How to Write a Book About Your Life Story: Where to Start | Natalee Bloom

Natalee Bloom is a ghostwriter and developmental editor who works with New York Times bestselling authors, and she's the person who helped me write my second book. She has an MFA from Trinity College Dublin, and she still says her first attempt at her own book was so bad that she let the anger fuel her into creating a methodology.

Can anyone turn their life story into a book?

Yes. Natalee puts it plainly. Writer's block is a myth, and everyone can write. Writing is really two skills. You come up with an idea, then you push it through a physical medium. Typing, a pen, a voice note. It all counts.

She sometimes gets up and moves while she writes, because for her, writing is dancing. That matters, because so many of us quietly decide writing is for other people and not for us.

It doesn't even have to be a book yet. Journaling counts. You look back at a really difficult season on the page and realize, wait, I handled that. Good job.

How do you know it's time to start writing your book?

Most people Natalee talks to have been writing their book for years without calling it that. It's 47 different Google notes. It's a line that comes to you while you're washing the dishes. When you want to put it all down and organize it, that's the call.

There's really never a convenient time, so try to find 24 hours at least and get started there. Then build the muscle.

Should you write it yourself or hire a ghostwriter?

Natalee sees two paths, and both are wonderful. If you want to learn the craft, go for it. It's a skill you can learn, and a story told well can change someone's life for the better.

If you want to tell your story but you don't know how, and you don't want to learn, that's when a thought partner, an editor or a ghostwriter can come in. Usually it's because you've got something else going on. You're building a business. You're raising a family.

Natalee doesn't need her name on it. She did the heavy lift on my book, and it's still going to say Shivan Sarna on the front. Either way, the finish line is the same. Your story, out in the world.

What a ghostwriter or developmental editor actually does

With one group of authors, she worked for about seven months on Zoom, using the methodology she built for herself. With one group, they finished at a writing retreat in an 1800s manor house in the Hudson Valley, with a private chef, hiking trails and emergency champagne for whoever finished their book.

Copy editing and line editing make sure the grammar is right. Development is the bigger job. This chapter is tight. That one needs to be cut. This one's missing.

An editor also sees what you can't. So often we can't see the label from within the jar. There were times Natalee stopped me and said, what you did here was pretty remarkable, and this part of your story is going to help someone.

Self-publishing or a traditional book deal?

Natalee's view is that traditional publishing is a business transaction. You're offering the publishing house your audience. They print the book and do some of the marketing, but the onus is on you. If you don't have a way to get your audience excited, it can be a difficult experience.

When I sold my first book, Healing SIBO, which Avery at Penguin Random House published, the proposal was basically the framework for the whole book. There was a bidding war, and I got a six-figure deal. One of the reasons was that I had a big email list and was on HSN at the time.

So if you want a traditional deal, build your author platform first. Own your email list, and don't rely only on social platforms, because they can go away.

Self-publishing is the other option, and Natalee and her team do it. You keep all the rights to your intellectual property and can put it out on Amazon. If you're a speaker in front of thousands of people every week, a self-published book can sell right there.

Why you have to keep marketing your book

However you publish, one of my mentors, JJ Virgin, will tell you to never stop marketing it. You have to act like it's brand new every day. Put it on the bottom of your emails. And if you stopped marketing a book you already have, pick it back up.

Your story can help someone. Natalee calls it a lie that it can't, and I agree. The things you take for granted about your own life might be exactly what someone else needs to read. It's never too late, and it's a really good idea to start as soon as you think of it. Grab the scrap of paper, open a voice note, and get the first piece down.