Selling COMEDIC Memoir about adolescence

yonasmichael

Yonas Michael
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Pitching a COMEDIC Memoir about adolescence

I'm new here on the boards (which have been SO helpful and informative so far) and I figured I may get some feedback if I post directly on here.
I'm a twenty-year-old college student and I'm finally finishing my first completed work, which is a comedic memoir about growing up "different" in a Southern, suburban town. My working title is Diagnose Me, Please: My Life as a Teenage Trainwreck. At almost 70, 000 words, the book is comprised of crazy stories about trying to go to Hollywood, dealing with obnoxious school bullies, getting kicked out of school, and infiltrating the Church of Scientology. So it's not your conventional, heartwarming biography.

Basically, I'm wondering if it's even possible to sell something like this. I feel like there could be a market for it, with the success of "dry humor" writers like David Sedaris and Chelsea Handler, but I'm not sure how to go about pitching it and who to pitch it to. I'm also unsure of the realities of getting published while still being in college at twenty years old. And, finally, I'd really like to know if my title sounds too "campy" to be taken seriously.

Any feedback would be just awesome!
 

jerrywaxler

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Why not?

It sounds good to me. If you believe in your book, and you can get others to believe in it, why not be successful? With clever stories and strong writing you can move the world. Have you had any successes with say essays, or shorter pieces.

Jerry
 

yonasmichael

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Thanks, jerrywaxler! I haven't had any essays or short stories yet, but I did recently start submitting chapters of my book as short stories to some journals and magazines, so I hope something comes out of that.

And spamwarrior, I'm glad you find my pitch interesting! And the title ... it was actually my mother who was against the title. I sent her the unfinished draft and while she loved the content, she thought the title was a bit much. But I just can't see it being named anything else to be honest.

Thanks again for your input!