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I asked a similar question on here and am updating a manuscript I initially wrote for a friend six years ago.

I learnt that an autobiography is more like a journal which details accounts in chronological order made up of facts and little intimacy with the writer's own memory, which is what a memoir is. A memoir also focuses on a specific set of memories and may include references to other sources of historical information.

I am calling my book, Finding My Voice, a Memoir, though I don't know if this is accurate, because it combines both elements of an autobiography and a memoir.

The Harmonic Rainbow
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The consensus within the publishing world is to treat autobiography as a top-level genre (any instance where the writer is writing about their own life) and treat memoir as a sub-genre within it.

So if your book includes any specific memories or thematic material, then it would qualify as a memoir. Also, the autobiography label is typically reserved for celebrities or other well-known people. Nonfiction writing about everyday people tends to be classified as memoir.

skippy619
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