The three things Meghan Markle gets wrong about prescriptive memoir in her Netflix show
Or: Things you shouldn't do if you're aiming for brand heritage
Hello!
In just a little bit, I’m going to offer my not so humble opinion on the memoir rules that Meghan Markle breaks with her new Netflix series, “With Love, Meghan,” but first, some exciting news and housekeeping.
I have exciting personal news! You know that novel I’ve been revising so much that I made an in-depth video regarding how and why I was revising it? It just sold at auction to Little Brown!
The deal announcement came out “above the fold” this week in Publishers Lunch, meaning it was one of the top deals of the day. I don’t have the exact publication date yet but it will be summer of 2026 which—in publishing land—is a pretty quick turnaround!
If you’ve been following me for a while, you’ll know that I have been working incredibly hard on this novel, so I’m absolutely thrilled about this news. Thank you for the support and cheerleading that got me to this point! I’m equally excited to share milestones with you as I prep a novel for Big Five publication.
If you’ve been getting responses on the query and submission circuit that your memoir is “beautiful” but there’s “no path to market for it,” listen up: this news is for you. The founders of Third Rail Press personally heard from agents and editors so many times that their memoirs about grief and loss, while beautifully written, were “unpublishable” that they decided to found a press for womens’ stories because they knew (like, knew) that the publishes were wrong. They’re currently raising money via Kickstarter to fund the next three books that they are publishing (I blurbed one of the first books they’re putting out, Blue Hour Homecoming and it’s gorgeous- I adored it). At the time of writing, they are at $22,729 and their goal is 27K by March 17. The rewards for backers are pretty awesome: signed books, workshops on deconstructing drafts, pitching, and publishing, and even a full manuscript edit. Find out more about the press (and donate, if you can!) here. Not only will you be donating to a great cause, you might be donating to the very press that ends up publishing your book!
Regarding your question mark submissions from last week:
Last week, I invited paid subscribers to post the first two paragraphs of their manuscripts and promised to provide feedback regarding the red and green question marks on the first twenty submissions. (You’ll have to read that post to understand the question mark reference.) There were a lot more than twenty submissions, and I highly suggest going back to the post and looking at the suggestions I made to those first entries. It’s thrilling to see the different projects we’re all working on and such fun to read their teasers—without exception, all the entries I commented on made me want to keep on reading. There is great stuff happening in the comments section to that post; congratulations to all who shared and thank you especially to the people who took time to complement others on their writing and their stories. Big gratitude to everyone who joined me in that feedback exercise!
Now on to Meghan Markle.
First of all, a disclaimer. If you admire Meghan Markle, I don’t suggest reading on. While I personally find Meghan Markle a supremely attractive person and think she has elegant taste, she has always bugged the crap out of me. I don’t think it’s necessary for me to explain why, especially because I’m sensitive to the fact that some of you enjoy her, but I do find it necessary to explain why her new show— “With Love, Meghan”—breaks several cardinal rules of prescriptive memoir.
Wait, but “With Love, Meghan” is a TV program, it isn’t a memoir? What are you saying?
What I’m saying is that lifestyle television programs are basically prescriptive memoir in a visual format, thus the rules for the literary medium apply to TV, too.
Accordingly, I’d like to run you through what I think Meghan does wrong in her new series from a memoir point of view so that you wont make the same mistakes in your own nonfiction writing.1 Are you ready? Here we go.
The 3 things Meghan Markle gets wrong about prescriptive memoir in her new Netflix show
