Several years ago, a successful entrepreneur approached me about ghostwriting his autobiography. His goal was to share his business acumen and personal values with employees and family members; given his accomplishments, it’s likely the book would have found an audience. We discussed the project in detail, but it quickly became apparent that he couldn’t spend the time needed for interviews and subsequent edits.
This man wasn’t alone in wanting to write his memoirs: the urge to tell one’s life story seems to spreading. The Association of Personal Historians, a trade group for those who produce personal histories, has grown from 12 members at its founding in 1995 to over 700 today. Approximately half the members create print biographies, with the remainder divided between video and audio biographies.
Subjects initiate their own memoirs in some instances, but while it’s tempting to attribute the growing interest in memoirs to self-obsessed Baby Boomers, industry sources say that motivation accounts for a relatively small part of their business. R.J. McHatton, owner of Inventive Productions LLC in Bellevue, Wash., started filming video biographies as a side business 19 years ago and switched to a full-time service one-and-a-half years ago. He assumed initially that affluent seniors or business owners would be his primary market. “But the audience is the market,” says McHatton. “As boomers are getting into their 50s and 60s, they’re starting to think about their parents’ and grandparents’ legacies. So it’s the kids and grandkids buying this service for their parents and grandparents as the subjects.”
Bob Norris, founder of The Personal History Group in Lombard, Ill., provides print biographies with the audio interviews on accompanying CDs. Norris has found that many parents don’t commission their own biographies because “there is a certain amount of modesty” and a concern that their lives haven’t been particularly interesting. When their children commission the memoir, however, parents often say it’s an honor to participate because someone wanted to hear their story. Consequently, the subjects’ children commission 60 percent to 70 percent of Norris’s projects.
Some financial advisors believe that memoirs can play an important role in sharing formative experiences and values between the generations. Randy Kim, CLU, ChFC and owner of R. W. Kim and Company in Bellevue, Wash., started urging clients to consider autobiographies several years ago, and he now refers clients exclusively to McHatton. “Years ago the price for a high quality video production was out of sight,” says Kim. “But today’s technology makes it much more cost-effective. I plan to discuss biographies in every annual review with my clients.”