ABSTRACT
Heather Armstrong's comment encapsulates the paradigm shift of the early 2000s whereby memoir writing in the form of personal blogs started to increasingly resemble a brand creation endeavor, with online life writing becoming a significant revenue source for a number of authors. Online memoirs gradually changed their scope from self-revelatory, intimate accounts to brand creation exercises. This chapter examines Armstrong's use of two devices inherent to memoirs: self-disclosure and scriptotherapy, or writing as a therapeutic tool. Authenticity represents a pivotal characteristic linked to digital followership, especially in an online environment increasingly dominated by a plethora of voices competing for reader attention. Trust in blogger authenticity and honesty is particularly crucial given that reader perceptions of monetization can be linked to audience defection. Since the early 2000s, Armstrong consistently reiterated the message that honesty represented the core value of her brand.
