Your Memoir, the Way You Want It

Selected client books for sale in the Modern Memoirs online shop, Memory Lane Books & Gifts

Calling All Readers and Writers!

Greetings from our new offices! We are so happy to be (mostly) settled into our new space, and we look forward to welcoming visitors in the weeks, months, and years to come.

Earlier this month we greeted David Mazor, executive director of the nonprofit organization Reader to Reader, which is “dedicated to bringing books, free of charge, to under-resourced school libraries and public libraries across the United States. [It] serves the nation’s poorest communities, including inner-city schools, Native American Reservations, and poor rural towns, where the need for books is acute.”

Mazor came to our offices to pick up copies of the remarkable book Resisting Jim Crow: The Autobiography of Dr. John A. McFall donated by our former client and author Lahnice Hollister. This is the featured title of the month in our online shop, Memory Lane Books & Gifts, and we hope you will seek it out! (Scroll down for book feature.) Ms. Hollister is Dr. McFall’s grandniece, and she discovered his manuscript while researching the McFall family history. Feeling his voice has relevance to today’s issues about race in America, she decided to self-publish.

While Modern Memoirs only handled pre-press services for Resisting Jim Crow, it was truly one of the most meaningful projects we’ve been privileged to encounter. We are eager to help it find readers—whether through donations to groups like Reader to Reader, or through sales at our shop. Please see the book photo in the header above for a glimpse of this and other client books we are offering for sale in our online store, and consider making a purchase to support these memoirists and family historians.

In addition to developing the new shop site, we are busy with over a dozen projects currently underway. Waiting in the wings is a roughly equal number of fascinating potential projects. The range of genres and topics covered by these books is vast, promising us the continued rewards of meaningful, creative, stimulating work.

If you are considering submitting a new project to us, we are scheduling our workflow for the coming months and would be delighted to discuss possibilities with you. Reach out today!

Megan St. Marie

President

Recommended Viewing

and Reading in Honor of

Black History Month

As book lovers and history buffs at Modern Memoirs, we often recommend good reads and documentaries to each other. In honor of Black History Month, we are eager to tell everyone about the film Descendant. In this documentary, award-winning filmmaker Margaret Brown returns to her hometown of Mobile, Alabama to document the search for and historic discovery of the Clotilda, the last-known Atlantic-slave-trade ship to arrive in the United States, illegally carrying 110 kidnapped Africans.

Interested in learning more? You can also find Zora Neale Hurston’s Barracoon (pictured below), which features prominently in the documentary, and which tells the true story of one of the last-known survivors of the Clotilda, Cudjoe Lewis.

Films and books like these demonstrate how close we all are to this part of American history in 2023, and how its legacy informs our lives today. We are grateful for their invitations to learn more.

Welcome to Publishing Intern Charlie Mark

We are delighted to host Charlie Mark as our second publishing intern this semester. Charlie is completing high school requirements with LightHouse Holyoke, and we are so grateful for their help as we get settled in our new offices. Read Charlie’s full bio on the Meet the Staff page of our website.

Featured Blog Posts by Our Staff

Red: A V-Day Writing Exercise

By Director of Publishing Ali de Groot

On my way to work on Valentine’s Day I tried to notice everything red. It became a solo game of “I Spy.” I made a list and then thought about each red thing and how it relates to me. Yes, it is possible to see one’s self in everything, even those inanimate relatives....

Read Complete Post Here

New Digital Book Format—Now Available!

by Book Designer Nicole Miller

As a publisher specializing in the creation of heirloom-quality books for our clients, we value fine bookmaking and good materials that will stand the test of time. We also understand that many people like using screen readers, and so we’ve assisted clients with eBook conversion over the years. This month we added a new service to our offerings: digital books.

We are excited to provide this economical and user-friendly alternative to eBook publishing with enhancements that will bring your readers’ experience to the next level. Whether you are a current client who would like to add this option to your services, an intrigued potential client, or a former client who would like to return to us for this option of helping your book reach new readers, we would be delighted to talk with you about the process. For now, a quick overview:

What are digital books?

Digital books are electronic replications of original print books that are readable on any device: desktop, tablet, and mobile phone.

What are some features of digital books?

• No need for eBook devices or special apps to view

• Accurately preserve book layout/design, including captions/photos

• Easy to share and promote with link and QR code

• Economical publishing time and costs

• Enhanced reader experience: active links, embedded videos, pop-up photographs

• Trackable analytics of visitors and reads

• Downloadable PDF

How can I sell my digital book if I wish to do so?

We offer retail through our Modern Memoirs online shop, Memory Lane Books & Gifts, and manage all logistics. You get 50% royalties. We’ll market your book through Modern Memoirs’ channels including our newsletters, social media, email, and printed promotions.

We can also take you through the steps of making your digital book link available for sale on your own website or other digital channels.

413-253-2353

View All Services

February Question: What is your favorite color and why?

Write Your Response Here

Staff responses

Megan St. Marie: Purple, inspired by Alice Walker’s The Color Purple and by lavender, lilacs, lupines, violets, asters, and irises.

Sean St. Marie: Green, for my mom’s Irish heritage and my love of the woods.

Ali de Groot: Depends on the day! I have a nostalgic feeling for the color chartreuse—from one of my mother’s most beautiful dresses. I can still hear her say, “Where’s my chartreuse belt!”

Liz Sonnenberg: Green, the color of spring leaves and renewal.

Nicole Miller: Red. A primary color. It is simply perfect.

Cori Garrett-Goodyear: Today royal blue was the color my eye went to when my daughter asked, “Which nail polish do you want FIRST, Mama?”

Charlie Mark: My favorite color was blue until my younger brother chose the same. I had to switch to green!

Memory Lane Stroll

We’d love to hear your brief personal reflections on the question of the month. Write your response for a chance to be featured in the next edition of our e-newsletter!

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Response to the January question: What is a favorite independent bookstore you’ve visited over the years?

“Amherst Books, the cornerstone of Amherst. Amherst Books sells new and used books, will order any book for you, hosts public readings, is cozy and welcoming...and makes it easy to browse the amazing books currently assigned by (certain) faculty at the local colleges.”

—Kitty Axelson-Berry

This Month’s Featured Title at

Memory Lane Books & Gifts

Resisting Jim Crow: The Autobiography of

Dr. John A. McFall

John McFall was born in Charleston, S.C. in 1878—the year after the disputed South Carolina gubernatorial election that marked the end of Reconstruction in that state. He died in 1954—two months after the Supreme Court’s landmark Brown v. Board of Education school desegregation case handed down on May 17, 1954. This volume, edited by Dr. McFall's grandniece, contains his complete and never-before-published manuscript, in which he eloquently reports on events between those milestones.