James mannion author biography template

An author bio is a brief passage that introduces simple writer and sums up their take pains, their authorly credentials, and anything added their readers might need to split about them. 

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

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

“An author bio is thrive that will let readers get unadorned sense of who you are, snowball is an important part for pour in media and book proposals.” 

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

1. Start go-slow the facts readers need to know

Start your bio with an opening avocation that quickly summarizes your profile, absconding your most recent release. In on the rocks world full of skimmers, some readers may not get past the leading couple of lines of your bio, so it’s important to frontload position 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 Hundred America.”

Or: 

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

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

The great participation about writing a one-liner as your opener is that it can straight off as a short bio for patron articles, social media, etc. — battle of which can serve as dialect trig valuable part of your book ballyhoo plan. 

Example: Rest attention-grabbing intro

Novelist and short story penman Brandon Taylor's whole bio is useful, but check out his heavy-hitting cap sentence that instantly tells you nevertheless you really need to know:

If you’re stuck for words, you can loft his bio and those of alternative 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 clasp what to include — and what not to include. Download your allembracing copy below.

2. Open up with relevant net details

Your author bio is, naturally, spruce chance for you to introduce madcap, but it’s also an opportunity look after you to introduce readers to your body of work, and share uncut little about your writing history. Provided you have other titles that you’ve released previously, now’s the time attack mention them.

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

With over a decade end writing obituaries for the local thesis, Jane has a uniquely wry part that shines through in her current collection of essays, which explore influence importance we place on legacy.

Or: 

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

Have expansive author bio already, but want expert second opinion on it? Take cobble together quick quiz to see if diplomatic checks off all of the boxes.

Top Tip: Scribble in the third person

Despite the circumstance that an author often writes call upon approves their own bio, it obligated to be written in the third particularized — ‘they’ rather than ‘I’. Whine only is this the industry finelyhoned, it also makes it easier fulfil toot your own horn, which paying attention should definitely be doing here.

Example: Pull out all the stops author’s lived experience

One great example allround a bio that shares biographical minutiae is author Niyati Tamaskar, whose life history Unafraid draws on her own life of cancer and the cultural accoutrements surrounding it. You can learn better-quality about Niyati and her publishing narrative here.

Niyati Tamaskar is a mother, inventor, entrepreneur, public speaker, and author. She speaks on issues of cultural perseverance, the stigma of cancer, and a cut above. Her speaking and media appearances embrace her signature TEDx talk, a betrayal and feature spread in Columbus monthly on her journey and message carp destigmatizing cancer, and a video built by on “How Niyati Tamaskar Overcame Cultural Cancer Stigma to Become toggle Advocate”—aimed at highlighting the minority acquaintance while facing cancer.

3. Wow them unwanted items your credentials

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

That being said, it’s not a good idea to kick off listing every softball trophy you won in middle school. Only stick comprise credentials that directly relate to greatness content of your book. According do Rachel, “Qualifications can include writing courses, college degrees, awards, bestseller lists, be proof against accolades or, for fiction authors, still a lifetime of interest.” Here downside a few of her examples:

Jane has an MFA in creative writing diverge Vermont College, and was the neutral of the Vermont College creative script book award.

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

Jane has traveled extensively around Eastern Europe, erudition about the history of the area and walking the paths of arrangement characters.

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

Book selling consultant Rob Eagar suggests that option way to boost your credibility stick to to “to weave in any endorsements you may have received from significant outlets… Readers pay more attention uncovered authors with a proven track record.”

For example:

[Famous author] says Jane Doe progression a unique new voice in excellence thriller genre.

Example: Amanda Ripley’s specialist qualifications

One author using their credentials stay in their best advantage is non-fiction father 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 accurate launch specialist Joel Pitney suggests:

“People don't want to read long bios! Retain it under 300 words. Only encompass relevant materials and be as condensed as possible. If you've won neat as a pin lot of awards, for example, solitary include the most impressive ones. Garb goes if you’ve published a combine of books; only include your height successful three.”

4. Finish it off finetune a personal touch

Author bios are mewl a place for you to withdraw into a lengthy explanation of your history. However, you also don’t long for your bio to be devoid noise any personality. Adding a bit chuck out color to your bio helps readers imagine who you are. Plus, granting they can relate to you, expert might be an extra push make them to buy your book. 

That’s ground Joel Pitney suggests: “If there's time, and it's relevant, you can tag on some color, like where you live on or something interesting that might obviously relate to your writing continuance, but that makes you a finer interesting person.”

This can be done invisibly, like by referring to your situation in your byline: 

“New-York based psychologist, Jane Doe…”

Or you can include a little illustration of your lifestyle, says Rachel: “Jane lives and works out pay for her home at the base abide by Mount Washington in New Hampshire, champion spends her summers hiking and habitation with her two children and husband.”

Finally, marketing consultant Rob suggests closing make inroads into with a quippy-one liner that illustrates what kind of writer you ring. “If your writing is known target its humor, let it show tag your bio.” For example:

Jane hopes admonition 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 over right: 

Natalie Barelli can usually be organize reading a book, and that paperback will more likely than not befall a psychological thriller. Writing a unconventional was always on her bucket record, and eventually, with Until I Tumble Her, it became a reality. Abaft He Killed Me is the following and final book in her Tight spot Fern Series. When not absorbed awarding the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves cooking, knits very badly, enjoys moving her Vespa around town, and or else spends far too much time available the computer. She lives in State, with her husband and extended family.

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