A traditional memoir is written for a broad audience and therefore embodies only topics with universal appeal. A legacy memoir is written for family, friends, and others who have a personal interest in the author and therefore embodies topics of interest to the author. In other words, a traditional memoir is written for publication, but a legacy memoir is written to be remembered—to leave a legacy.
Published memoirs are about something interesting, like a celebrity or an adventure, or something universal, like overcoming odds or fighting for love. Every page has to speak to the key ingredient (theme) that brought the reader there in the first place or the reader will probably wander off. That’s why memoir ghostwriters are theme-sniffing hound dogs. If something doesn’t speak to the theme, it’s out. Period.
A legacy memoir is a different animal. Its reader is already invested. They either love, admire, or care about the author. If it’s interesting to the author, it’s interesting to the reader. A legacy memoir has one overarching directive, I want to tell you what happened to me.
That’s why ghostwriting a legacy memoir requires a different skill set then ghostwriting a published memoir. A memoir for publication will succeed only if it conforms to the market. How does a legacy memoir succeed? First, by existing. Seriously! Many people set out to write their lifestory but few actually do.
But let’s elevate that bar. A legacy memoir will reach new levels if it’s fluid, interesting, and meaningful. Rather than a series of random events, it can reveal the person behind the telling, all while sounding like the person doing the telling.
It’s easy to think published memoirs are more “important” than legacy memoirs, that there’s more value simply because people will pay money. I couldn’t disagree more. I’d trade my bookcase of published memoirs for my Irish grandmother’s lifestory. She grew up wealthy, married on the rebound, immigrated to the U.S., and six kids later was abandoned by her alcoholic husband.
I heard her say more than once, marry in haste, repent at leisure. I wish she’d expanded on that.