Why Are Biographies So Popular? Are They?

I came across an article in The Guardian online that posed the question, “why are biographies so popular?”  I could ask, are they?  

I like to read biographies. Actually, I prefer the “auto” biography or memoir.  I do read biographies, but I am more inclined to go for the account actually written by the individual telling their own story. 

I feel that sometimes biography is used as a catch-all word that includes autobiography, biography, and memoir.  I quite like the Wikipedia definition of memoir.

“A memoir is any nonfiction narrative writing based on the author's personal memories. The assertions made in the work are thus understood to be factual. While memoir has historically been defined as a subcategory of biography or autobiography since the late 20th century, the genre is differentiated in form, presenting a narrowed focus, usually a particular time phase in someone's life or career.”

It goes on. 

“A biography or autobiography tells the story “of a life”, while a memoir often tells the story of a particular career, event, or time, such as touchstone moments and turning points in the author's life.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memoir

So, a memoir covers a specific period of time while the autobiography covers the whole life, or up to the time the writer was actually writing.  My own memoir, Son of My Father, was mostly about my early years up to the late nineteen seventies.  Because the story had a mystery attached to it, I did include some detail from the present day, but by and large I did not see any point in writing an autobiography.  The truth is, I felt that my life has not been that interesting to justify it!  The story of my early life did have enough appealing stories that I felt would engage an audience.  At least, that is what I thought.

My memoir was self-published at around the same time that Prince Harry's book Spare came out. At the time, I had no idea that was the case.  Needless to say, the Royal book and all its revelations was an instant bestseller.  Harry got a big advance, the book sold right from the start, 400,000 copies on the first day I believe. Harry, being a Royal, was basically guaranteed that, although it came with a lot of good and bad publicity. Nevertheless, the number of sales is eye watering. The kind of sales success that self-published authors can only dream about.

The reality is that when you self-publish as a writer, you are on your own.  You might be happy with four sales on publication day.  Then you may see your book fading away as it joins millions of others waiting to be discovered. YouTube is full of successful self-published authors offering advice on how to be a success.  Many make their living from writing books and courses on how to self-publish. There is a lot of good advice out there, but it can still be a long road to find success for the independent, self-published writer.

So, are biographies really that popular? If you are famous then you have a head start, but as the writer of The Guardian article says  “We seek inspiration, consolation – and the unvarnished truth. And we know that all the best stories are true.”  Maybe so. Is real life better than fiction? 

Whatever the genre is, you still have to find your audience. I'm still looking, but I take heart from the many books out there that are not so different from mine that did make it.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/may/09/biographies-popular-stories-true-books-boswell-book-festival