Write your memoir.
Unlock your truth.
The world’s first memoir program that combines a therapeutic approach with the expertise of New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling memoirists.
The world’s first memoir program that combines a therapeutic approach with the expertise of New York Times & Wall Street Journal bestselling memoirists.
Benefit from our decades of experience coaching and editing thousands of writers.
From initial concept to final manuscript, follow a clear roadmap that adapts to your unique creative process and pace.
Join a community of fellow writers committed to exploring their truths and sharing their challenges and celebrations.
Mine the depth of your story through a developmental chapter review and a full manuscript edit, customized to your needs and goals.
Weigh the benefits of possible publishing paths and get introduced to qualified professionals if you choose to publish.
Everyone’s story develops at its own pace, and you’ll have access to expert coaching, community, and resources for as long as your memoir takes.
Start by submitting your application to join the Tell Your Story Memoir Academy. We'll review your details and schedule a consultation to ensure our program works for you.
If you’re selected and choose to attend, your journey begins with a two-day intensive Zoom workshop to start you on your memoir. Led by Tucker and Emily, you’ll come out of the workshop with a vision for your book, a clear sequence you’ll write from, and knowledge of how to write your story and mine your truth.
Directly after the workshop, you’ll get your first of your quarterly coaching calls with Tucker and Emily to ensure your path is clear and you can start writing confidently.
Most writers don’t understand the value of a supportive community until they’ve gotten into the hardest parts of their memoir writing. With biweekly coaching calls and a group chat, you’ll connect with Tucker, Emily and the memoir community to get coaching through challenges and questions as you explore your truth.
Regardless of what issues you face along your memoir journey, we have resources beyond individual or community help to get you past them. Every aspect of memoir writing is covered in resources housed on our community platform so you can access lessons as you need them.
When you’re ready for feedback on your work, you’ll submit a chapter for review and Tucker or Emily will give clear feedback on how to shape and deepen your writing.
One of the most important and personal decisions in memoir is how and where you'll share your story. Tucker or Emily will guide you on a publishing consultation call to help you decide whether you’ll share your story, and how. From there we’ll craft a tailored editing and publishing approach and introduce you to professionals to bring your book into the world.
When you're ready for a professional edit, Tucker or Emily will review your book for structure, flow, depth, and clarity—all customized for your publishing path.
If you choose to publish, Tucker and Emily will guide you through what to expect and tell you exactly what to do. This assistance might include introduce you to the designers, project managers, and book agents who can bring your book to print; we’ll help with whatever you need.
Access to world-class coaching and editing, authentic community, and resources for every step of exploring your story—for as long as you’re writing it.
For unique needs and clients Emily & Tucker
are available to ghostwrite your memoir.
The most famous memoir programs are taught by professional writers whose goal is to teach you how to be just like them. While there’s nothing wrong with that, most people who want to tell their story don’t care about being a career writer—they care about getting their truth into a memoir. These are completely different skills. We focus on teaching you how to write your best possible memoir, without worrying about status signaling as a professional writer.
Craft is important, but craft is secondary to the emotional journey of uncovering and writing your truth. In fact, focusing on craft can cause you to avoid or hide your truth behind “fancy” writing. We teach you to face your truth directly, and write about it clearly. When you take full responsibility for your past and the meaning you’ve made of it, memoir becomes a powerful tool of transformation.
Memoir writing is distinctly different from any other form of writing. If you haven’t written your own memoir, you can’t help someone through the whole process because you haven’t been through it. Coaches who have written their own memoir have done the necessary work to hold space for themselves—and thus they can hold space for others who are encountering the same big emotions, fears, and challenges. Memoir can’t be taught in the abstract; it can only be taught from experience.
“They were crucial in getting my story out of me”
I've been referring to Emily as my 'book doula.' I felt very supported by Emily's unwavering presence and guidance through the highs and the lows of the creation process.
“Tell your story the way you've never told it before”
I can't think of a better duo than Emily and Tucker. Both bring completely different incredible energies and styles to the table, like fire and water. You will 100% be braver in your writing and 10x kinder with yourself if you work with Tucker and Emily.
“Best book writing experience I've ever had”
Tucker Max has written 3 memoirs that hit #1 on the NYT bestseller list and have sold over 4 million copies.
Emily Gindlesparger has written her own memoir and ghostwritten 15 others, including WSJ bestsellers.
We've edited or ghostwritten many well-known memoirs, including
David Goggins and Tiffany Haddish,
and coached thousands more authors like you.
You’re paying for world-class memoir coaching, and you get it from world-class memoirists themselves. You’ll have a minimum of quarterly one-on-one coaching calls, twice-monthly group coaching calls, and access to individual and personalized attention from Tucker and Emily through chat and email anytime you need.
We see memoir as a therapeutic process (but not a replacement for therapy). Writing is a therapeutic tool, and we teach you to use it to process and articulate painful memories in a safe and supportive environment. This method can often lead to healing—and a greater understanding of yourself.
Both Tucker and Emily are very experienced with many forms of trauma and trauma healing modalities, and they bring this expertise to memoir. In short, we’ve worked through a lot of our shit—and we know how to hold space for you while you work through yours.
One of the greatest fears in writing memoir is rejection. We lead by example, sharing the vulnerable parts of uncovering our truths. We accept ourselves as much as we can, and extend the same acceptance to everyone in the community.
Within the academy, you're surrounded by peers with a common cause and shared challenges, who understand the difficulties of memoir writing. You’ll see others break through blocks that seem insurmountable to you—and they can support you as you join them.
You control how deep you go into your past and your truth, with guidance on how to approach sensitive memories without overwhelming yourself. Tucker and Emily support you in navigating these decisions.
Tucker and Emily have coached thousands of people through their books. They have seen, dealt with, and overcome every obstacle you will face (and they’ve helped people who are more stubborn and afraid than you).
Tucker and Emily share their rough drafts with you in their raw and unvarnished truth, so you can see even the most accomplished memoirists in the world are going through the same challenges you are.
One of the anchors of our proven process is an algorithm that guides your writing. It ensures that you always know what to write next—even if you’re feeling uncertain or afraid to go there.
We don’t teach “fancy” writing. Craft matters, but it’s secondary to truth. We teach you how use craft as a tool to make your truth clear and compelling—no fussing over writing “rules” you don’t want to learn.
The academy offers a proven process with milestones and regular check-ins to keep you on track. This framework helps prevent common pitfalls like losing momentum or direction.
Discover how our program has transformed
In addition to our own memoirs, we’ve personally ghostwritten over 25 memoirs, edited hundreds, and coached thousands of memoirists.
Connect with peers who understand the bravery it takes to write honestly and vulnerably.
Learn from fellow writers as they develop their raw memories into powerful memoirs.
Immerse yourself in an environment where people are practicing the habits you want to build—from daily writing to speaking your truth boldly.
If you're ready to tell yourself the truth of your lifeand make a space to be seen (if only by you)—this is where to start.
Apply NowGet our guide for how to know when you're ready to write a memoir — an expert overview.
You know you want to write your memoir—you’re just waiting for the right time and the right mentors. Here are some of the common questions people ask as they find the right fit.
No. We know that great, powerful writing comes from sharing your truth in clear, simple language. "Fancy" writing techniques can distract or obscure your truth. We teach that truth comes first, and writing craft is simply a tool to make your truth clear. We've coached authors with neurodivergence, authors who have English as a second language, and authors who grew up with school shame around their writing. Every one of them produced powerful writing, in their voice, by focusing on their truth first.
Most memoir programs focus on two things: 1) writing craft and 2) external publishing goals, like promoting a personal brand or selling books. We know how to do and coach these things, but we're even more interested in a deeper purpose: to tell the truth of our lives and uncover the meaning of our personal stories. Memoir writing is therapeutic. We know that when we go all-in on self-discovery and self-acceptance, we bring out the most powerful stories in us. And as a pleasant side effect, the stories that are most powerful for us are the most powerful for readers, too.
This depends entirely on how long it takes you to fully explore the story within you. We've had authors who came into the program knowing exactly what they wanted to write and what it meant to them, and they knocked out a first draft in four months. Other authors take years. There is no time limit to this program; we're here for you for as long as you're writing your book.
With our therapeutic focus, we know you can get the full benefits of writing your memoir even if you never share it with anyone. While you're in the group, you'll never be pressured to share more than you want to. As you finish your writing and think about whether you'll share your book, we teach three paths forward: no release (meaning you only write for yourself and never publish), private print (meaning you print copies for specific people but don't make your memoir widely available), and public publishing (meaning you release your book for the world). We'll help you find the choice that's best for you.
Yes. We'll fully support any publishing path you choose. You can publish through our Tell Your Story imprint, where we'll take care of everything you need from design to launch. If you want to self-publish, we'll refer you to project managers, designers, proofreaders, and any other professionals you need. If you want to get a traditional deal, we'll connect you with agents and industry pros who can help.
From working with thousands of authors and writing our own memoirs, we know that some challenges are writing problems; others are emotional challenges. We know how to work with all of it. Whether you're wrestling with your structure, struggling to get to the core meaning of your stories, or afraid of what you'll reveal to yourself or others, we've been there. We built a proven process so you always know what to do next, and our coaching and community are powerful supports available to you anytime, so you're never alone in what you're facing.
The fear of your writing not being good stems from an assumption you'll publish it some day. We teach you to strip that assumption away: don't decide whether to publish until after you've written your memoir. If you aren't (yet) planning to publish, what's "good" to other people no longer matters—what matters is your truth. If you do decide to publish, focusing on truth first will set you up for a good book, or even a great one. No one can turn away from you sharing your raw truth. And of course, you have NYT and WSJ bestselling editors to support your writing.
The program is $25k. We also offer ghostwriting services starting at $150k.
Your memoir is done when you've uncovered what you needed from your stories. You decide when you finish, and we're here with you until you do.
If you're ready to tell yourself the truth about your life, you're ready for this memoir program. Your truth is a record of what happened to you, how you felt, and what it meant. You don't have to know the answers before you begin. You just need the curiosity to uncover them. You may have fears about diving into your truth—that's normal and we know how to help you through them. You don't need to have your fears conquered before you begin; you just need the willingness to develop the courage you'll need to tell your story.
info@tellyourstory.academy
