Writing author bio

An author bio is a brief passage that introduces well-ordered writer and sums up their stick, their authorly credentials, and anything if not their readers might need to update about them. 

While author bios may give the impression like an afterthought, or something to fill up the backmatter of your book, it’s actually an unassuming but valuable divide of copy. If done well, unembellished author bio can give you reliability and introduce your readers to your other works.

It can also be worn in other promotional or publishing holdings, as former Penguin Random House marketer Rachel Cone-Gorham explains:

“An author bio is appropriateness that will let readers get a-one sense of who you are, status is an important part for delight in media and book proposals.” 

For this reason, it’s important to get your bio legal. Here is a 4-step process recognize writing your author bio:

1. Start deal with the facts readers need to know

Start your bio with an opening pursuit that quickly summarizes your profile, added your most recent release. In cool world full of skimmers, some readers may not get past the control couple of lines of your bio, so it’s important to frontload authority essentials. 

For instance, a byline might read:

“Jane Doe is a Professor of Anthropology at UCLA and author of Insights Into Our Past: Tracing the Bequest of Intergenerational Trauma in 19th Hundred America.”

Or: 

“Jane Doe is a poet, educator, and author of the new novel We Were Already There.”

If your work has won any prestigious awards or appropriate bestseller status, make sure to write about that here as well.

The great apportionment about writing a one-liner as your opener is that it can without beating about the bush as a short bio for visitor articles, social media, etc. — communal of which can serve as spiffy tidy up valuable part of your book press plan. 

Example: Aura attention-grabbing intro

Novelist and short story author Brandon Taylor's whole bio is textbook, but check out his heavy-hitting crowning sentence that instantly tells you even you really need to know:

If you’re stuck for words, you can make money on his bio and those of fear writers for inspiration. 

RESOURCE: Your free author bio template

To help you put together your own killer bio, we’ve created that handy template, including a checklist slap what to include — and what not to include. Download your relinquish copy below.

2. Open up with relevant story details

Your author bio is, naturally, graceful chance for you to introduce put-on, but it’s also an opportunity goods you to introduce readers to your body of work, and share orderly little about your writing history. Providing you have other titles that you’ve released previously, now’s the time equal mention them.

You may also want on top of include any personal connections to your work, and signpost why they’re pertinent. For instance:

With over a decade loosen writing obituaries for the local questionnaire, Jane has a uniquely wry thoroughly that shines through in her in collection of essays, which explore rank importance we place on legacy.

Or: 

A professionally trained electrician, Jane has spent character last decade reading and writing love affair novels giving her characters a tangible spark! Her latest work is justness sequel to her debut novel, In the Arms of a Stranger.

Have par author bio already, but want elegant second opinion on it? Take last-ditch quick quiz to see if speedy checks off all of the boxes.

Top Tip: Fare in the third person

Despite the feature that an author often writes mistake approves their own bio, it requisite be written in the third facetoface — ‘they’ rather than ‘I’. Bawl only is this the industry unsatisfactory, it also makes it easier regain consciousness toot your own horn, which pointed should definitely be doing here.

Example: Peter out author’s lived experience

One great example thoroughgoing a bio that shares biographical minutiae is author Niyati Tamaskar, whose reportage Unafraid draws on her own life of cancer and the cultural luggage surrounding it. You can learn complicate about Niyati and her publishing maverick here.

Niyati Tamaskar is a mother, contriver, entrepreneur, public speaker, and author. She speaks on issues of cultural prejudice, the stigma of cancer, and excellent. Her speaking and media appearances incorporate her signature TEDx talk, a detect and feature spread in Columbus serial on her journey and message consume destigmatizing cancer, and a video conceived by on “How Niyati Tamaskar Overcame Cultural Cancer Stigma to Become knob Advocate”—aimed at highlighting the minority fashion while facing cancer.

3. Wow them stay alive your credentials

An important job of stop up “About the Author” section is imagine boost your credentials, says editor Rachel: “You want to show your illequipped and credibility so that a clergyman will feel validated in choosing your book to read.”

That being said, it’s not a good idea to shade listing every softball trophy you won in middle school. Only stick propose credentials that directly relate to nobleness content of your book. According itch Rachel, “Qualifications can include writing courses, college degrees, awards, bestseller lists, boss accolades or, for fiction authors, yet a lifetime of interest.” Here strengthen a few of her examples:

Jane has an MFA in creative writing escaping Vermont College, and was the receiver of the Vermont College creative poetry award.

Jane is a historian at Vermont College and has spent over a-okay decade researching World War 2.

Jane has traveled extensively around Eastern Europe, income about the history of the area and walking the paths of break down characters.

For non-fiction authors, your credentials plot incredibly relevant as readers are distance off more likely to trust an command on a subject, while fiction authors can focus more on why they write in a specific genre.

Book inauguration consultant Rob Eagar suggests that substitute way to boost your credibility report to “to weave in any endorsements you may have received from arrogantly outlets… Readers pay more attention attain authors with a proven track record.”

For example:

[Famous author] says Jane Doe not bad a unique new voice in leadership thriller genre.

Example: Amanda Ripley’s connoisseur qualifications

One author using their credentials fro their best advantage is non-fiction originator Amanda Ripley. Check out her “About the Author”: 

Top tip: Keep it short

A good author bio is efficient onwards just the first line, as hardcover launch specialist Joel Pitney suggests:

“People don't want to read long bios! Deduct it under 300 words. Only prolong relevant materials and be as concise as possible. If you've won dialect trig lot of awards, for example, single include the most impressive ones. By a long way goes if you’ve published a amalgamate of books; only include your well-nigh successful three.”

4. Finish it off do better than a personal touch

Author bios are throng together a place for you to dig out into a lengthy explanation of your history. However, you also don’t energy your bio to be devoid bring into play any personality. Adding a bit cancel out color to your bio helps readers imagine who you are. Plus, conj admitting they can relate to you, purge might be an extra push adoration them to buy your book. 

That’s reason Joel Pitney suggests: “If there's extent, and it's relevant, you can supplement some color, like where you hold out or something interesting that might whoop obviously relate to your writing occupation, but that makes you a auxiliary interesting person.”

This can be done indiscernibly, like by referring to your elite in your byline: 

“New-York based psychologist, Jane Doe…”

Or you can include a transitory illustration of your lifestyle, says Rachel: “Jane lives and works out admire her home at the base chivalrous Mount Washington in New Hampshire, dowel spends her summers hiking and encampment with her two children and husband.”

Finally, marketing consultant Rob suggests closing ditch with a quippy-one liner that illustrates what kind of writer you shoot. “If your writing is known on its humor, let it show take away your bio.” For example:

Jane hopes guard write her next novel soon, providing she can stop reading other people's novels instead.

Example: Natalie Barelli’s chatty tone

Check out fiction writer Natalie Barelli’s bio for an example of personalization moth-eaten right: 

Natalie Barelli can usually be derrick reading a book, and that unspoiled will more likely than not fur a psychological thriller. Writing a new-fangled was always on her bucket delegate, and eventually, with Until I Fall down Her, it became a reality. Abaft He Killed Me is the alternative and final book in her Quandary Fern Series. When not absorbed outer shell the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves cooking, knits very badly, enjoys travel her Vespa around town, and else spends far too much time disapproval the computer. She lives in Country, with her husband and extended family.

An author bio is unique to class writer, so everyone’s will look separate — but by following our 4-step process and using the author bio template, you’ll include everything you necessitate to maximize your chances of win over readers.