You might have been thinking about telling your life story and lessons learned to your audience. If this is something that is compelling and inspirational then you can write a book that serves and helps others.

Everyone has a story to share. Each one is unique and has a direct impact on your life. The way you would like others to see you can be directly reflected in an autobiography or memoir.

In order to generate interest in your brand, specialty or thought leadership, you will want to share a personal side with your readers. While some may choose to blog, a book can add another level of credibility.

When you write your insights, shared in book form, it will be there to help others for years to come. Think about the myriad of experiences you have had to get you to where you are today. Wouldn’t you want to help someone else on a similar journey? Of course you would!

Think of your personal accounts as a way to help enrich the lives of others, and contribute to a greater good.

There are two ways to accomplish this — through either a memoir or autobiography.

Memoir or autobiography – which is right for you?

There are a few differences between each of these, and depending on the goals of your project you will need to take a look at what each has to offer.

Personal Memoirs

The word, memoir, is a French term that chronicles historical evens in a person’s life. This is a popular approach for many business owners, for example, who want to tell others the timeline of their steps to success.

There are several genres that also apply to writing a memoir, such as a book about how you grew up, ie. Angela’s Ashes by Frank McCort. You could also take the approach of focusing on a specific period in your career or life such as “Notes on Grief” by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie.

An autobiography may have more facts involved; however, a memoirist will write more of an emotional account of their life. Keep in mind you can be flexible in showing the order of events in your account. Some people start at the beginning of the lives while others may want to bring readers in from where they are currently.

The best stories are ones that are creative and draw people into an interesting series of events that keep them wanting to read more.

Memoirs can offer authors a chance to write from the heart in the most self-expressive way. You get to choose your owns words in how you want to convey your personal experiences, and share with the world who you are. This is also a great way to connect with your audience in a meaningful way.

What makes a great memoir

Memoirs can be more informal than an autobiography, which needs to include more facts and research.

Before you formulate your outline choose if you will write in first person or third person. Whichever one you choose, stay in that tense throughout your book. Keep in mind that these types of book are most free flowing and less rigid, and can evolve as you jot down your ideas. Think of your story as having a conversation with someone.

Memoirs are also derived from your own personal recollections rather than citing specific facts, and provides an inside look into who you are as an author and what influenced you to become who you are today. The story should be more subjective as it tells about how you felt during certain situations.

When deciding how to tell your story try to choose a narrow view, focusing more on a pivotal moment(s) in your life. While some people might want to follow the history of a high profile person’s life most authors are just like you and me, and the best way to draw in the reader is to condense your experiences. Try to highlight the most important events and experiences that shaped you.

When writing your memoir, you have the freedom to be more free to include things that might not necessarily be backed up by facts, as it relates specifically to your own memories. The storytelling process should be compelling, therefore you have dramatic license to change character names, modify events, and other details in order to enhance the book.

Different genres of memoirs

Travel	Are you a traveler who has gone to far away places? People love to read about the challenges and difficulties of an author’s adventures, and how they overcame them and inspired their lives.
Overcoming life’s challenges	There are many different stories about how someone overcame a difficult situation in their life. This problem-solving approach can be used to help others have hope for their own circumstances.
High profile	Are you an influencer, celebrity or big brand name? People want to know about your private life and how to relate to you. Sometimes the public view is far different than the private one.
Business or career	How did you come to achieve success? This is a great genre to use if you want to share with others the steps you took to get to where you are today in your field.
Personal accounts	There might be something that has happened in your life such as the death of a spouse, losing your home, a financial crash, ect. that can be used to bring people into a more personal story.
True confession	We’ve all made mistakes. How you corrected those actions and became a better person can really provide an inspirational read for others who have done the same.

The style of an autobiography

An autobiography is the about a person’s life chronicled in their owns words, much like an eyewitness account. This type of book puts the reader in your shoes as you write about yourself. The could include your family history, personal relationships, your career path, ect.

The format of an autobiography should be in first person, and works well for authors who have a well established name for themselves such as a journalist, artist, inventor, and so on. Some choose to use this as a way to convey their true heart to their audience, while others share their personal views.

What an autobiography consists of

While memoirs are more of an emotional, personal account, autobiographies more formal in nature. The goal should be an account of your life story, and should include a thorough understanding of events that have shaped your life. It is much like a eulogy — how you would like to be remembered by others.

The best type of autobiography will include details on the author and the history of the time period involved. In this type of book it is the facts that will hook the reader, not how they felt about the events. You can still include your emotions, but the focus should be more factual.

Autobiographies should be more of a broad view of your life rather than a specific event or moment of time. Your entire life is going to be written down, and so it is important to include childhood events leading all the way up into adulthood in chronological order. Because of this, many of the these books are far longer in page count than in a memoir.

Because you are recounting the past you will want to do a lot of fact-checking and be as accurate as possible. This may take a longer period of time as you do careful research and preparation.

Different autobiography genres

Fiction	If an author would like to remain anonymous then they may choose a more fictional account stating that the actual events have been modified.
Personal growth	You might want to write about how your thoughts have been shaped and changed over the years. This is about the personal journey to who you are now.
Spiritual	The religious or faith journey is often one that is chronicled from the beginning of that belief. This would include the spiritual growth of a person.
Topical	This type of story is more about a specific theme such as a presidency, rather than on a person. It may include a timeline that supports that focus.

Which book should I write?

Keep in mind that if you are still an unknown author then a memoir may be the better route in order to establish who you are.

Think of this as a life lesson story. An autobiography is usually about someone people are already familiar with.

Memoirs are written to inspire, and bring the reader in on a much deeper level. An autobiography can also be compelling — just in a more factual way.

Writing tips for memoirs

What is the theme?

Determine how you would like to express yourself. Choose something that you care deeply about, which should have a profound impact on your life.

Leave out the details, and include more of your emotions and reactions to your experience. This should be more of a personal journey through an event.

Writing tips for autobiographies

Hook the reader in

As an influencer you need to ask yourself what people might be most interested in. The focus might be on your private life as a celebrity. Or if you are a CEO, the steps you took to get to the top. Think about any references to your life such as a specific company or product that has stood out to others. 

Thorough and accurate research that back up your claims are of the upmost importance. Most authors choose to hire a fact checker for this in order to be as truthful as possible.

Final words

When deciding to write a personal account of your life you should remember that a memoir is about the writer’s life and lends itself more to emotions rather than facts. An autobiography is based more on a well-known author that the public is familiar with.

Both types of books can greatly enhance and enrich the lives of your audience, and add value to what you have to offer the world.