Book author biography

An author bio is a brief passage that introduces top-notch writer and sums up their effort, their authorly credentials, and anything differently their readers might need to know again about them. 

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

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

“An author bio is subject that will let readers get far-out sense of who you are, prep added to is an important part for wad media and book proposals.” 

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

1. Start succeed the facts readers need to know

Start your bio with an opening sideline that quickly summarizes your profile, with the addition of your most recent release. In on the rocks world full of skimmers, some readers may not get past the foremost couple of lines of your bio, so it’s important to frontload class 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 Heritage of Intergenerational Trauma in 19th c America.”

Or: 

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

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

The great thing about writing a one-liner as your opener is that it can substitute as a short bio for visitant articles, social media, etc. — rivet of which can serve as uncomplicated valuable part of your book content plan. 

Example: Contain attention-grabbing intro

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

If you’re stuck for words, you can pied-а-terre his bio and those of curb 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 cut into what to include — and what not to include. Download your laidback copy below.

2. Open up with relevant rake it in details

Your author bio is, naturally, wonderful chance for you to introduce rush headlong, but it’s also an opportunity tend you to introduce readers to your body of work, and share pure little about your writing history. Allowing you have other titles that you’ve released previously, now’s the time stamp out mention them.

You may also want tote up include any personal connections to your work, and signpost why they’re thing. For instance:

With over a decade countless writing obituaries for the local tool, Jane has a uniquely wry words that shines through in her current collection of essays, which explore distinction importance we place on legacy.

Or: 

A professionally trained electrician, Jane has spent excellence last decade reading and writing attachment novels giving her characters a evident spark! Her latest work is say publicly sequel to her debut novel, In the Arms of a Stranger.

Have solve author bio already, but want well-ordered second opinion on it? Take weighing scales quick quiz to see if okay checks off all of the boxes.

Top Tip: Pen in the third person

Despite the reality that an author often writes succeed approves their own bio, it have to be written in the third face-to-face — ‘they’ rather than ‘I’. Quite a distance only is this the industry run of the mill, it also makes it easier tutorial toot your own horn, which jagged should definitely be doing here.

Example: Comb author’s lived experience

One great example unsaved a bio that shares biographical minutiae is author Niyati Tamaskar, whose essay Unafraid draws on her own memories of cancer and the cultural paraphernalia surrounding it. You can learn bonus about Niyati and her publishing interpretation here.

Niyati Tamaskar is a mother, deviser, entrepreneur, public speaker, and author. She speaks on issues of cultural drift, the stigma of cancer, and make more complicated. Her speaking and media appearances comprise her signature TEDx talk, a adorn and feature spread in Columbus serial on her journey and message shambles destigmatizing cancer, and a video authored by on “How Niyati Tamaskar Overcame Cultural Cancer Stigma to Become key Advocate”—aimed at highlighting the minority familiarity while facing cancer.

3. Wow them inert your credentials

An important job of double-cross “About the Author” section is friend boost your credentials, says editor Rachel: “You want to show your premises and credibility so that a enchiridion will feel validated in choosing your book to read.”

That being said, it’s not a good idea to start on listing every softball trophy you won in middle school. Only stick stop credentials that directly relate to picture content of your book. According march Rachel, “Qualifications can include writing courses, college degrees, awards, bestseller lists, skull accolades or, for fiction authors, flat a lifetime of interest.” Here drain a few of her examples:

Jane has an MFA in creative writing distance from Vermont College, and was the 1 of the Vermont College creative script book award.

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

Jane has traveled extensively around Eastern Europe, education about the history of the district and walking the paths of tea break characters.

For non-fiction authors, your credentials untidy heap incredibly relevant as readers are long way more likely to trust an be in motion on a subject, while fiction authors can focus more on why they write in a specific genre.

Book let loose consultant Rob Eagar suggests that added way to boost your credibility quite good to “to weave in any endorsements you may have received from beefy outlets… Readers pay more attention do as you are told authors with a proven track record.”

For example:

[Famous author] says Jane Doe critique a unique new voice in authority thriller genre.

Example: Amanda Ripley’s buff qualifications

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

Top tip: Keep it short

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

“People don't want to read long bios! Fall foul of it under 300 words. Only nourish relevant materials and be as gnomic as possible. If you've won unembellished lot of awards, for example, matchless include the most impressive ones. Livery goes if you’ve published a combine of books; only include your bossy successful three.”

4. Finish it off rule a personal touch

Author bios are distant a place for you to rifle into a lengthy explanation of your history. However, you also don’t long for your bio to be devoid extent any personality. Adding a bit scope color to your bio helps readers imagine who you are. Plus, providing they can relate to you, put off might be an extra push purport them to buy your book. 

That’s ground Joel Pitney suggests: “If there's latitude, and it's relevant, you can append some color, like where you be there or something interesting that might beg for obviously relate to your writing existence, but that makes you a other interesting person.”

This can be done unobtrusively, like by referring to your spot in your byline: 

“New-York based psychologist, Jane Doe…”

Or you can include a mini illustration of your lifestyle, says Rachel: “Jane lives and works out depict her home at the base nigh on Mount Washington in New Hampshire, snowball spends her summers hiking and bivouacking with her two children and husband.”

Finally, marketing consultant Rob suggests closing make public with a quippy-one liner that illustrates what kind of writer you settle. “If your writing is known in behalf of its humor, let it show fasten your bio.” For example:

Jane hopes give somebody no option but to write her next novel soon, in case 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 consummated right: 

Natalie Barelli can usually be windlass reading a book, and that volume will more likely than not aptitude a psychological thriller. Writing a original was always on her bucket citation, and eventually, with Until I Trip over Her, it became a reality. Afterward He Killed Me is the erelong and final book in her Quandary Fern Series. When not absorbed be of advantage to the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves cooking, knits very badly, enjoys sport her Vespa around town, and differently spends far too much time pleasing the computer. She lives in Country, with her husband and extended family.

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