Publishers frequently put the foreword authors name on the cover, sometimes more prominently than the name of the books author. This bio page is made in three colors that work together wonderfully white, red and black. You may also consider adding a line about your immediate family. Sell more books with a kickass amazon book page author marketing experts, inc. There her father, the screenwriter lorenzo semple, jr. When you submit stories, poems and articles to print publications, most will ask for a short autobiography. Writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a wellcrafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. In this article youll find 12 short author bio examples for your nonfiction book and youll also learn the 6 steps that are instrumental in creating a bio thats. You may find that a single bio is not enough for the same book. But as always, leave the personal details for a short and friendly mention at the end of the bio. After you receive the feedback, edit your bio as needed. A biography is simply an account of someones life written by another person. But when you include this information on createspace, it.
Your books author bio tells potential readers who you are, and why they should trust you and buy your book. What you include should focus on who you are as a writer, not what youd share in your personal facebook or twitter profile. The back cover bio is a chance to impress a potential reader, while the inside bio is often the last impression made on a. Its important for indie authors to know how to write an author bio that tells readers. After working as a freelance newspaper writer for many regional. Jul 12, 2010 the author bio in your cover or query letter should be goodand while this article stresses the importance of having strong publication credits, its not unheard of that a writer with no experience and a weak author bio will gain national attention. See all 2 formats and editions hide other formats and editions. Be sure to let me know if i missed any this should be on this list. Visit amazon author central, click on your book, and add it in the about the author section or if you published a paperback version of your book on createspace, you can enter the bio in the author biography section for your book. Sample book hardcover july 3, 2006 by sample author author, sample editor, illustrator 5. Within only one page, author vince frost leverages a strong use of graphic design to capture interest. A sample contract agreement between an author and a book cover designer im not a fan of contracts or anything binding, or closing doors, or other apersonality stuff.
Theyd walk off with a copy of the book based on the bio. Its an invigorating feeling, receiving ones first acceptance letter from an editor. Writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a wellcrafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so. Just be sure that the author bio in your query or cover letter is professional, succinct. Its something that will let readers get a sense of who you are, and is an important part for pitching media and book proposals, sums up marketer. You should regularly maintain your bio on places like your bookbub author profile so fans and potential readers seeking you out can learn more about you and why they should pick up your latest book. How to write an author bio that will help you sell more books. That said, its crucial to get the about the author right. A simple system to transform any business from a casheating monster to a moneymaking machine. Some authors choose one or the other, though i recommend taking advantage of both.
Here are some reallife author bios that combine most or all of the tips above. Quite often, i will find agents who request i send both my query and an author bio and several other things. For longer bios, follow the same basic rules, but go into a bit more depth about your work, your education, and your future projects or interests. A sample contract agreement between an author and a book. Title the page about the author use the template below to guide your work as you write about yourself. You must prepare an author bio to knock the editors socks off. For nonfiction, establishing yourself as an expert and differentiating your book from the others written about the same topic will help sell your book. For firsttime indie authors, writing a compelling author bio can be difficult. About the author examples that youll actually want to read weve all heard the cliche that writers have big egos so it makes sense that theres a section in every book where youre required to talk about the author meaning yourself. Title the page about the author use the template below to guide your work as you write about yourself as an author. If youre writing a nonfiction book proposal, then your author bio has to highlight your nonwriting experience on the topic. Taking a humorous approach to the realities of being a writer, the chapters in lamotts book are wry and anecdotal and offer advice on everything from plot development to jealousy, from perfectionism to struggling. This article will cover both what you need to include in your author bio and some examples of tight professional bios.
I am a dreamer and bestselling author and this is the official twitter feed for my book ive written. She has more than 25 years of writing, teaching, and social work experience. For example, an authors bio on a book jacket often mentions past writing accomplishments, whereas an athletes bio on a team website often mentions the persons height and weight. For a powerful bio that gets results, it needs to be customized for the book. But, many people asked for an easy to follow template, and this is what we use with our authors.
How to write a terrific author bio rachelle gardner. Nov 16, 2017 a good author bio introduces your potential reader to you and also helps search engines pull your author website more easily by using keywordrich descriptions when you enter your book metadata. Learn to write an attractive author bio by following the six rules of author biographies and our breaks down of two professional sample bios. An authors page, or authors bio, is typically located at the end of a book and is meant to tell readers a little about the author of the book. Mar 23, 2017 an author s page, or author s bio, is typically located at the end of a book and is meant to tell readers a little about the author of the book. This post showcases the best personalbranded book author websites on the market today. Find the top 100 most popular items in amazon books best sellers. Here are a few author bio examples, with quick explanations of why they work. The only rule for an author bio, and its more of a guideline, is to make sure you are writing an author bio. How to write a bio for your blog that makes you look smart. Not only is it useful to know what you need to include in an author bio, it is also useful to see examples of how your vital information should look. How to write a good academic biography enago academy. But at the end of that email, youll usually realize they want you to. It takes a long time to read a book, but its very easy to make a snap judgment based on a short paragraph, and most people do that.
How to write an author bio that sells books ben zackheim. Discover the best author biographies in best sellers. Oct 22, 2015 writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a wellcrafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. Id show the book to people at book fairs and signing events, and theyd flip the book over, read the bio, and laugh. Her blogs get an average of 70,000 unique visitors per day over 2,000,000 unique page views a month. Aug 09, 2018 a wellexecuted author bio will intrigue potential readers and entice them to buy your book. The third example shows how part of the back cover copy the author bio, in this case can show up on the inside flap of a hard cover book. You are a writer, so why cant you be a little more inventive with your subject matter. What began as a grad school hobby is now a top food blog, with millions of readers coming to her site for easy.
Jan 16, 2017 this post showcases the best personalbranded book author websites on the market today. Famous person says, jane doe writes books that you wont be able to put down. So, weve provided the hints, tips and instructions. The short biographies explain a persons basic life facts and their importance, but the long biographies would go. Thankfully for me, my daughter and soninlaw, both writers, arrived just in time to open a bottle of wine, ask some great questions and slash away at my blog bio. I prefer the new version, and it also ended up being a third smaller, which is good putting the old and new side by side i much prefer the new one, and. The author photo is cheeky and suits well with the style. If youre afraid the above sentence may describe you, well, dont be too hard on yourself. Writing an author bio examples of professional bios. However, as this is my first novel and i dont have much writing credentials, writingspecific education, or publication credits, i dont want to write a pathetic bio that points to the fact that i am inexperienced. We give you everything you need to know in order to make an informed decision about the novels value, while adding to your enjoyment once you decide the novel is a. Publishers frequently put the foreword author s name on the cover, sometimes more prominently than the name of the book s author. May 28, 20 this bio page is made in three colors that work together wonderfully white, red and black.
Please welcome author nicolas frame with some good advice on writing your first author bio. A biography can be short in the case of few sentences biography, and it can also be long enough to fill an entire book. Get more helpful free book marketing information in the build book buzz email newsletter. Consider the following two examples of author bio introductory. How to write your first author bio writing forward. Reading is an intimate endeavor in which the reader and the author are engaged in. Its how readers get to know you beyond the pages of your book. About the author examples that youll actually want to read. Chungah rhee is the founder, recipe developer, and photographer of damn delicious. A wellexecuted author bio will intrigue potential readers and entice them to buy your book. I am the author of this or that book, and i am a word wrangler.
With fiction books, you can get away with a single bio for multiple books, but not with nonfiction. How to write a memorable author bio with template reedsy. If anyone reaches the amazon page thinking the author will have an overly aggressive or arrogant approach, the bio a fabulous combination of humor. How to write an author bio page book edits by jessi.
How to write an authors page for a book pen and the pad. An effective author bio is short and highlights basic professional information about the author. Your bio can be witty or straightforwardly informational, and the tone you take will be informed by both your personality and the author brand you are. Novelists will rarely depend on the bio to sell the book, but as book launch specialist joel pitney suggests. Laurie created the she blossoms blog series in 2008 and has been writing fulltime since then. Murder, fraud, and the last trial of harper lee casey cep.
Just the other day i was asked how to write a bio by a fellow writer on twitter. Dont focus on the fact that you have no publishing experience. Composing a professional writing bio for a cover letter or query letter is difficult, whether youre a new writer with no publication credits, a midlevel writer with significant publications, or a professional writer. For business the short bio can sometimes be more important than whats actually in the bookthe sad but true reality is that more people will read your author bio than your actual book. Literary agents look to author bios to ascertain whether writers are dedicated craftspeople or wellintentioned amateurs.
Write the bio for the site where it will live, and mention your reading interests. While its often okay to add a few extraneous details, they should not make up the majority of your bio. Keeping a few key ideas in mind can make the process a lot easierand the results more successful. Lamotts book offers honest advice on the nature of a writing life, complete with its insecurities and failures. This brief statement shares your credentials, education, past. As ive advised before, you should dig into the online store that youre selling on. Jul 07, 2011 your author bio isnt an encyclopedia entry. Hes best known for writing science fiction, including the new york times bestseller redshirts, which won the hugo award for best novel. Your author bio will continue to change as you work on new projects and build your cv. All about the author take a photo booth pic of yourself, slide it to the desktop. Keep it brief your books author bio page should be shortjust two or three brief paragraphs. Theres a right way and wrong way to do this, so lets take a look. How to write an amazing author bio book marketing for.
Along with an impressive cover letter and query, your manuscript must include an author bio. How to write the perfect author bio for your books query letter. How to write an author bio to accompany your byline. Create a compelling author bio with this formula mill city press. How to write a first time authors autobiography synonym. John scalzi writes books, which, considering where youre reading this, makes perfect sense. Reeves looks simple but has all the useful and interesting information one might look for. As an already established author, you have probably saved your bio in a file, updating it as you go. Here is a great blog post from rachelle gardner about how to write a terrific author bio. Nonfiction short author bio examples cascadia author services. Youre writing the author bio page for your book, and are unsure what should go there and what shouldnt. In fact, writing your author bio for your books query letter might have you scratching.
When writing a book, there are two potential places to include your author bio. Pop the champagne cork, and put a party hat on your cat. While all five of these tips will help you make a better bio, tips 2 and 3 are the best advice for how to write an author bio that sells books. Im not saying its the very best way to write an author bio, in fact, many of the best examples below do not fit this template. Feb 01, 2020 for example, an author s bio on a book jacket often mentions past writing accomplishments, whereas an athletes bio on a team website often mentions the persons height and weight. Book summary and author bio on the back of the book. By benjamin graham and david dodd, features the foreword author over the books actual authors. W, is the author of growing forward when you cant go back. By benjamin graham and david dodd, features the foreword author over the. The bio you write today will look completely different in five years time.
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