100 Memoirs

This blog post will test-drive a new category:  writing tips and marketing tips.  My goals in setting up this blog were four-fold:

1.  To learn more about social media by practicing it.

2.  To educate myself about the genre of memoir by reading 100 memoirs and reviewing them for a group of people also interested in memoir.  To be curious in public about our age’s fascination with personal narrative in all forms.

3.  To collect published stories and mini-memoirs of my own in one place so that interested readers can find them and that I can organize them with tags and categories for potential future publications.

4.  To find new friends–writers and readers who travel a similar path, interested in similar topics.

Evidently, Gretchen Rubin had similar goals on the subject of happiness.  She’s miles ahead of me, however, in using media to create interest in a book under construction.  I enjoy her proficiency.  The most brilliant piece of writing and marketing I have seen for some time is this YouTube “one minute movie.” It also happens to be a video that parents should watch once a month:

Rubin’s book on happiness will be published this fall by HarperCollins, so she is focused now on marketing. She’s got a blog with movies, newsletters, a fan site on Facebook, and she’s trolling for “super fans”–volunteers who will help spread the word. If you click on the movie, you will be invited to join the newsletter. Pretty sophisticated stuff and lots of fun to watch.

I may become a fan on Facebook so that I can observe what’s happening. I am interested in both her subject and her skill at finding and engaging blog readers who will then become book readers and then even more devoted blog readers. Ah, the wheel of life.

Who are your favorite published author/bloggers. What other uses of social media to promote books are you seeing online?