Memoir is difficult to place and requires more effort than other kinds of nonfiction, so I'm very picky. I also receive a good deal of this type of submission.

When sending me a memoir, please bear in mind that I only take on memoir when I feel I absolutely must--when the idea that someone else could represent it makes me hugely jealous. Please include with your query the first 1-3 pages of your book pasted into the email (not as an attachment).

I tend to be interested in relationships, conflict, characters developing, American experiences, peculiar jobs and unusual experiences. I like accessible writing--nothing fancy, but nothing clunky. I often like memoirs about doing something I would never dream of wanting to do, memoirs that use something concrete and external as the occasion for their discussions of character (such as a hobby or a game or a pet or a trip). It's very cool to make me laugh, to use an unusual structure to good effect, and/or teach me something about life--but not by overt didacticism and usually not by giving facts. I like memoir for what an insightful and talented writer can bring to processing her own experiences.

The last version of this article mentioned three subgenres that I tend to see a lot of that I rarely like--memoirs of abuse, substance abuse, and memoirs that report your family's experiences. However the writers in the first two categories seem undeterred, rightly concluding that their memoir might be the exception. And a writer in the third category was almost deterred, and that breaks my heart, because I offered her representation and have been getting much joy from working on her manuscript. (When I sell it I will edit this article again!) As of this writing I have yet to take on a memoir of abuse or substance abuse; in the case of the former I think my reluctance comes from a sense that reading about abuse is unpleasant for me, and in the case of the latter I think it is that I'm not made in such a way that I get it. Since these are popular genres, I can only conclude that this is something distinctive about me.

Bear in mind when writing memoir that book sales are not to be expected to be proportional to your suffering. Bear in mind that people don't want to hear about it for the same reason you want to tell it; they generally need their own reasons. Bear in mind that ordinariness usually isn't a strength in and of itself, since it makes it difficult to promote a book--even though making a personal, identifying connection with a reader is key to most memoir.

Many of my favorite books are memoirs. I look forward to finding more I can take on. I appreciate your interest.