Angela’s Hoy’s popular online class, now available in book format!

If you’ve always wanted to write your life story, but have a hard time recalling your memories, check out Angela’s memory triggers / autobiography book! (Works for biographers / ghostwriters, too!)

Excerpted from How to Remember, Write and Publish Your Life Story.

This excerpt may be reprinted/redistruted in its entirety as long as the entire excerpt, bio, and all featured links are included.

LESSON #1: DON’T WASTE ANOTHER MINUTE!

Several years ago, I received an email from a friend (a cover designer) of one of our new Booklocker.com authors. She said the author had been diagnosed with an aneurysm over the weekend and it was not treatable. He was in the hospital and, understandably, very depressed. The doctors were going to send him home because there was nothing more they could do for him. He could live another hour, or maybe even another year. Nobody knew.

He was very depressed that she asked me what we could do to get his book completed. We usually get a book to market within a month but his book had just been submitted, and was still in the formatting stage. She said, “I think he’s just hanging on to see his book in print.”

I contacted the printer and they agreed to help. I finished the formatting lickety split and we got the print galley of his book to him in only five days. His friend then sent me a picture of him holding his book right after opening the package. Seeing that picture with a big smile on his face made me remember why I’m in this industry. Writers who, just a decade ago, couldn’t afford to see their books in print, now CAN.

Sadly, only two weeks after the picture mentioned above was taken, I received an email letting us know Anthony Amato, author of The Imperfect Circle, had died. His family was very thankful that he saw his dream (his book) before he left. They displayed Anthony’s book at the memorial service along with the picture of him holding it.

Writers who couldn’t get published or who had to wait a year or more to be published CAN now get published in about a month. Never before has publishing an autobiography, or any book, been so easy and so affordable!

AUTOBIOGRAPHIES

Autobiographies created for family used to be written on notepaper, and photocopied for family members. That media, while effective, was time-consuming and the quality of the final product meant it was falling apart only a few years later. I know. I have the life story of my children’s great-grandmother typed on copy paper and stapled together. The story is fascinating, about a little girl who rode to Texas in a covered wagon. She died several years ago but her legacy will live forever in her autobiography. It could easily have never been written.

Her story was recorded on cassette tape and typed by two of her granddaughters. Wouldn’t it have been wonderful to be able to hand their grandmother her life story as a trade paperback or hardcover book? With little effort, the book could contain beautiful (and historic!) pictures on the cover and inside. Dozens of copies of her book could be printed for as little as $8 to $10 each. They could even be made available through Ingram, the largest book distributor in the world, and listed on Amazon.com, as well as other online bookstores across the globe. Yes, chances of the book being “discovered” by a major publisher or movie producer are nil…but wouldn’t it be neat to tell Aunt Bess she can go to her local Barnes and Noble and request they special order the book? She could then pick it up in only a few days. And wouldn’t it be cool if you could hold a “book signing” for Grandma at the next family reunion, or be able to send copies of your autobiography to all your family members next Christmas or Hanukkah?

Yes, it can happen.

FOR AUTHORS, BIOGRAPHERS AND GHOSTWRITERS

From my test marketing activities prior to completing this course, I was surprised to learn that half the people interested in this course were interested in writing their own life story. The other half were considering or already working on writing the life story of someone else. Usually, this person is a relative. A few others were biographers and ghostwriters, being paid to write the life story of another.

For the purposes of this course, the lessons will be worded as such to target those who are writing their own autobiography. However, the activities can be applied to biographies as well.

WHY NOW? AND HOW?

If you keep putting off writing your autobiography, it may never happen. It’s kind of like deciding when to have kids. If you wait for the right time, it never comes. Just go ahead and start working on it now, before it’s too late.

Most people would love to write their life story for their children, if only they knew how to begin. Unfortunately, a very small percentage of those people actually follow through with their wish. This book will help you quickly and efficiently follow your dream; to remember your life, write about it, and publish your autobiography as a glossy paperback or hardcover book, and, if you want, an ebook as well!

MEMORY TRIGGERS

A memory trigger is one word that will bring forth not one, but several memories. The memory triggers featured in this book are going to evoke hundreds of memories from different years in your life. Memory triggers have a way of spurring your brain to remember things you haven’t thought about in years, even things that aren’t directly related to the trigger itself. While this is happening, you’ll want to make sure everything comes out in the right order at the end so you’ll be recording these memories in chronological order using the tools described in the book. It’s so easy! By the time you’re finished, your notebook will be full of memories!

DISCIPLINE PROBLEM? HERE’S THE SOLUTION!

What you need are concrete assignments with self-imposed deadlines. And you need the discipline to do each assignment by the deadline. Please don’t get behind. I hate to do this…but since I don’t have you sitting here with me, chained to your computer, I must. Ready?

Okay…each time you think of slacking off or putting off an assignment until “tomorrow”, think of your children. Think of your grandchildren (present and future). Now, think “what if something happens to me next month or next year?”

DC Brown, a BookLocker.com author, wrote a fictional tale based on true life. She was one of the characters in her book. Shortly thereafter, she died suddenly of a heart attack at age 51. That was only four months after her book appeared in print. Her family now has her legacy. Wouldn’t it have been tragic if she hadn’t finished her book?

What’s really tragic is that most autobiographies / memoirs never get written. Come along with me so you won’t spend the rest of your life with that burr under your saddle, that book that needs to be written. Do it NOW! I’ll show you how!

READY? SET? LET’S HAVE SOME FUN!!!

Excerpted from How to Remember, Write and Publish Your Life Story.

Read more about the book HERE.

PRAISE FROM FORMER STUDENTS

Thanks for offering this autobiography course. It is proving to be an amazing and fulfilling journey for me. I feel good about my work. It feels good to be able to create it my own way. I feel it is “my” project. Without your guidelines though, I never would have done it. And that’s the truth! You’ve done an awesome job!

Judith Acton Ayala

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Thank you for your on-line course on writing an autobiography. It has been a great help to me, especially your concise explanation of the difference between an autobiography and a memoir. As a result, I know it’s a memoir that I want to write. Knowing that is a big step forward for me. Also, the memory prompts are great. They have helped me remember many surprising things. It’s been fun.

Warmly,
Doris Sanders

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What a great class. Thanks Angela, it is fantastic.

Mari Connors

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Hi Angela,

I am so much more aware of memory triggers and the importance of writing them down for future reference. I would highly recommend this class to anyone!

Thanks for a memorable experience!

Karen Heywood

Read more about the book HERE.

~~~~~

HOW TO REMEMBER, WRITE AND PUBLISH YOUR LIFE STORY

Angela’s Hoy’s popular online class, now available in book format!

Remember Your Past
Write It
and Publish It
in as little as 12 weeks!

Angela Hoy’s book will get you started!

• Using MEMORY TRIGGERS, recall memories that have been dormant for years
• Record those memories in chronological order in your memory notebook
• Using the memory notebook as your outline, write your autobiography!

* Also works for biographies and memoirs!

Read more about the book HERE.

Angela Hoy, the author of 11 non-fiction titles, is the co-owner of WritersWeekly.com and BookLocker. WritersWeekly.com is the free marketing ezine for writers featuring new paying markets and freelance job listings every Wednesday. According to attorney Mark Levine, author of The Fine Print, BookLocker is one of the top-rated POD publishers in the industry.

This excerpt may be reprinted/redistruted in its entirety as long as the entire excerpt, bio, and all featured links are included.