Editing Memoir (section)

==Memoirs today==
In the early 1990s, memoirs written by ordinary people experienced a sudden upsurge, as an increasing number of people realized that their [[Ancestor|ancestors']] and their own stories were about to disappear, in part as a result of the opportunities and distractions of technological advances. At the same time, [[psychology]] and other research began to show that familiarity with [[genealogy]] helps people find their place in the world and that life review helps people come to terms with their own past.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Ledoux |first1=Denis |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=QDUoXUx1UfIC |title=Turning Memories Into Memoirs: A Handbook for Writing Lifestories |publisher=Writer |year=2006 |isbn=978-0974277349 }}</ref> The popularity of the memoir field was also helped by the emergence of social media platforms, as people started writing down and sharing their personal stories to large audiences.

With the advent of inexpensive [[Self-publishing|digital book production]] in the first decade of the 21st century,<ref>{{cite book |last1=Henke |first1=Harold |url=https://archive.org/details/electronicbookse0000henk |url-access=registration |title=Electronic Books and ePublishing: A Practical Guide for Authors |publisher=Springer Science & Business Media |year=2001 |isbn=978-1852334352 |access-date=2014-12-12 }}</ref> the [[Literary genre|genre]] exploded. Memoirs written as a way to pass down a personal legacy, rather than as a literary work of art or historical document, are emerging as a personal and family responsibility.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Balzer |first1=Paula |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=cCBjDwAAQBAJ |title=Writing & Selling Your Memoir: How to Craft Your Life Story So That Somebody Else Will Actually Want to Read It |publisher=Writer |year=2011 |isbn=978-1599631356 |access-date=2019-08-28 }}</ref>

The [[Association of Personal Historians]] was a trade association for professionals who assisted individuals, families, and organizations in documenting their life stories.<ref>{{cite news |last=Wright |first=Chris |title=Ordinary people |work=[[The Phoenix (newspaper)|The Phoenix]] |publisher=Phoenix Media/Communications Group |date=2002-01-17 }}</ref> It dissolved in 2017.