Although every writer needs to build a sense of trust with their audience, a memoir author’s website needs to build a sense of trust in who you are and your story because that story is centered on you. It needs to create a sense of intimacy to build connection and empathy, and it needs to show authenticity and honesty to increase your credibility and relatability.
Well, how do you do this? By including information and sharing it in a way that resonates with your audience. There are five easy and actionable ways you can do this and we’ll share them below.
An Intimate and Honest About Page
Memoir is a popular genre among readers because it can be transformative and well, because it’s a peek into the author’s private realm. Many writers of memoir write because they have a story they need to share or a topic they want to shine light on.
Because it can be such an intimate and sometimes vulnerable genre, a memoir author’s website needs to reflect that intimacy. Readers want memoirists to share and expose themselves, and this exposure becomes necessary when you don’t have an instantly recognizable name.
The tone of an memoirists About page is usually that of openness and honesty and they share a little more than a fiction author’s might. So, making connections to your past, your journey, and where you are now is important here.
You can build relatability and trust when you:
- Share intimate details about who you are and why you wrote your memoir
- Explain how your journey was transformative
- Aren’t afraid to show vulnerability
- Speak from a place of honesty
Memorabilia Shared on a Memoir Author’s Website Builds Connection and Trust Too
Memoirists straddle a fine line between fiction and facts. Though it’s generally acknowledged that memoirists are not investigative journalists (unless, of course, an investigative journalist is writing a memoir) and memoir is not a biography, there is still skepticism associated with the genre. This is thanks to many high profile cases of authors caught embellishing details or even making them up entirely. Think James Frey and, more recently, Amy Griffin.
But your memoir author’s website doesn’t need to provide evidence or records as proof that your story is true. Sharing concrete things like memorabilia is more about making connections and building trust in who you are and where you come from. Adding content such as old family or childhood photos, personal mementos, and archival documents helps weave a narrative and creates a documentary feel to your website. This allows you to separate your experience from fiction. It also creates a more intimate connection with your readers.
Connect your past and present and increase your reliability by:
- Adding old photos of moments detailed in your memoir
- Sharing family or group photos that feature important people in your life and memoir
- Including old photos of significant documents or places
A Focus on Growth Shows Readers What They Can Learn from Your Experience
When a memoir author’s website focuses on growth, it shows readers that they can learn from your experience. It can also provide inspiration and hope. After all, memoir is not just a biography, but a transformative journey full of insight and pivotal events.
When memoirists share how their experiences shaped them and what they learned from it, people empathize. You can demonstrate this growth by creating a “Then and Now” section on your About page, for example, or in the above mentioned photo content. You could also simply make note of your transformation with a quote on a webpage header, or blog about your journey and what you’ve learned.
A Memoir Author’s Website Can Also Include Reflection on the Subjectivity of Memory
Many memoirists will acknowledge the subjectivity of the genre in their book somewhere, like in the introduction. But it doesn’t hurt to make note of it on your website too. This ensures that anyone who lands on your website, whether they bought your book or not, is clear where you stand.
You don’t have to do this, but it’s a reminder that memoir is a genre of personal memories and those are subjective. A simple acknowledgement on a memoir author’s website can clarify that there are no claims to absolute facts, which can help resolve potential conflicts or doubts, and remind readers that this is your journey from your perspective. This can be especially important when your memoir involves family, friends, or events that others may remember differently. It reminds readers that, like them, you have your own story to tell.
A Personal Blog that Relates to Your Memoir Builds a Stronger Connection
As with every website, a regular blog is a cornerstone of your book marketing strategy. But a blog on a memoir author’s website needs to go deep and personal to really harness that marketing power. But luckily, there is a goldmine of content you can share there.
Remember, there are many themes in the genre, but the author is always the center of the story in memoir. So is the outcome. You can blog about what you’ve overcome to inspire your readers. Writing on the topic or themes of your memoir can help build your credibility. You can even leverage this experience to secure podcast interviews, or to get speaking gigs too. The more quality content you offer and the more consistent it is, the more you open up engagement and communication with your audience.
As a memoirist, you can use your blog to:
- Expand on themes and moments in the book
- Add details you left, or edited, out for whatever reason
- Share your expertise on your topic of focus
- Inspire readers with your growth journey
Now, you don’t have to include ALL of this, but you get the idea. A memoir author’s website can continue where their book left off, which allows continued transparency and trust. Sharing openly and honestly about how your experience shaped you, or transformed you or the world, builds credibility. Remember, you can even leverage your experience to get promotional opportunities like interviews and speaking gigs. Just be yourself and be willing to share at least as much as you did in your memoir and it will resonate with your audience.
Here are a Few Memoir Author’s Websites We Designed. Maybe They’ll Inspire You?
Bonnie Comfort is an author and psychologist whose memoir deals with a difficult marriage and sticking it out to the end.
Michael Long is an advocate for people with disabilities and his memoir is centered on defying people’s expectations.
Jennifer Gasner is a memoirist who shares the story of her Friedreich’s Ataxia diagnosis and how she overcame her fear to live a bigger life than she expected.
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