The Life Story Coach

Amy Woods Butler, LIfe Story and Memoir Ghostwriter
  • 4.6 (33)
  • CAREERS

Want to make your living as a writer? Love listening to other people's life stories? Tune in for advice on the craft and business of personal history, the growing field of recording memoirs and family histories for paying clients.

  1. 09/18/2019

    Sex, Intimacy, and Life Story Books

    Karin Jones believes sex and intimacy are a big part of our lives, and she challenges personal historians to gently explore this topic with their storytelling clients. Links & Stuff Karin's controversial article appeared in New York Times' "Modern Love" column. "What Sleeping About Married Men Taught Me About Infidelity" Find Karin Jones' bimonthly column, "Savvy Love," at the Erotic Review Magazine, or on her Savvy Love blog at https://www.savvy-love.com/blog. Follow Karin on Twitter: @mskarinjones Curious about Esther Perel? Read about her fascinating story.

    51 min

  2. 09/12/2019

    Audio Life Stories with Gloria Nussbaum of Real to Real, Part 2

    Gloria's website: https://www.real-to-reel.org/ Gloria's Equipment List

    28 min

  3. 09/05/2019

    Audio Life Stories with Gloria Nussbaum of Real to Real

    Gloria's website:https://www.real-to-reel.org/

    32 min

  4. 08/15/2019

    Lisa Kagan of Family Heirloom Arts, Part 2

    Illustrated Heirloom Books, and What Goes into Creating Them In this episode, we're going back to the first part of our conversation with Lisa Kagan. As an artist and writer, Lisa is fascinated by the intersection of visual art and storytelling. She brings all her gifts to bear on the illustrated heirloom books her company produces, allowing the clients a chance to become intimately involved in the creation of the words and images of their life story book. She also talks about: connecting to her community as an artist and creative, and how that has helped her organically grow her business contracting other personal history professionals for editing, book design, production, and more the elements of her initial sales conversations If you missed the first part of our conversation, where Lisa talks about her workshops and retreats, you can find that here. Links & Stuff Family Heirloom Arts Website   Book Designer Emily Garcia   Workshop Offerings   Upcoming September Retreat: Self Portrait of the Inner Landscape, Exploring Personal Mythology Through Writing and Mask Making

    37 min

  5. 08/09/2019

    Workshops with Lisa Kagan of Family Heirloom Arts

    Workshops serve clients and creatives, and help to build a personal history business Family Heirloom Arts offers the usual range of services to its personal history clients: interviewing, writing, editing, photo management. But its founder and owner, Lisa Kagan, takes things a step further by inviting clients to create their own personalized artwork to illustrate their books. That's just one of the things that makes Family Heirloom Arts unique. In this interview, we talk about: Lisa's roster of workshops and retreats, and how she leverages established organizations such as the library to market them the difference between outcome-based and process-based workshops and retreats how fans of her workshops sometimes turn into personal history clients a good place to start if you're just getting going with workshops We also talked about Family Heirloom Art's upcoming weekend retreat, Self Portrait of the Inner Landscape: Exploring Personal Mythology Through Writing and Mask Making Links & Stuff Family Heirloom Arts Website   Workshop Offerings   Upcoming September Retreat: Self Portrait of the Inner Landscape, Exploring Personal Mythology Through Writing and Mask Making

    36 min

  6. 07/25/2019

    Write a Local Column to Market Your Business, with Lisa Lombardi O'Reilly

    Marketing with a local newspaper column and more Lisa Lombard O'Reilly of Your Stories Written joins us for a conversation about personal history. Listen as we discuss: Lisa's experience writing her dad's life story book using Kindle Direct Publishing for cheap proof copies and supplying friends with print-on-demand books Lisa's monthly column on personal history for Coastal View, a local print publication Lisa approached the publisher of Coastal View after attending a workshop given by Annie Payne, a colleague out of Australia. Annie gave expert advice on mastering your community and becoming the go-to personal historian. Lisa also talked about being featured on a blog post by a woman with an historical press. Clairitage Press specializes in local history, with titles written by Karen Dustman. Read the article here or here. If you want more ideas about writing local history, check out Episode 47 with Patricia Hamilton. Links & Stuff Find Lisa Lombari O'Reilly at her website, Your Stories Written

    39 min

  7. 07/18/2019

    Lettice Stuart, Part 2

    Part 2 of our interview with Lettice Stuart, Portraits in Words Join us for an insightful conversation about the business of personal history and the art of interviewing. In this episode, Lettice discusses: how much she charges for life story projects, and how that number has grown through the years a clever pre-meeting tactic that gets Lettice into the right frame of mind for that always-difficult money conversation with clients [Correction: with this technique, it doesn't have to be diffult!] how, when, and why to bring in outside editing help working with a partner the extreme importance of listening, no matter how you do it best [Knitting optional] Links & Stuff You can find Lettice Stuart at Portraits in Words Other episodes mentioned: 29: Rutger Bruining of Story Terrace 53: Part 1, Christine Norton Helps Life Story Writers Get Up and Running 54: Christine Norton, Part 2

    35 min

  8. 07/11/2019

    Lettice Stuart of Portraits in Words

    Lettice Stuart was a journalist with stories in the New York Times when she shifted to writing life stories. While her writing credentials helped give her credibility, it was good old-fashioned conversations with people that grew her business. In part one of the interview, we discuss: the importance of talking about your personal history work in any social situation, and why it's easy how and why to contact groups looking for speakers what to include when you give a public presentation We also talk about why family members may not be capable of getting to the same stories that personal historians do. And what a magical moment it is when you see the light go on in the storyteller's eyes: the book is important, the telling of the stories even more so. In our next episode, Part 2 with Lettice Stuart Stay tuned for the second half of our conversation with Lettice, where Lettice shares how much she charges for her life story books, how she prepares for the money conversation with clients, working with outside editors, and more. Links & Stuff You can find Lettice Stuart at Portraits in Words Want to hear more about the art of interviewing? Check out Episode 3: How to conduct a great interview

    30 min
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4.6
out of 5
33 Ratings

About

Want to make your living as a writer? Love listening to other people's life stories? Tune in for advice on the craft and business of personal history, the growing field of recording memoirs and family histories for paying clients.

Information

  • Creator
    Amy Woods Butler, LIfe Story and Memoir Ghostwriter
  • Years Active
    2017 - 2019
  • Episodes
    69
  • Rating
    Clean
  • Copyright
    © Amy Woods Butler 2019
  • Show Website
    The Life Story Coach