Only a small percentage of writers who say they'd like to tell their personal story in the form of a memoir ever actually write the book. And of those who do finish the manuscript and get it published, a smaller percentage are willing to do what it takes to make sure that book sells; they won't promote it.

Aspiring memoirists—or writers in any category—actually can write and promote their book at the same time, thus creating the platform, or fan base, they need to produce successful books. How do they accomplish this? By blogging their memoirs, or composing them a post at a time in cyberspace. As they do so, they will not only get their books written, they will create a fan base of readers ready to purchase the finished books. Enough books sold equates to a bestseller, or at least to a successful book. Not only that, enough readers to a blog—and enough attention from those readers—might attract an agent or publisher and a publishing deal.

Want to blog your memoir? As with any memoir, a blogged memoir requires that you:

• Choose a significant time period to write about.
• Decide if it the story is marketable.
• Determine if your story offers benefit to readers.

If your story contains these elements, you are ready to blog your memoir. To do so, chunk down the steps you would normally take to write a memoir into post-sized steps.

1. Create a timeline of all the events that happened during the time period you want to include in your memoir.
2. Decide which are the most important ones—the ones you will include.
3. Decide on the less important ones that support the more important ones and which, therefore, should also be included.
4. Make a list of two or three themes that will run through your book, and then describe them in detail.
5. Go through each vignette you plan to include in the book and determine how one or more of the themes plays into that event. In other words, map out your themes.
6. Make a list of the characters in your book. Determine how they play into your themes and into your main character's development.
7. On your timeline, mark the main climatic moments. Where is the plot rising and falling?
8.  Based on your work in step #7, delineate the starting and stopping points for blog posts. (Keep in mind, you will be writing in short pieces, preferably 500 words at most; you may need to lengthen your posts to 1,000 words to fit in a whole scene or to make a better transition.)
9. Begin writing your memoir in a word document, post by post, day by day.
10. Each time you write an "installment," post it to your blog.

As you publish your daily or weekly posts, you'll promote your book and get your memoir written at the same time—especially if you also share them on your social networks.

Want to learn more about blogging a memoir? Join Nina Amir for a free National Association of Memoir Writers (NAMW) Roundable discussion with NAMW President and Founder Linda Joy Myers on Thursday, July 12, 2012, at 4 p.m. PT/7 p.m. ET. Register here: http://www.namw.org/resources/july_2012_roundtable/