For years, I loathed writing the brief bio found in each of my books. At best, I have 50 words. At worst, two or three sentences. But I had a breakthrough the day I got an e-mail from my editor. The publisher needed my bio “right now.”
They hadn’t asked for it with the rest of the material that I turned in with the book. And I truly loathe being interrupted and redirected. So this time I got a little cheeky. Here’s what I came up with.
“Sue Bradford Edwards is a Missouri nonfiction author who writes about science, culture and history. Her books about science and computers include Women in Science and Hidden Human Computers: The Black Women of NASA. When she isn’t working, she games with her teen son although she’s not nearly as good as he is.”
I have to credit my mood with this result but then I got a surprising message from my editor. “This is perfect.”
Really? That was when I realized that each and every bio I should display a bit of the same cheek. After all, that’s me.
I just found a really good BookBub post about author bios. If you aren’t sure what to include in your biography Among the things that BookBub recommended are:
- Make it sound like you. After all, that’s your voice.
- Include info about you. This makes it even more personal. Tell readers about your hobbies and where you live. I’m not recommending that you draw them a map but you might tell them that you love living in the Southwest or that strolling among the redwoods is one of your favorite things to do.
- About your writing. This might include quotes from reviews or the fact that you are an award winning author. Name the award! Tell them what genres you specialize in (tween and teen nonfiction) and if there are specific tropes that you include, you might let people know. That way when someone does a search on “best friends to lovers” or “the chosen one” they will find you!
- Keeping in touch. Don’t forget to tell people where to find you. I’m amazed at how many of my fellow authors forget to let their readers know where they can be found other than the one place that has already been discovered.
Writing your bio may never be your favorite thing to do but just remember to include the kinds of details that make it unique and help people reach out.
–SueBE
One Writer's Journey 