If you’re like many authors, you can write a 100k+ word book no problem, but there are two short pieces you might face with dread: the book’s blurb and the author bio. Condensing a complex story into a couple of paragraphs can feel like torture, but most of us would still choose that over writing about ourselves. Ugh! Because it can feel like such a painful endeavor, here we focus on the latter: writing a killer author bio. Hopefully, this helps you avoid some of those pain points and inspires you to focus on yours.
First Off – What Is an Author Bio?
If you are new to publishing, you may be asking, “What even is an author bio???” You may be more familiar with the phrase “About the Author,” which you see on the back cover or inside flap of some books or in the interior, usually at the back. It’s two to three paragraphs, 100-300 words, about you as an author and a person. Your bio provides facts and details that convince your target reader that they want to read your book. It’s more important than to simply drop a few lines to go on the “About the Author” page.
Why a Powerful Author Bio Matters
The author bio is part of your author branding and book marketing toolbox, an important piece in your author marketing strategy. It’s included with queries to agents and publishers, introducing you to potential industry contacts. It goes on your author profile pages on book retailer sites, on your own website, in press releases and as part of your media kit. It gets attached to articles you write, read or included in the description for podcasts you’re on as a guest, and shared in many other ways throughout your author career. Especially for non-fiction, it answers the question: “Why should I trust this person with this topic?”
The author bio has two main audiences: professional and readers. Industry and other professional contacts want to know who you are as an “expert,” and a strong author bio focuses on the facts to show that you know what you’re talking about. This is especially true for non-fiction books, but applies to fiction authors, too.
As an obvious example, a proven track-record of writing bestselling and award-winning science fiction will convince an agent, publisher, media outlet, or reader that you can be trusted to deliver a compelling sci-fi story. What if you don’t have those credentials, though? Consider your work, educational background, and significant life experiences that contribute to your wealth of knowledge about the science and technology used in your book. As another example, for a romance writer, maybe it’s your understanding of human psychology and relationships, an unusual background or experience in regards to romance and love, or your personal familiarity with the setting. These kinds of details help show other professionals that you’re coming from a place of wisdom and experience.
An author bio written specifically for readers, especially for fiction authors, may be more personable and conversational than one for industry contacts. Readers also want to know that they can trust you to take them on an exciting adventure, and awards and bestseller letters may help convince them of that, but mostly they want to know you. Readers who feel like they can relate to you as a person are more likely to buy your books – now and in the future.
Bottom line: a strong author bio is part of your author brand and helps sell more books.
Tips for Writing an Author Bio That Stands Out
1. Know Your Audience and Write for the Right One
As stated above, your author bio will be read by both professional contacts and potential readers. Depending on your genre and how much connecting with industry professionals and the media you plan to do, you may want to write separate bios for each of these – or you may be fine with just one. This is part of knowing your audience and targeting it specifically.
The other part is your genre. Readers of self-help or a how-to instructional book want to know your professional credentials as much as an agent, publisher, or media outlet does to ensure you’re the right one to teach this subject. On the other hand, fantasy or young adult fiction readers, for example, tend to be more interested in knowing you as a person, someone they would want to be friends with, rather than your education and work background. Readers love a good story, and this one is about you. It’s important to know what your genre’s readers expect in an author bio and deliver that to them.
2. Write a Strong Hook & Frontload the Most Important Information
Introduce yourself with an intriguing hook that grabs the reader’s attention and keep it by including the most important and relevant details about you in the first few sentences. In today’s fast-paced world, this may be all that the reader sees before skimming the rest – or moving on to something else. Knowing how to hook the reader and what is most important goes back to knowing your audience and targeting your bio to their needs and desires.
Put yourself in their shoes and ask yourself what they would find most interesting about you that also builds trust in you to deliver the book they want and need. A reader who’s searching for information about sustainable living may not care that you met the love of your life while following a rock band on a world tour, but a romance reader may be hooked by that fact. That same reader will care much less about your degree in science and engineering, but the former one might be sold by it.
Know what the reader of the bio is looking for and include that upfront.
3. Expand With Relevant Credentials
Once you’ve hooked the reader and pulled them in with the most relevant facts, expand on your writing and subject credentials. What other works have you written? Where have your writings been featured? Have you been honored with any awards or other recognition? Just be careful not to overload the reader. Even for the professional case use, you don’t need to list every single accomplishment you’ve achieved in your lifetime.
4. Get Personal
Be sure to include a few details about you as a person. It’s important that others know you as a real human being, not just a name and list of achievements. This can include a tidbit about your family, where you live, your upbringing, your favorite foods, your pets, your travels, your other interests besides writing or the topic you cover, weird quirks…the only limit is what you feel comfortable sharing. You can keep it vague (e.g., Jane Doe lives in the Pacific Northwest with her partner and a houseful of two- and four-legged children…) or make it specific (e.g., Growing up in Key West, Florida, as the only child of a fisherman and an exotic dancer…). You don’t have to give your entire life story, but just enough for readers to find interesting and connect with you as a human and not another name on the screen.
5. Mind Your Tone
Your author bio doesn’t have to be dry and monotone. In fact, the tone of your bio should reflect the tone of your writing. If your books include humor, be sure to inject some into your author bio. If you write romance, lead your readers into falling in love with you with romantic word choices. Don’t be afraid to use relevant jargon and vernacular – as long as your readers will also know it. Being a little colorful with your verbiage also helps make your author bio more personal.
6. Be Prepared With More Than One Version
As mentioned above, you will likely want more than one version of your author bio to target different audiences. You might also consider having available different lengths. About the Author pages in books and sections on most retailer sites may vary from 100-300 words. Media outlets, author conferences, and others might only allow 50-100 words, though. On the other end of the spectrum, you may want to go into more of your story on your own website’s About page to more deeply connect with your visitors, and here, the sky is the limit (as long as the bio remain engaging). At bare minimum, prepare a short version (under 100 words) in addition to your standard author bio to keep in your branding kit, so you’re ready at a moment’s notice to share it when requested.
Your author bio plays an important role in your book marketing and author branding. While many of us would much rather have a root canal than write about ourselves, it’s not something to quickly pound out without thought and intention. If it helps, take the perspective of a reader who’s writing about a favorite author. Consider what’s most interesting about this person, add the relevant supporting details, and write it in third person, keeping it short and poignant. Voila! You have an author bio. Finally, be sure to keep it updated when you have something new to add or change. So now…tell us about yourself.
