People do judge a book by its cover. You have completed your masterpiece and just need to send it to the magical world of publishing. You have probably gone through it again and again, what next? The all important author bio still hangs over your head, like the proverbial Damocles’ sword.
Your manuscript is not complete in itself till you send it along with an impressive author bio. If you already have several publications to your credit, you would probably have a copy of your author bio and just have to update it and send it along. But, on the other hand, if this is your first manuscript to be published, you need to grasp all the tricks of the trade to come up with a mind blowing author bio.
Where Do You Need an Author Bio?
An author Bio is becoming increasingly important these days, especially in the world of freelance writers. They are needed by several businessmen and professionals as well. For instance, if you are an author, a business owner or even a speaker or company personnel, you might need an author bio. The author bio in these cases is quite different from a resume. This bio tells a story about you and provides the reader with a summary of your work history. Though a resume also provides background details, the presentation is different in an author bio. Author bios are actually just short introductions for those who have written a post and if you are a regular blog poster or guest blogging, it might help divert traffic to your blog.
Writing an author bio can be one of the most essential aspects for a freelance writer. It is important and beneficial in a number of ways.
Traditionally, the author bio is seen at the bottom of the post, but in an extended author bio, you can also add social media links to the bio. You can also select the social media profile links to the pages, such as from Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Digg, AIM and other profile links. You might have written great content and rightly proud of it. But how do you enhance your profile in the author bio? The answer lines in promoting your profiles in the social media sites where you have shared your content. There are many plugins that are available allowing you to customize them and enabling you to add several social icons that they support, such as those mentioned above. It is great to write excellent content but you can really set yourself apart from others in a niche market, by promoting your social preferences. This can get you more followers from those who follow the link. You can also set yourself up as an authority in the particular niche.
This could be really fun once you get down to it.
I can share a few interesting examples of author bios that could give you an idea of making your own bio more interesting and impressive. Descriptions should be straightforward without any spin or hyperbole. Mention any awards or any other prestigious publications that you had but there is no need of excessive use of adjectives. A writer needs to maintain some amount of dignity in his author bios, so just state your case simple but effectively. You will need to tweak it a little every now and then in order to include any other successes that you may have had in your career.
‘Tom Jasper is an enthusiastic blogger who loves to talk about the latest technology. He is also Editor of his own blog – Creativetinkering – through which he shares some arresting and fascinating insights into the world of technology. He has gleaned a lot of information from his forays in the Internet.’
The author of the above post is Samuel Jackson.
Samuel Jackson is 31 years old and an experienced blogger as well as freelance writer. He spends a lot of time working on a wide range of topics. In his free time, he is a tennis enthusiast. He also likes to generally hang around with his pals and listening to music. Do send him an email or feel free to contact him at excitingworld@yahoo.com’
‘James Cook is the founder and the principal editor of FiveStages. He is also known as a great web developer and specializes in writing about and developing web designs, such as HTML and JavaScript. He has exceptional book writing talents. Contact him on FiveStages@gmail.com or follow him on Twitter.’
‘Denise Adams has been working on challenging write-ups for the past six years. She provides services for ghost editing and ghost writing. She has an excellent educational background (give details of education and your experience). You can have ample evidence of the nature of her writings at freelance.com and freedesk.com (provide links where your work can be seen). She is also adept at preparing resumes for those looking to change their careers. Learn more about the services offered by her at Education.com (give your website or blog id).’
‘Jane Mathew writes the most impressive articles for SEO. If your business wants see its pages ranking high in Google search engines, you can contact her on (give your email address or your blog site address). Her articles are extremely focused and are the perfect example of a fine balancing act between an entertaining read and a fulfillment of SEO needs. Grow your business by visiting her blog at (give your blog or website address)’
‘If the space is too short, try this one: Jane Mathew offers services of SEO articles, eBook and content writing along with ghostwriting and services for resumes through her website (give contact id of your website or blog)’
‘Sara Lee has been a health writer as well as a columnist in leading newspapers and journals (give names and details). She is from New York and lives in the suburbs. Her first novel was (give the name of the novel) which was termed as the most auspicious debut by newspapers. Emotional, riveting and engrossing were the other terms used for her writing.’
‘Katy Simpson was raised in Utah and graduated in the year 2002 from (mention the school). She then entered the State University (mention name) that very year and majored in English (the subject). She serendipitously stumbled into a course in freelance writing. She found she enjoys the challenge of creativity and has a great attention for details. She is the author of (give names of books) and the forthcoming (give details of any forthcoming publication). She also maintains a Facebook page in order to network with her close friends as well as her numerous fans and readers, with whom she shares her love for writing and other interests at (give blog or website address).’
‘A successful writer and freelancer, Christy Colins’ articles are published in (give names of magazines or website links). She frequently contributes to blogs, websites and magazines. Additionally, she is also the main editor of her blog (give your blog id). Her articles and write-ups continue to be accepted on a nationwide basis. She also offers several presentations and workshops for students and those interested at (give blog or website address). She has tight writing skills due to her news reporting background. She has just the right words you need.’
‘If you have no publishing credits, you can just write about organizations that you are a member of. For instance, Sarah Mackenzie is an accomplished writer and journalist. She has to her credit several writings at (mention blogs or websites where your posts appear on a regular basis). She is also the member of ACFW and SCBWI. In her spare time, she tries her hand at cooking (she’s a bit of a gourmet) and also reads science fiction. She is also an amateur photographer. Catch some of her wildlife photographs at (mention your blog or site) and follows politics obsessively. She has two lovely daughters, who are also writers in their own right.’
There are some things that an author bio should steer clear of. Sites like Twitter allow the author an opportunity to list one link with the bio. Here’s where most authors cross the line. Don’t stuff the bio with several links, or you might just come off as a link spammer. Such tactics will scream the word ‘desperate amateur’. Another thing, don’t put your day job in your bio. I once did that stating that I was a marketing professional. You wouldn’t believe it but I got an email saying “Who cares if you are a marketing professional”. Of course, it was rude, but your day job truly has nothing to do with your writing, and should be mentioned only if it is related to the subject matter. Sometimes, less is more and you don’t need to literally list out all your activities, articles and contributions.
An author bio is a written account of the author narrating events and other details of his professional or even personal life. It is actually just an introduction about a writer and appears at the end of a post in a blog or website. It also helps the author to get more traffic to his blog or website, as he can post links in his author bio. This should, however, be done discreetly and not look like link spamming. You need to sell yourself as an author and as a writer; you should always remember that you are your own product. You need to come up with a bio that will increase your chances of publishing more articles and write-ups. There are several steps to be followed in writing an effective and impressive author bio, such as giving a proper introduction, links, personal information. It can actually be an advertisement for your work and create the right expectations in the reader.
Good points Jay.
I think you do have to be careful about adding links since many sites limit how many personal links you can include.
Your examples are great!
Author bios are good for connecting up to your social sites especially Google Plus to show an image next to your google search results. Thanks