rape/abuse trial regarding her childhood.

My Girlfriend was so traumatised by the death of her son and the trails that she ended up trying to snatch a baby from a mother in a supermarket, and very soon after she attempted suicide.

Her treatment by her husband throughout these trails, and for several years after was probably the worst of her life.

There are some incredible twists to all the above, and as always, the true horror is in the detail.

Her life has now changed, and she is happy and safe, but it's taken till the age of 41.


My Girlfriend has now written 7000 words (8 pages) detailing the events in her life, she now needs to find out if her life story could be made into a book.

She has been advised to send the details to a publisher (no specific publisher was mentioned), they would then decide if it could become a book, they could then appoint a ghost writer and so on.

The problem we have is, what publishers?
What department?

I've tried searching on the net, but it's not easy, it seems easy to find a ghost writer, and it seems easy to find a publisher, but finding a publisher who would know the best ghost writer.......

She would also need the publisher to pay for the ghost writer, so this would only happen if the publisher was convinced there was profit in the book.

Can anyone advise on what her next step should be, or what publishers would be interested in this kind of deal? (and what department to contact?)

She lives in the South East of England, and London is within easy reach.

Thanks for any info and for reading this far.

Steven, one way round this would be to find a ghost writer who's interested - the Society of Authors have lists of their members who do ghostwriting - and then to approach an agent or the publisher as a team. Your girlfriend would know that she had a ghost she got on with, which is essential, particularly for something as personal as this project. And the publisher's advance would then pay the ghost writer's fee, and the Society can advise on what should be in the contract between your girlfriend and the ghost. The ghost will also know a good deal about how it all works. Have a look here: http://www.societyofauthors.org/faqs/faqs5.html

Another possibility would be to get hold of the Writers' and Artists' Yearbook (in libraries) and look for publishers who are interested in memoir, and approach them. Someone on here may know more, but I'd suggest something thing like a carefully crafted one-page summary of the story which would be in the book, and the pages she's written. I take the point that she wouldn't be writing the book, so it would be more in the nature of showing some detail of the kind of thing which might be written.

I do suggest that it would be wise to try to get an agent to represent this, and they will then help to get the submission into shape, and approach publishers on your behalf, with a lot more knowledge of the right home for it, and a lot more negotiating skill. Agents are listed in WAAYB too, and I'd suggest you approach them in a similar way. If you don't get any bites from an agent, then you could try publishers directly, although many don't nowadays take submissions except from agents.

Do be aware that it's notoriously difficult to get memoir published unless you're a footballer's wife, however spectacular the story, and there's very little money in it for anyone, specially since the recession. I have also heard murmurs that the market for this sort of memoir has become very saturated in the last couple of years, and publishers are being super-cautious about what they take on. So don't let the drive to get published erase the other, personal value of this project for your girlfriend and you.

Emma

There are publishers who deal with the genre of Misery Memoirs, and your girlfriend's 7000 word synopsis of her life could work as a non-fiction book proposal, accompanied by a covering letter saying she's looking to have it ghost written.
I would suggest going to your local library or bookshop and get a stack of misery memoirs, check out the copyright page and copy down the publisher's details and any mention of an editor, then post off copies of the 7000 word synopsis and covering letter to each of them, accompanied by self-addressed envelope for their replies (large enough, and with enough postage for the return of the synopsis unless you state in your covering letter that they can recycle the paper).

Good luck,


NaomiM

Thank you both for very useful replies.

Naomi, The copyright page suggestion was simple, yet so useful, suddenly I've a list of people (agents/publishers etc.) who could be interested, as I'm not really a reader, I'd have never thought of that page.

Emma, some great advice there, and I followed leads and have been researching a lot in the last couple of days.

I've discussed thinks with my girlfriend and she thinks it may be better to go with an agent, their experience and contacts could be the difference between the book being published or just binned, and as money isn't one of the driving forces behind this book, the agent's percentage isn't really an issue.

I have one more problem, and I'd appreciate your opinions.

The one-page summary seems to be extremely important, and I feel we have to really concentrate on this to give the book any chance at all.

I have an idea for the summary that would have publishers (and agents) racing to read the 8-page synopsis, but I'm not a writer (I had to look up synopsis ), and I'm great at using 20 words when 2 would suffice.

How could we get a professional to do this page?

Are there places where I could take the 8-page synopsis, get them to read it, tell them the summary idea I have, and then they'd write the summary?

How much would this cost?

(I would be open to their suggestions if they disagreed with my summary suggestion)

Yes, I've heard there are individuals/companies that would do it for you, although I haven't used any myself so I'll have to leave it to more knowlegable members here to give you details.
Just to clarify terminology if you go that route, the 7000 word 'synopsis' you currently have would be called an outline, and the one page 'summary' would be your synopsis.


- NaomiM

<Added>

On second thoughts I'm not sure it's necessary. A one page synopsis accompnies a fiction (novel) submission which includes a covering letter and the first 3 chapters of the novel.
Your submission, however, is a non-fiction book proposal and is accompanied by a 7000 word outline which in practical terms is a synopsis. Instead of writing a one page synopsis to accompany it, I would suggest turning the covering letter into a pitch letter. A covering letter has your contact details, a couple of lines about the book, the genre, a short author's biography, thank then for their time and say you include an SAE.
A pitch letter would have all that but instead of a couple of lines about the book it would have a couple of paragraphs summarising the key events in your girlfriend's memoirs.
If you decide not to write it yourself, then look for someone who writes Pitch Letters, rather than synopses.


<Added>

It might cost a few hundred pounds, but you might also look for someone who writes non-fiction book proposals so as to rewrite the 7000 word outline. However, the odds of getting a publishing contract are slim, so only spend money you can afford to lose.

Just to add: I don't know about the memoir market, but most non-fiction book proposals are submitted directly to publishers, rather than via agents.

You could ask a potential ghost to quote you a fee to help you with the pitch/synopsis whatever. You'd have to make it clear that for the moment it's just that - a one-off job, not an invitation to collaborate on the project, as that's going to depend on an agent/publisher etc. - but someone who's used to pitching to publishers might be able to sort the submission out quite easily.

Emma

I don't know, Emma. I assumed ghostwriters were allocated by the publisher. There are a lot of freelance ghostwriters out there, but they cater more for the self-publishing market.

<Added>

I don't want you to fall prey to the self-publishing/vanity publishing market, Steve. Otherwise you could find yourself paying hundreds or even thousands of pounds for services you don't need. Personally, I would try to keep costs to a minimum by simply sending the 7000 word outline/synopsis along with a covering letter to a number of publishers and see if they are interested and wish to take it further - at their expense.

<Added>

I would assume they are quite used to these sorts of misery memoir submissions to be rough and ready - it's the story that counts.

<Added>

If any of your girlfriend's experiences had made the national headlines, that would be something to add to the covering letter.

Naomi, I think it's quite common for the person and the ghost to get together first, and a ghost you found through the Society of Authors ought to be okay - and you can always check them out with the Society. Andrew Crofts, who's the big-name ghost writer says here:

http://helpineedapublisher.blogspot.com/2009/10/andrew-crofts-ghost-speaks.html

"The best way to start ghosting is to find someone who you think has a book in their head or their filing cabinet and then offer to write it for them and take it to publishers and agents on their behalf."

But, yes, you'd want to check them out, obviously.

Emma