Author Type #3: Inspirational Survivor
You’ve been through a crucible.
Your gauntlet might have been physical, psychological, emotional—or all three. Now, you are a survivor. Your experience changed you, and it has the power to change others. You feel compelled to share your story, not only to help others in situations like yours but also to connect to readers who will be inspired by who you are, what you have come through, and what you learned about being human.
Chris Hunter has been through it, and then some. He grew up in a clannish, chaotic family in Youngstown, Ohio knowing how to throw a punch and how to take one, too. A born hustler, he sold counterfeit watches to his high school teachers, drugs to his classmates and, when he was in college, parties to other students. Through grit and bullheadedness he and two partners built a company that, within three years, was selling $100 million worth of a potent alcohol-and-caffeine drink. They almost lost everything to a federal investigation, then fell to fighting among themselves.
And that’s only the beginning of the story he tells in Blackout Punch.
Chris represents one of my favorite categories of author: the Inspirational Survivor. One of the best-known examples of this genre is former Navy SEAL and ultra-athlete David Goggins, whose books I edited. Another is Cheryl Strayed, who made a huge splash with her memoir Wild. Inspirational survivors show us something about the human spirit.
They have been tested and lived to tell the tale.
We read these books with a sense of awe and respect and in the process we learn something about ourselves. The very best of them go raw and deep, where they find a vital connection with readers.
Pulling this honesty out of authors is one of the most gratifying things I do as an editor and ghostwriter.
For Inspirational Survivors, the process of writing and publishing their story can be cathartic. It is a way of telling the world that they endured, and indeed that they are stronger and better than before. There can be a subtle element of defiance to the act of writing.
Inspirational Survivor books have the potential to appeal to broad audiences. They tell deeply human stories that touch on universal themes, and can achieve notable sales numbers. For instance, I’m presently writing a manuscript with a Black woman who suffers from a rare chronic disease. Her story is not simply about her struggle, but an opportunity to teach other chronic disease sufferers, particularly women of color, how to navigate the American healthcare system to get the care they deserve.
