You've written it. Now what?

By Rebecca Winters

The achievement of reconstructing the story of your life through memoir writing is often its own reward. But then who is your audience? For many memoirists, figuring out what to do with the finished product can be the biggest challenge of all.

If you hope to nab a big publishing deal and follow in the footsteps of someone like Angela's Ashes author Frank McCourt, you'll have to ask some hard questions about your book first. "Publishers decide on the basis that no one reads anymore. So they ask, 'Can we promote this?'" cautions Tristine Rainer, founder of the Center for Autobiographic Studies in Pasadena, Calif. Your memoir is marketable, according to Rainer, if it provides a glimpse into a unique world, reflects the social issues of a larger group or is just great writing. Even if you meet these criteria, convincing a publisher means sending out scores of query letters and bracing for the rejections.

Some memoirists have found success getting the word out on a smaller scale. When Diana Douglas Darrid approached a large publisher with a memoir of her life as an actress, she found the editors only wanted her to dish dirt about her first marriage--to actor Kirk Douglas. Darrid eventually found the right fit with Barricade Books, a small New York press that publishes theater and film biographies. Lots of specialty and regional publishers are seeking books on everything from Navy stories to tales of Kentucky history. In the fall, Rainer plans to launch First Person Press, which will be strictly devoted to memoir publishing.

If the idea of hawking your life story to an outsider turns you off, consider self-publishing. It can be a time-consuming option, forcing you to deal with production, distribution and marketing. But self-publishing is one way to keep a book truly your own. An alternative is a vanity press, which will edit, design, typeset and print your book, and then bill you for the services--all of which can cost tens of thousands of dollars.

A popular low-budget way to share your story with others is via the Internet. That's where Ann Cadell Crawford is publishing her memoir of life as a military wife in 1960s Vietnam. Crawford posts a little at a time, drawing on old diaries and newspapers. "You have to keep adding fresh information," she says. "Many people are now following my memoir, so all that stuff I've carted around for years is finally being used."

--By Rebecca Winters. With reporting by Anne Moffett/Washington and Jacqueline Savaiano/Los Angeles

With reporting by Anne Moffett/Washington and Jacqueline Savaiano/Los Angeles