- Are you working on a non-fiction book
and wondering how to incorporate your personal stories,
maybe without naming names,
or at least in a way that minimizes the fallout
from sharing your story?
If you're wondering that,
then this video is for you.
(upbeat music)
Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad from Book Launchers.
We're your professional self publishing team
helping you write, publish and promote a nonfiction book
that will help you have a huge impact on your readers,
and done right, will help you grow your brand,
build your business and make you money.
The best part, you keep all rights and royalties.
Sharing your personal story in your nonfiction book
is what makes your book absolutely something
only you could write.
It's hugely valuable.
It creates a connection with your reader,
it provides context for what you share,
and it also makes you more memorable.
But it can also be incredibly difficult.
How do you talk about other people in the book
without making them feel really bad,
or without saying something
that could be considered defamation?
There are several options to do this.
Option number one is my least favorite,
but it's useful in some situations.
Just change the names and blur the facts
so that it's not clear who specifically in your life
was in that story.
You'll see me use this method in videos
when I speak about authors
where I haven't sought their permission to tell their story.
I'll tell you the details you need
so that you can get the point,
but not enough so any confidential information is shared,
and certainly not enough
so that you could ever identify that person.
Somebody, if somebody, somebody hit somebody.
(bleeping)
Sometimes, if it's somebody
that I think is likely to read or see the content,
I even may take an extra step
of changing their gender,
or generalizing some other piece of the story
that doesn't change the point.
The danger of doing this too much,
or doing it with an important story,
is that you can lose credibility
because you're not being totally honest or clear.
General is never as good as specific,
but sometimes it's good enough.
Option two is to change the name of the person
or give them a fake name.
Isn't that the same thing?
If you changed the name you'd be giving them a fake name?
(laughing)
Of course, changing names won't work
if you're talking about your family,
because unless you're from an enormous family
it's gonna be pretty easy
to figure out who you're talking about.
But it can work wonders for some books.
Take "Molly's Game", for example.
If you're a regular YouTube bestie,
like Allan West, FreeFalling from Grace,
Poetry from the Heart, Ben Preston, Kevin 2.0, thank you.
Big hugs to all of you for your comments, likes and shares.
Those folks know I love Texas Hold 'Em.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that I read "Molly's Game"
and watched the movie as soon as it came out.
But my point is that her based-on-a-true-story book
named celebrities like Leonardo DiCaprio, A-Rod,
Ben Affleck and others,
but the main player in her book was called Player X.
For the most part she was quite nice
about what she said about the people in her book,
and she was really only naming names
that were already public record
when she was arrested by the FBI
for taking a rake in her poker games.
But Player X was not a good guy in the story,
so likely she didn't wanna say
all those bad things she said about him
and associate a real name with that person
who behaved like that.
So Player X, the bad guy, was unnamed.
He was called Player X.
In her book, not naming Player X actually builds mystery
and was the subject of a ton of press around the book.
But her book is a celebrity-based book,
so unless you can create a lot of mystery
or speculation around whether Toby McGuire
is more like a mean Peter Parker
or the sweet Spiderman you know and love in real life,
this strategy is really only for you
if the name change won't matter to anyone but you
and the person whose identity you protected.
So this leaves me with the method that I recommend
for the majority of personal stories.
Stick to the facts of what happened and how you felt.
So this is option three.
Try to avoid layering in judgment and finger-pointing.
Don't speculate why someone did what they did
or try to even make it right by justifying it.
Focus on you and your experience.
Keep it simple and to the point to share the story.
You might want to enact revenge
and say all kinds of mean things
about someone who you feel wronged you,
but your book is for your reader, not for revenge.
Stick to what your reader really needs to know.
And that is what happened to you and how it made you feel.
Nobody can dispute that because it's all about you,
not about anyone else.
I know you're gonna have a bunch of other questions
about when is it okay to include someone's name or not?
I'm not an attorney.
And in fact, I am Canadian. (chuckling)
We are not nearly as litigious as some American folks.
So I'm not as cautionary
as some other folks in the business that I've encountered.
So my advice is just from me,
a Canadian self-publishing author, okay? (chuckling)
Generally speaking, what we tell our clients
is if you want to cover your assets
you should have a waiver signed
when you share stories of other people.
So if you're a podcaster and you want to include
the interviews from your show,
it's best to have a waiver signed
saying they release you to use that interview
for other purposes.
I think a waiver is a good idea
if you're saying anything that makes you pause and wonder
if someone's going to be okay with you sharing that story.
But if you're telling the story
of the funny night in a Las Vegas hotel penthouse suite
that found you eating in the bathroom with your friend, Deb,
like I did in my book, "The New Brand You",
you can probably feel pretty comfortable
that it's a safe share.
She pretended to be horrified
when she found out she was in my book,
but she tells everyone about that story,
so I think she was okay with it. (laughing)
How do you handle naming names
or sharing personal stories in your book?
Let's chat about it in the comments below.
And when you comment,
the day a video is released
you'll be entered to win some sweet #noboringbooks swag,
like this #nororingbooks mug.
We have new videos every Tuesday and Friday.
Make sure you catch every one by subscribing to the channel
and turning those notifications on.
You're really fun.
Do you wanna keep hanging out?
This video right here is all about writing a book
that stands the test of time.
When you're writing stories
this is a great thing to consider.
And if you aren't wondering about that,
then this video on what is a book coach is a great one,
because a book coach can guide you
through writing these great stories
in the best way possible.
Either way, these videos are a guaranteed good time,
or your money back.
So go ahead and click on the one that you wanna watch,
and I'll put the coffee on.
And I'll see you there.
(upbeat music)