I Was Told That My Memoir Could be a Huge Bestseller If —
I do more celebrity name dropping. Huh?
“Fame means millions of people have the wrong idea of who you are” — ERICA JONG
“Fame is proof that the people are gullible” — ANONYMOUS
I recently sent the first few chapters of my Memoir in progress to a popular Memoir Author friend/mentor.
She has 9 Memoirs published.
I respect her and her writing. She is prolific as hell too, which I admire most. She just keeps flinging her books out there.
She responded:
“Honestly Michelle, this could be a huge best seller. Especially if you have any other big names to drop in there, you know how the celeb-worship scene is today! I loved it. Go girl!! xxxx You are the only really famous person I know these days . You stand the best chance of all the writers I know of making it big, really big…”
Hmmm. The part that made me ponder was ‘…especially if you have any other BIG NAMES to drop in there..’
I might not want to do that.
So, what she’s saying is that if I get BIG NAMES TO DROP into my Memoir it could help it become a bestseller?
That just doesn’t resonate with my heart.
I mean, I can be a name dropper I suppose — if I want to.
In Las Vegas and Atlantic City, back in the 90s I sung for audiences that included President Gerald Ford and Betty, Michael Jackson and even Donald and Ivana — back when he was married to his first foreign wife. Ohhh, and I had a bitch fight with Donny Osmond once at his theater in Branson, Missouri — and did a gig with Tiny Tim in New York once. Do these count? LOL
I asked another fellow Memoir writer friend about this.
She said:
‘I don’t think you have to add big names. Your story stands all on its own… Sprinkle them throughout if they add to your story.’
I mean I COULD add a few stories about these celebrities and famous people that I had encounters with, like this title:
My Bitch Fight With Donny Osmond
(That’s an attention grabbing one eh?)
- Would that title intrigue you?
- Would that make you want to buy my Memoir if you found out I had a fight with Donny?
- Do you think that would make the book more worthwhile viable and/or sellable?
To be honest, my goal is just to write the Memoir with authenticity and purpose.
I started writing this Memoir 4 years ago and have put it aside a few times to ‘let it simmer’.
Many emotional derailments.
The best feeling of all would be to get this book done. Like an Exorcism THIS BABY WANTS TO GET OUT OF ME ALREADY!!
I think getting it done would be far more fulfilling than for the book to become a bestseller. I mean, I wouldn’t say NO to having a Best Seller. I do think my story is a damn good one. Some say it’s riveting. I think it can also help inspire others, not only help me to heal by writing it.
I’ve had some fame and some fortune in my past, as I wrote about here. I discovered its not all its cracked up to be, although I wouldn’t mind the fortune part to be honest…
So, I’m asking YOU my medium friends/readers:
Do you think if I drop some ‘famous names’ into my Memoir that it would somehow make it more valuable or successful?
More than that I’m asking myself: Do I really wanna go down the salacious path of the Kardashian culture insanity who drop names and write about their wild sexual positions, people they’ve slept and hobnobbed with, all to sell more books?
Nope. I’d prefer to just tell my truth.
I think my story has enough in it to keep readers interested and that’s all I want from my memoir.
THANKS FOR READING! Contact me at: [email protected]
P.S. -Mel B. of the Spice Girls recently wrote a Memoir titled Brutally Honest. She went on TV a lot to hype it. She did a lot of celebrity name dropping, talked of threesomes, being bisexual, her husband keeping her as a prisoner etc
Guess what?
Even after all her publicity and media coverage I noticed that her book only had 3 more Reviews than my first self published little poetic memoir titled Catch a Poem by The Tale.
Hmm.