The WE LOVE MEMOIRS Facebook group is an absolute gift for us authors!

Alan Parks and I created WLM (We Love Memoirs) back in 2013 to provide a friendly place where memoir readers and authors could meet and chat. It has grown beyond our wildest dreams, currently boasting more than 8,000 members and still growing. We discuss memoirs and everything else. Deep, lasting friendships are made, and meet-ups take place all over the world.

If you’d like to raise awareness for your memoir(s), read on. If you’d also like to receive promotion invitations and updates, ask me to be added to the author email list.

We are 90% readers, and 10% authors and we offer heaps of ways for you to make readers aware of you and your books.

We soon discovered that readers DO NOT appreciate authors who push their books at them, so we made a rule: we ask you NOT to discuss your own books, writing or products. (There are plenty of other Facebook groups filled with authors blowing their own trumpets at each other, with precious few reader members.)

Instead, let US blow your trumpet for YOU.

How to make We Love Memoirs work for you…

FIVE MINUTES PER DAY

Most important – DROP IN REGULARLY. 5 minutes per day will do it. Get your name seen, chat with the members, ‘like’ people’s posts, welcome newbies. Just turning up when tagged is not enough. When people notice and like you, they’ll seek out your books.

DISPLAY AND OFFER YOUR BOOK

Every month, we ask WLM authors if they’d like to offer an ebook as a prize to winners of games and competitions in the following month. This is a great way to be seen and get more reviews, so look out for the prize grid that Julie Haigh puts up in the group. Julie may have some places available for next month, so feel free to contact her and ask if you want your book added.

THANK YOU THURSDAY

New authors, or existing authors, give We Love Memoirs a nice mention with the link https://www.facebook.com/groups/welovememoirs/ at the end of your book, and Beth Haslam will give you a Thank You Thursday shout-out when your book is published. Message her with a screenshot of your mention.
Example:
If you’d like to chat with the author and other memoir authors and readers, do join the friendly, fun Facebook group, We Love Memoirs.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/welovememoirs/
When you’ve done that, message or email Beth Haslam and she’ll sort out your Thursday Thank You.

SPOTLIGHT SUNDAYS

SPOTLIGHT SUNDAYS are a fantastic way to be seen and for readers to discover your books. If you’d like one, ask Julie Haigh. These places are much sought after and only go to authors who are seen in WLM regularly. Julie will need your cover image and EPUB file to give away to prizewinners. (Not a problem if you are in Amazon’s Select as we are a closed group and bots cannot gain entry.) As a bonus, our members are brilliant at leaving reviews.

FRIDAY FREEBIE FEATURE

If you’d like your book displayed and offered as a Friday Featured Freebie, send Julie Haigh your EPUB file, and front cover. Our members love these, and most leave reviews. There is a waiting list, and authors can only submit one title, so that everybody gets a chance.

WEDNESDAY AUTHOR

On Wednesdays, one author has permission to post 6-8 posts in the group during a 24 hour period. Wednesday Authors can talk about themselves, their books, share links, videos, images, give away books, or whatever they like. If you’d like to book a Wednesday Author slot, let me know and I’ll give you a choice of dates and show you examples of possible posts.

TELL US AND WE’LL TELL THE WORLD!

If you have an Amazon countdown, or your book is being promoted, Julie Haigh is really on the ball and will probably have picked up on it already and advertised it in WLM for you. If not, tell her or another moderator about it. Another event, like a radio interview, or an award? Tell Julie Haigh or another mod, and they’ll announce it in the group. Have you just published a blog post? Or sent out a newsletter? Tell a mod and they’ll announce it for you.

SPREAD THE WORD

Invite your readers and your friends, and bring in new members by mentioning us often on Facebook, Instagram, X (#WeLoveMemoirs) or blogs. Readers have voracious appetites, many read more than two books a week. If they like WLM, they’ll bring their friends. They’ll stick around and when you publish another, they’ll be waiting. If every author brought in 5 new reader members, we’d have well over 4000 new reader members instantly.

VIRTUAL PARTIES

Although we don’t allow self-promotion, we frequently throw fabulous 24 hour VIRTUAL PARTIES which give authors the opportunity to promote themselves and give away their memoirs as prizes. Look out for email invitations from me. (Not on the email list? SUBSCRIBE NOW)

REVIEWS

Most authors are also readers, and in WLM, we like to help each other. If anybody writes a review for a WLM author on Amazon, Goodreads or Bookbub (or all 3!) and then posts it in the group, they can pick another book for free from the current Prize Grid displayed on the WLM page.

We have just ONE main rule: NEVER SELF-PROMOTE. Do not start a post by mentioning your own book’s title, link or link to your own blog. Thinly veiled mentions of your book in a post are not welcome either. These are BIG turn offs to readers and not allowed in WLM. If you spend time in WLM, readers will ask you about your books or seek them out. If anybody asks you a direct question, of course you can reply. It is perfectly okay to recommend other memoirs, just not your own…

Be warned, if you break this one rule, Clarissa the Crocodile will eat your post. Break it again and you’ll be shown the door without warning.

ANYTHING ELSE?

Well, yes!

We have a WLM Author Group (private so only we authors can find it or see the posts). We discuss covers, writing, anonymity, publishing, promotion, Amazon, advertising and a host of other vital booky stuff. Ask me, and I’ll invite you.
We also have a private WLM Beta Readers Group. If you’d like to join to give your new book a final read-through before it is published, please message me or a moderator. Our beta readers will also leave honest reviews when the book is published. Please note, this is not a proofreading service, just a final check.

Note: Special thanks must go to the wonderful hardcore of authors and superb moderators we have in WLM who have made WLM such a big success.

Thank you for reading, and we hope you enjoy and benefit from WLM as much as we do!

Questions? Private message me on Facebook or email me: TopHen@VictoriaTwead.com

Victoria Twead – co-founder of We Love Memoirs
New York Times and Wall Street Journal bestselling author of
Chickens, Mules and Two Old Fools and the Old Fools series
Latest memoir: Two Old Fools Fair Dinkum