Really. The market for personal stories is so over saturated that memoirs are almost as difficult to sell as works of fiction and as in fiction, they require a strong narrative voice.
In other words, it isn’t enough to have a good story to tell. You have to tell it with a strong voice and wonderful writing. If you want to know what this means, take a look at one of Mary Karr’s books. A poet, when she isn’t a memoirist, she has pretty much set the bar for this kind of thing in LIAR’S POKER and most recently, LIT. In LIT, she tells about coming to grips with alcoholism through Alcoholics Anonymous, an experience she probably shares with millions of people. So, it isn’t the story; it is the way she tells it.
If you have a personal story you want to tell, you will have to do more than just lay out the facts. Finding a voice requires trial and error. This is a process successful fiction writers go through, and it is not easy. Arguably, with your own story at stake, it may be harder to step aside and work on ways to present it. It is also hurtful to think other people might not want to sit down and read the straight facts of experiences that touched you so deeply.
But the days of dredging up some dark, personal experience and going on The Oprah Winfrey Show to promote your book about it are over. The show is ending in 2011. It is not a coincidence.