Table of contents:
- The Traditional Memoir’s Golden Age
- Enter the Prescriptive Memoir
- Why the Tide Turned
- From Expression to Guidance
A few years ago, the term “prescriptive memoir” was not yet in vogue.
The memoir genre was big, where authors share their perspectives and observations regarding a particular period in their life, or around a life-altering experience. Books like I’m Glad My Mom Died, by Jeannette McCurdy or Prince Harry’s Spare were traditionally published bestsellers, as readers attempted to learn more about the authors’ life experiences.
Walk through a Barnes & Noble today, however, and you’ll notice that the memoir titles have shifted. Rather than being reflective and introspective, they are now more directive.
Jane Friedman calls them “a memoir with a message.”
Unfollow Your Passion by Terri Trespicio and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi are a couple of examples of a combination of personal experiences and useful takeaways.
No longer do readers just want to read fascinating stories; they want to know how they can apply what they’ve read to their own lives. “What’s in it for me?” seems to have become the reader’s rallying cry.
As a result, those straight memoirs are slowly disappearing from bestseller lists.
Or, as Will Wolfslau, editorial director at Amplify Publishing Group, recently said, “straight memoir is a tough sell right now.”
The Traditional Memoir’s Golden Age
For decades, traditional memoirs dominated bookstores and bestseller lists.
They offered tales of what it means to be human, full of dysfunction, grief, self-reflection, enlightenment, and joy. Memoir authors shared pieces of their lived experiences in an effort to lay bare their own real lives.
They were more exploration and introspection without answers or end-of-chapter wrap-ups. The goal wasn’t to instruct or educate, but to connect and find a common bond.
Then, in the late 2010s, pre-COVID, we began to see signs that readers wanted more than just stories. They wanted guidance.
Enter the Prescriptive Memoir
That’s when we started to see more titles like Untamed, by Glennon Doyle and Girl, Wash Your Face, by Rachel Hollis.
These were still memoirs, but with an added bonus — explicit advice and step-by-step recommendations for how to avoid a similar fate, or how to implement the takeaways from the life lessons they impart.
Sure, readers still heard the author’s autobiography and personal stories, but with a twist — framed sometimes as, “Here is what I wish I had done,” or “Now that I know this, here’s what I would do with this information.”
Why the Tide Turned
We can blame social media in large part for this change. Social media has trained us to expect actionable content wrapped in snippets about influencer lives. Whether you pay attention to Instagram or TikTok, if you spend time there, you know that the focus is frequently on “hacks” designed to improve our lives without much effort.
Underneath this search for better, faster approaches to situations in our daily lives is a need to be productive. We can’t just enjoy a movie or TV show for entertainment’s sake; we need ways to act on what we saw or learned. That’s why we see websites springing up that tell us where we can buy the home décor we saw on our favorite HGTV show or where we can find the blouse our favorite actress wore (confession: I know this because I’ve successfully tracked down this information on a few occasions).
Another trend playing a role is the rise of the self-help genre. Traditional self-help books were bland and impersonal, while prescriptive memoir weaves in personal stories and experiences to make the how-to material more enjoyable.
But this may not be a good thing, some publishing insiders argue.
From Expression to Guidance
Meghan Stevenson of Meghan Stevenson Books is not a fan of this change.
“That’s because there is no such thing,” she says. “Your book is either prescriptive — meaning how to, as in the prescription you get from a doctor — or it is a memoir, a historical account or biography written from personal knowledge or special sources. (And yes, I took that from the dictionary.)”
Memoirs offer a glimpse into the author’s human experience. Such books chronicle a personal journey, often shared as a way to try to make sense of it and to make others feel less alone in their struggles or challenges.
Prescriptive memoir frequently puts the prescriptive material front and center, with personal reflection and anecdotes plugged in around the lessons. Unless done well, this narrative undercurrent can feel weaker than the louder how-to content.
But this blend is what readers are buying right now. And, personally, I’m a fan. I enjoy rich, multi-layered personal stories, and I appreciate it when the author makes it clear why their story may be relevant to me.