Discover The Stories StoryTerrace Help Share.

Why should you read this guide?

• Use our free resources and templates to plan your memoir: gather your memories and figure out the right structure
• Learn how to develop a writing habit, overcome writer's block, and develop your own unique style
• Get inside information on book-production, from editing and proofreading to design and printing

Chapter 1: Organising your memories

In this chapter, we share two free resources to recall and organise your memories: a set of 65 Memory Prompts we use with our customers to kick-start the process, and a Timeline Template you can then use to organise all the information.

Read Chapter 1

Chapter 2: Structure your story

In this chapter, you’ll learn five different approaches professional authors take to structuring their stories, so you can choose the one most suited to your book.

Read Chapter 2

Chapter 3: Writing (the nitty gritty!)

Everything’s planned. Now you’ve actually got to start writing. But how will you find the time in your busy schedule? In this chapter, you’ll learn how to create a habit out of writing, as well as developing your own unique writing style.

Read Chapter 3

Chapter 4: Overcoming writer’s block

It happens even to the best of us. In Chapter 4, learn how to beat writer’s block, so you're fully equipped to fight it off when it comes along.

Read Chapter 4

Chapter 5: Editing and proofreading

Chances are, you don’t know the difference between editing and proofreading. In this chapter, you'll learn how to edit and proofread your life story, step-by-step.

Read Chapter 5

Chapter 6: How to digitise your photos

There are four different ways you can convert your old photographs into digital copies for your pages. In this chapter, you’ll learn the advantages and disadvantages of each method.

Read Chapter 6

Chapter 7: Designing and printing your book

Chapter 7 reveals all the best design practices to make your book look truly beautiful.

Read Chapter 7

Chapter 8: How to make your book cover stand out

Make potential readers stop in their tracks! From bold and eccentric, to romantic pastels, create an eye-catching book cover with these ideas.

Read Chapter 8

Chapter 9: An overview

A quick recap of Chapters 1-8 with all the most valuable bits of information you need. We’ll also give you more of an insight into how we can help!

Read Chapter 9

Start at the beginning

Read Chapter 1: Organising Your Memories

This is the third part of our 'Ultimate Guide to Writing a Memoir.'To access the rest of the guide, click here.

Everything’s in place - you know what you're going to include - and you’re ready to start writing. But hang on, where do you actually begin? You'll need to start by setting aside the time to create a habit out of writing.

Once you've established when you're going to write, you need to decide how you're going to write. Your memoir needs to sound like you're telling the story, so developing your own unique style is an important part of the process.

Creating a habit

1. Identify the times you could be writing

Unless you’re living a life of leisure, you’re going to have to fit writing your story around your existing commitments. Determining when you have free time, and how you spend it, is the first step in finding the time to write your story. Once you know what you are doing when you could be writing, you can make a plan to sit down and get started.

2. Set S.M.A.R.T. goals for your writing

We all have goals, but often they’re vague and we have no idea how we are actually going to achieve them. To create a writing habit, setting S.M.A.R.T. goals provides structure and trackability with clear milestones and estimations of the goal’s attainability. For your goal to be S.M.A.R.T. it has to fit into each category: Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant and Timely.

Specific: what exactly do you want to achieve? Where? How? When? Why? The more specific your goal, the greater the chances of achieving it. For example, you want to write your life story. This is vague. More specifically, you want to write for half an hour everyday so that in one year you’ve finished the first draft of your life story.

Measurable: break down your goal into elements that you can measure. This way, you can track your progress and assess whether or not you’re on target to achieve your goal. For example, set a daily word count and reach that number everyday you write. Mark these days on a calendar so you can clearly see how well you’re doing.

Attainable: is your goal attainable? Can you actually do it? Committing yourself to writing everyday may not be realistic if you’re already struggling to find enough hours in the day. That doesn’t mean it’s impossible! Plan smartly and find a way to make your goal attainable.

Relevant: do you actually want to do this? Are you committed and willing to put the effort in? Are you the right person for the job? Answering these questions will help you to establish whether or not your goal is to write your life story yourself, or have your life story written by a professional ghostwriter. This will save you a lot of time and effort, and you still end up with a beautiful, hardbound book of your life.

Time-bound: is there an end-date for your goal? Even if you don’t know exactly when you will finish your book, setting a deadline for each goal keeps you motivated to get the job done, and helps you to avoid procrastination. Remember to keep your timeline realistic. You don’t want to rush your project.

3. Find your time to write - and stick to it

It takes three to four weeks to turn a new activity into a habit. Schedule your writing and stick to it for just three weeks and you’ll create a writing habit with ease.

The best thing you can do to form a habit, is pick a time of day and stick to it. If you consider yourself a morning person, why not wake up ten minutes earlier and start your day productively by writing? If you’re a night owl, try writing before you settle down for bed.

There is always a perfect time to write for every person - you just have to find what works for you, and use it as much as possible.

4. Do the small things that drive big results

The Pareto principle, also known as the 80/20 rule, is named after Vilfredo Pareto, an Italian economist. According to Pareto, 80% of our output is driven by just 20% of our efforts. This means that we spend the majority of our time generating just a small fraction of our results.

Is this true for you? Try to find out. Do you slow down after you write 1,000 words? Do you spend too much time editing and reworking your writing without tangible results? Try to get these bad habits under control - and when you know you’ve gone beyond your '20%', just stop. Whether you set a short word limit, or a brief time frame for writing (e.g. 15 minutes), use Pareto’s principle to focus your energy.

5. Reward yourself

Writing in your spare time doesn’t mean you have to give up your other hobbies. Finding the time to write could be as little as ten minutes in a day. Your other pastimes can then become a reward. For example, if you decide that you want to substitute watching television with writing, try saving up your favourite box set to watch when you reach a milestone in your S.M.A.R.T. goals.

Developing Your Style

Write how you would talk.

You’re already an expert at communicating in your own style - when you speak. It’s your story. It should be written in your voice. Read over what you’ve written, and ask yourself: is this how you would talk? Would you actually say that? If you aren’t sure, ask someone. And if the answer is no, ask yourself: why?

Get feedback to make sure your writing 'sounds like you'.

Know who you're talking to.

Who are you writing your book for? Focusing your narrative with a target audience in mind will help to develop your style. Try thinking of a specific person - whether it be a family member, friend, or colleague. Think of someone that you’d want to read your book, and write with them in mind. It will change your tone.

Write a little, a lot.

If you’re struggling to develop a unique style - which doesn’t necessarily come to you overnight - writing a little, often can help. Just getting into the habit of writing down your thoughts, however they present themselves, can help to develop your writing style. As the saying goes: practice makes perfect. Write a small amount every day to perfect your technique.

Write what you would read.

When you read over your words, are you excited or bored? If it’s the latter, it’s likely you’re not writing as yourself. If what you’re writing about interests you, you’ll be able to write it in such a way that - even at the very least - you will find engaging.

Find your favourite books and ask yourself what it is about them that you love.

Don't just mimic your favorite writers.

Use your favourite writers as inspiration, by all means. But don’t imitate their style, wholesale. Copying someone else’s style will only produce second-rate work. You don’t want your story to be a pastiche. Think like a curator in an art gallery - pick out the aspects of their writing that most appeal to you and incorporate them in your own way.

Read Chapter 4: Overcoming Writer's Block

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This is the fourth part of our 'Ultimate Guide to Writing a Memoir.'To access the rest of the guide, click here.

What is writer's block?

Writer’s block can affect anyone - it’s a popular name for that moment when you are in the midst of a project, but you lack the inspiration or drive to write another word.

What actually causes writer's block?

Common causes of writer’s block are timing, fear, and perfectionism. Any one of these causes can 'block' a writer.

Timing: There are certain times of day, or days in a week, that you just don’t want to write. You’re too tired. You’re too busy. That’s okay.

Fear: People are often scared to put their ideas out there, open to the criticism of others.

Perfectionism: Some people want everything to be perfect in their minds before putting pen to paper. This just isn’t going to happen, so the writing never begins.

How to overcome writer's block

We’ve found some great ways to help overcome writer’s block and get you back on track.

Embrace your concerns: Being afraid is okay. It’s justified. Accept and embrace your fear and it won’t overwhelm you or put you off. Your first draft won’t be perfect. Remember that you can go back and edit when it’s done, and you’ll be able to keep writing.

Do something else: Write a poem, draw or paint a picture. Doing something different but equally creative will help to get those creative juices flowing again before you go back to writing.

Read: Reading can help you to remember why you’re writing your story in the first place. Books will help to inspire you and give you some encouragement to keep going.

Change your environment: Is your desk chair comfortable? Well lit? Would writing be more exciting if you change where you do it? Why not try going to a nearby coffee shop? Find a space you’ll look forward to being in and you’ll look forward to writing too.

Free write: Literally write anything. Spend 15 minutes a day just writing. Ignore punctuation, and just go. Set a timer and write whatever comes to mind. Either do this for a week or so and then return to your writing project, or free write for 15 minutes and then go back to it straight away. Who knows what you’ll come up with!

The foolproof method

If none of the above methods seem to be working, there is one way to overcome writer’s block that works. The foolproof method is: just write.

If you just focus on one sentence, and then the next, and keep going, your inspiration will come back. You can write. The first draft doesn’t have to be the best draft. It just has to be there. So write.

Read Chapter 5: Editing and Proofreading

<p style="background: #efefef; border-radius: 25px; padding: 20px; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;"><i>This is the fifth part of our 'Ultimate Guide to Writing a Memoir.' <br><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #f06d66;"><strong><a href="/uk/writing-a-memoir" style="color: #f06d66; text-decoration: underline;">To access the rest of the guide, click here.</a></strong></span></span></i></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0;">Congratulations! You’ve written your book. All that’s left to do is make sure it all makes sense - and you’re ready to print. But where do you start? To many people, editing and proofreading are the same thing. This is a common misconception:</p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Editing</strong> comes first, after you’ve written your first draft. Editing is all about the actual content of the writing, and involves making sure your ideas are expressed logically, in a clear and coherent narrative. This article will tell you exactly how to edit your book.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;"><strong>Proofreading</strong> comes after the editing process, and is less about content, more about language. It involves checking over spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, as well as format.</span></p>

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<p style="margin-bottom: 0;"> </p>

<h2>Before you edit:</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">We’re sure you’ll be thrilled to hear that the first step after you’ve written your story is, actually, to do nothing at all. Take a break! It’s a good idea to have some space from your writing so that when you do revisit, you’re able to read the story with fresh eyes.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Once you’re ready, before you change a word, read through the whole story. You will have been staring at your work, likely on a computer, or weeks or months. We recommend that you change the format for this first read-through. Try changing the typeface and font size to make the words less recognisable. If you can, print the whole thing out -  so you can get out of the screen, and jot down some notes without actually changing anything. This also makes the manuscript easier to read. Of course, printing out an entire biography may not be possible, and some people do prefer to read on-screen, so do whatever suits you.</span></p>

<h2>Whilst editing:</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In terms of the editing process, the best way to approach your project is one step at a time. Ask yourself the following questions, and don’t be alarmed if it feels like you’ve got a lot of work ahead of you - editing can involve major changes or even a complete rewrite:</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Does the opening paragraph clearly indicate the purpose of the text?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Is there a clear purpose throughout the text?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Is every sentence relevant to the purpose of the text?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Does each paragraph contain one idea?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Does the text flow logically?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Have you used a varied sentence structure and vocabulary?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Have you used an appropriate tone for your reader?</span></p>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">Does the last paragraph satisfyingly conclude the story?</span></p>

<h2>After editing:</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Take a break. Let someone else do the work for you! After you’ve edited your story, find a friend or family member that you trust to read through your book. Showing someone else your work and getting feedback is an important stage of the process, because it gives you an insight into what your audience might think of your book when it’s finished. Up until now, you’ve been the only person that’s read your story, and a fresh pair of eyes could point out a fundamental error that you might have missed, or amend part of a story you remembered incorrectly.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">If you aren’t sure who to ask, or you don’t feel that anyone you know is suitable, why not ask a professional?</span></p>

<img src="https://cdn2.hubspot.net/hubfs/3921157/Blog/4263326117_db65beb3c2_o.jpg" alt="Pencil poking out from a book" title="Pencil poking out from a book" width="614" caption="false" data-constrained="true" style="width: 614px; display: block; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> </span><span style="font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> </span>

<h2>Before you proofread:</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Have you finished editing? There’s no point in proofreading if you’re going to make further changes to the text or the structure of your book. It’s a good idea to design your book first, including photographs, layout and format, which you can find out more about in Chapter 7.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Next, establish what you’re looking for when you’re proofreading. What are your common mistakes? Make a list to stay focused when reading: spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, as well as consistent use of language, style and formatting.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It is also advisable to take another break before you start proofreading, to distance you from the writing. Take a day, at least, to recuperate.</span></p>

<h2>Whilst proofreading:</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Reading out loud helps you spot errors and run-on sentences that reading silently risks missing. If you’d prefer, read from a printout, and use a blank sheet of paper to cover the lines below the one you’re reading to decrease your chances of missing mistakes. On-screen, use search functions to pick out common mistakes. For example, if you frequently confuse “it’s” and “its”, search ‘it’ to check for errors.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You’ve read your story for the final time, you’ve made all the relevant changes, and everything looks perfect! What else could you possibly have left to do? </span></p>

<p> </p>

<h2 style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blog.storyterrace.com/uk/how-to-digitise-your-photos"><strong><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Read Chapter 6: How To Digitise Your Photos</span></strong></a></h2>

This is the sixth part of our 'Ultimate Guide to Writing a Memoir.'
To access the rest of the guide, click here.

Want to break up your writing and add an element of visual context with old photographs? Here’s where you’ll learn how to successfully scan your images onto your computer in a quality you’ll be happy to include in your book.

There are a few different ways you can digitise your photos, each with their own set of pros and cons.

1. Don't just use your smartphone camera.

The quickest and easiest method of digitising photos is to snap your prints using your smartphone. This may be efficient, but results will be mediocre at best. Most smartphones use flash, and most photographs are glossy. This doesn’t make for a perfect match, and your images will capture the glare of the flash, or - even better - your reflection. Even if you can work around this problem, your images will not be properly cropped, may be distorted, and are likely to be low-resolution and poor quality.

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2. Use a dedicated scanning app.

You can do slightly better with your smartphone, if you use an app dedicated to scanning prints. One app that stands out from the rest is Google’s free PhotoScan app. All you need to do is position your smartphone over the photograph, and the app does the rest.

You’ll see four dots appear on the image, which will inform where you position the camera for the scan. With almost as little effort as just using your smartphone’s camera, this app eliminates glare and automatically crops your image to the borders of the photograph.

Each scan takes roughly 10 seconds. However, the quality still leaves a lot to be desired, when compared to a purpose-built scanner.

3. Use a scanner.

If you have your own scanner, or you can source one from a friend or family member - great! Simply put the photographs you want to digitise through the scanner (depending on whether you’re using an auto feed or flatbed scanner) and wait whilst the images are processed. Using a scanner can be time-consuming and fiddly. Make sure there’s no dust on your photographs or the scanner bed - you don’t want that in your book!

If you want to reproduce your photographs at the same size as the original prints, you’ll need to scan at a minimum of 300 dpi. Your photos will need to be scanned at 600 dpi to print double the size, and so on. 600 dpi is recommended, otherwise they’re going to look pixelated and blurry. No matter how high quality the scan, if the image itself is blurry or lacking in detail, you may still be disappointed by the results. In this instance, you can have the photo altered in Photoshop, but there are limits. It’s also a good idea to caption your images, so readers know who is in them, and when and where they were taken.

4. Get professional help (recommended)!

If you’re pressed for time and short of patience, or if none of the alternatives are an option, there are several companies that provide photo scanning services. All you need to do is send your photos, and they’ll do the work for you - for a fee, of course!

Read Chapter 7: Designing and Printing Your Book

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<p style="background: #efefef; border-radius: 25px; padding: 20px; font-size: 18px; text-align: center;"><i>This is the seventh part of our 'Ultimate Guide to Writing a Memoir.' <br><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="color: #f06d66;"><strong><a href="/uk/writing-a-memoir" style="color: #f06d66; text-decoration: underline;">To access the rest of the guide, click here.</a></strong></span></span></i></p>

<p>In this chapter, you’ll learn everything you need to know about the design process. This includes:</p>

<p><strong>Layout and format</strong></p>

<p><strong>Choosing a designer</strong></p>

<p><strong style="background-color: transparent;">Printing your book</strong></p>

<p><!--more--></p>

<h2 style="margin-bottom: 0px; text-align: left;"><strong><span style="background-color: transparent;">Layout and Format</span></strong></h2>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><span>You can design and format your own book - but we wouldn’t recommend it. This is because there are so many little things to think about, and so many big things you could forget. Leave it to the professionals!</span></span></p>

<p style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">If you would like to have a go yourself, here’s what you need to think about.</span></p>

<ul>

<li style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">What typeface do you want to use? Serif or sans serif?</span></li>

<li style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">What size book do you want to end up with? A5? A4? Square?</span></li>

<li style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://blog.storyterrace.com/uk/how-to-digitise-your-photos" target="_blank">How many</a></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://blog.storyterrace.com/uk/how-to-digitise-your-photos" target="_blank"> </a></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://blog.storyterrace.com/uk/how-to-digitise-your-photos" target="_blank">photos</a></span></span><span style="background-color: transparent;"><a href="https://blog.storyterrace.com/uk/how-to-digitise-your-photos" target="_blank"> do you want to include?</a></span></li>

<li style="margin-bottom: 0;"><span style="background-color: transparent;">What’s going on the back cover - or the </span><a href="https://blog.storyterrace.com/uk/how-to-make-your-book-cover-stand-out" target="_blank" style="background-color: transparent;"><span style="text-decoration: underline;"></span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">front cover</span></a><span style="background-color: transparent;">? (We’ll get to that.)</span></li>

</ul>

<p><span style="background-color: transparent;">And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.</span><br><span style="font-weight: bold; background-color: transparent;"> </span></p>

<h2>Choosing a Designer</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">In terms of choosing a designer, make sure you check out their previous work and customer reviews to see if they’re really someone you want to work with. Are they experienced at typesetting and laying out a book? Have they got templates to work with? If not, it might be wise to steer clear.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">At Story Terrace, in addition to our own templates, we can also create bespoke designs and custom covers to suit your project. We use the same trusted designers for every project - so we know what works, and what doesn’t - and you don’t have to worry about a thing.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">Take a look at our <span style="text-decoration: underline;"><a href="https://storyterrace.com/en-GB/sample-chapters/" target="_blank">sample books</a></span> for inspiration.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<h2>Printing Your Book</h2>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">It’s the final step. You’ve done all the hard work and now it’s time to reap the rewards by holding that physical copy of your book in your hands for the very first time. But what’s that? Your cover hasn’t aligned properly, and half the title has been cut off.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">You may be close to the end, but you certainly don’t want to lose focus. Whilst the printing is largely out of your hands, you can make sure that you’ve done your research.</span></p>

<p><span style="font-weight: 400;">The cost of printing will depend on how many copies you order. Usually, the more copies you order, the cheaper the cost per book will be. Additionally, other contributing factors you might want to consider are whether you want a hardcover or softcover, full colour or black and white book. Printers’ costs vary, so it’s worth getting a few quotes. Some printers won’t do short print runs (e.g. of 4 copies, like our printer does), so that’s also something you might want to think about. Equally, if you’re getting your books printed abroad, you’ll need to factor in the cost of shipping too.</span></p>

<p> </p>

<h2 style="text-align: center;"><a href="/uk/how-to-make-your-book-cover-stand-out"><strong><span><span style="text-decoration: underline;">Read Chapter 8: How To Make Your Book Cover Stand Out</span></span></strong></a></h2>

1. Organising your memories: Key points to remember

It’s important to gather all your information before you start writing, so you can plan your story and know what you’re going to talk about.

• Use our memory prompts to recall forgotten information about your life.
• Record your information in an organised format so you can easily decide what to include in your memoir. We suggest using our timeline.

Read Chapter 1 again

2. Structure your life story: Key points to remember

There are many different ways to structure your story, and you don’t have to write chronologically. Here’s a quick overview of the methods we go through in Chapter 2:

• The chronological approach: start at the beginning, and tell it how it happened step-by-step.
• The basic three acts: split your narrative into the setup, the confrontation, and the resolution.
• Freytag’s pyramid: slightly more complex than the basic three, Freytag’s pyramid consists of five stages. These are the exposition, rising action, climax, falling action, and resolution.
• In media res: starts in the middle of the story, right at the height of the action.
• The hero’s journey: this is one of the most popular methods of storytelling. It’s quite complicated, so take a look back through Chapter 2 to find out more.

Read Chapter 2 again

3. Writing (the nitty gritty!): Key points to remember

This chapter covers two key areas: finding the time to create a habit out of writing, and developing your own unique style.

• Set S.M.A.R.T (Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Relevant, and Timely) goals to structure your writing habit efficiently.
• Your writing needs to sound like it’s something you would say. Get feedback to make sure your writing “sounds like you”.
• Think about the books you like to read. If you aren’t engaged with your story, it’s unlikely anyone else will be.
• Be honest with yourself. Who are you writing a memoir for? You need to keep your audience in mind at all times when writing. Is this something they are going to want to read?

Read Chapter 3 again

4. Overcoming writer's block: Key points to remember

Writer’s block can affect anyone - it’s a popular name for that moment when you are in the midst of a project, but you lack the inspiration or drive to write another word. Here are some ways to overcome writer’s block:

• Take a break: Read a book or draw a picture. Go for a run. Do anything that will take your mind off writing, and then go back to it feeling fresh.
• Change your environment: if you’re used to writing at your uncomfortable, dimly lit desk at home, why not try seeking inspiration elsewhere? Go to a local coffee shop or library.
• Free write: set a timer or a word limit and write anything. Forget about grammar or plot or structure. Just write.

Read Chapter 4 again

5. Editing and proofreading your book: Key points to remember

Editing involves making sure your ideas are expressed logically, in a clear and coherent narrative.

• Read through your written memoir from start to finish before you make any major editing decisions. When you’ve done that, some questions you might want to ask yourself as you edit, are:
  • Does the text make sense?
  • Is every sentence relevant to the purpose of the text?
  • Does each paragraph contain one idea?
• It is important to ask a trusted friend, family member or even a professional editor to provide feedback. They could point out a fundamental error that you might have missed, or amend part of a story you remembered incorrectly.

Proofreading comes after the editing process, and is more about language. It involves checking over spelling, punctuation and grammatical errors, as well as format.

• Make a list of common mistakes to look out for within your text. If you often misspell specific words, jot them down and keep an eye out whilst you proofread.
• Read out loud to spot errors and run-on sentences that reading silently risks missing.

Read Chapter 5 again

6. Digitising your photos: Key points to remember

There are a few different ways you can digitise your photos, each with their own set of pros and cons.

• Using a smartphone: this is quick and easy, but the results are adequate at best.
• Using a dedicated scanning app: Google’s free PhotoScan app is better than a smartphone’s camera, but still leaves a lot to be desired.
• Using a scanner: if you or a friend owns a scanner - great! Scanners produce great results, but the process is very laborious and time-consuming.
• Get professional help: this is the best and most reliable way to digitise your photos. If you don’t have access to any of the other options, there are plenty of companies that offer scanning services that will digitise your photos. All you need to do is send them in.

Read Chapter 6 again

7. Designing and printing your book: Key points to remember

We recommend you leave a lot of the design process to the professionals. If you would like to have a go yourself, here’s what you need to think about:

• What typeface do you want to use? Serif or sans serif?
• What size book do you want to end up with? A5? A4? Square?
• How many photos do you want to include?
• How many copies do you want to order?
• Hardcover or softcover? Full colour or black and white?
• How much will shipping cost?

Read Chapter 7 again

8. How to make your book cover stand out: Key points to remember

Designing your book cover is an important part of the design process when it comes to writing a memoir. Again, we would advise that you consult a professional designer, but we’ve provided some tips and common themes within book cover design if you want to have a go yourself.

• Keep it simple: your cover doesn’t have to be extravagant, just eye-catching. Use relatable imagery or clever typography to draw potential readers in.
• Use photography: if you’re unfamiliar with design software, why not experiment with a camera?
• Design for your genre: whether or not the theme of your memoir is romance or thriller, or entirely unique, there are certain thematic structures you can use so the audience knows what to expect. For example, book covers for romantic stories tend to depict a couple and use muted pastels.

Read Chapter 8 again

We can help!

If this all seems like an awful lot of hard work, that’s because it is! But don’t worry. This is where we come in.

Story Terrace is revolutionising the way we think about our heritage with a simple idea: a biographer for every person. We match you with a carefully chosen professional writer, who will conduct in-depth interviews and ultimately, write your story. Your beautiful, hardcover, full-colour books will be delivered to your door, and you don’t need to worry about a thing - because we’ve got you covered!

Whether you’re looking for a writer, or you just need a little help editing - contact Story Terrace for more information about how we can help with your story today.

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You shouldn’t judge a book by its cover. You shouldn't. But you do.

As well as catching your reader's eye, your book cover should reveal something about your story. The tone of your cover should match the tone of your book.

So how do you make your book cover stand out?

Keep it simple.

Find one component within your story to focus on visually for your book cover. Don’t try and illustrate the whole story in a single picture.

Equally, simple book covers translate better into thumbnails. This design on Bad Teeth, written by Dustin Long, translates especially well into a thumbnail because the books in the image, combined with the used, look - the title suggests - like bad teeth.

Be relatable.

Using familiar imagery is one way to connect with your readers whilst hinting towards the storyline. It isn’t compulsory, but it’s a great way to catch your reader’s eye.

Take a look at this minimalistic cover for Against Happiness, written by Eric G. Wilson. The designer, Jennifer Carrow, plays on the traditional yellow acid smiley face to create the suggestion of a frowning face.  

Use typography.

Your book cover doesn’t have to use detailed imagery to attract potential readers. Clever use of typography can be just as engaging and eye-catching, if not more so.

This designer’s take on the famous story of Jaws uses typography - the tip of the A in the title - to illustrate the shark’s fin. Simple, effective and eye-catching.

Use photography.

One way to avoid amateur graphic design is by using photography. You’ll still have to carefully consider your composition as well as the typography that goes with your image, but it may allow for a little more creativity if you aren’t confident graphic design.

This beautiful cover designed by Jason Ramirez uses photography to create a compelling cover that captures traditional still life to depict the early years of author Gabriel Marquez’s life, written by Ilan Stavans.

Choose a professional design.

If you’ve acquired the assistance of a graphic designer to create your book cover, lucky you! You can leave it to them. However, if you’re designing your cover yourself, you need to make sure the finished product still looks professional - and not amateur. Have a look at what’s out there, and try to feed what inspires you into your design. If you aren’t a graphic designer, it’s best to keep your cover as simple as possible.

Design for your genre.

What is the theme of your life? Is your story a suspense-filled thriller? Or is it brimming with romance? Whatever your genre, your book cover needs to fit its mood and style.

Romantic stories: if you’ve lived a life of romance, the traditional cover will show two people (the lovers in the story) connecting in some way. There are numerous different ways of showing this, so get creative, keeping in mind that romantic imagery tends to use softer : lilacs, pinks golds. This can be seen on the cover of Nicholas Sparks’ romantic novel, Dear John, notably conveying romance through two horses rather than people.

Mystery: for your mysterious story, play on perspective, don’t give everything away and focus on the title, with angular serif typefaces. Making what the potential reader is looking at somewhat unclear will add to the sense of mystery. These stark and edgy designs are commonly in high-contrast , with red to allude to danger. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins uses typography on top of a blurred background to suitably convey the feeling of being on a train, whilst giving nothing else away. Mysterious.

Miscellaneous: none of the above quite fitting the bill? It’s difficult to pigeonhole the rest into specific themes because they are all so vastly different. Books, obviously, can vary extensively - as can book covers. These book covers don’t have anything in common, but they are all eye-catching, engaging and make the potential reader want to know more.

Write an engaging blurb.

Your captivating design has engaged the potential reader and done its job of getting your book into their hands. Now, all you need is a blurb that really hooks the reader, so they can’t just put it down! Like the cover, your blurb needs to reflect the tone of your book. If the blurb is funny, the reader will expect the book to be funny. Introduce the protagonist, the plot and then entice the reader with an emotional hook that alludes to the characters’ journeys and what they stand to gain or lose.

Give a sense of the story and tone in a clear and concise few paragraphs that are easy to read, and there’s no reason why the potential reader will put your book down until they’ve turned the last page!

these hints and tips have been helpful. Don’t be afraid to stray away from the conventional and come up with something different. Have a look through your book covers and see if you can incorporate any ideas you come across into your own cover.

Read Chapter 9: An Overview

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This is the first part of our 'Ultimate Guide to Writing a Memoir. 'To access the rest of the guide, click here.

Welcome to Story Terrace's ultimate guide to writing your memoir. We've helped hundreds of people to capture their life stories in beautiful books, written by our professional ghostwriters. Now we're sharing some of our expertise to help you along your journey.

You may be halfway through writing your memoir - or right at the beginning. Either way, you've probably found it a challenge to recall and organise all the memories that make up your life story.

To help, in this chapter we are sharing two resources: a set of 65 Memory Prompts we use with our customers to kick-start the process, and a Timeline Template you can then use to organise all the information.

You can access the two resources by following the link below:

Email Memory Prompts + Timeline template

We'll email you the memory prompts right away, and send you the timeline template once you've had some time to do the first exercise. If you want to access the timeline immediately you can find it here.

Using these resources

Memory prompts

Whether you are writing yourself, or working with a ghostwriter, it can be hard to know where to start and what to include. At Story Terrace, we often use memory prompts to kick-start the process - easy and fun questions designed to jog your memory and bring back moments you haven't thought about for years.

It's the perfect first step, and something you can later assemble into a timeline or structure for your story. We’ve hand-picked 65 of our favourite memory prompts to share with you.

Remember - you don't need to answer every question. Just scan through the list, and think about which of these prompts speak to you the most. You’ll soon find you have more than enough to talk about.

Timeline

If you’re writing a book about your life, creating a timeline is an essential step. While your story is based on your own experiences, it’s easy to forget important moments — unless it is all laid out clearly in front of you. A timeline provides clarity and structure for your life story.

Once you’ve gathered all the information you need, it’s time to start organising your memories by filling in your timeline.

Our timeline template is separated into 'key events' on the left, and 'connecting stories' on the right. Key events are the major tentpoles of your life story - so brainstorm those first (using our memory prompts as a starting point). Once you've filled those in, start fleshing out memorable stories and anecdotes from these periods in your life, in the 'connecting stories' section.

What you’ll come away with is a complete overview - making it easier to identify themes and get creative with your structure, which you can learn more about in the next chapter.

All done?

Congratulations, you’ve taken a big step towards writing your memoir. Your key events will help you to inform your decisions regarding chapters and structure, potentially becoming your chapter titles, with the details becoming your chapter content.

Want to take it to the next level?

If so - ask yourself, how do you feel about what’s in front of you? Are any themes starting to emerge? Try labelling or highlighting your timeline to bring out the common threads.