6 Author Bio FAQs For Self-Published Writers | Self-Publishing Relief

by | May 31, 2017 | Author Biography | 0 comments

For some, writing the author bio that will appear on the back of a self-published book seems almost as difficult as writing the book itself! Self-Publishing Relief answers your questions and offers effective tips for writing a professional author bio for your back cover copy.

FAQs About Writing An Author Bio For Self-Published Authors

Q. How long should the bio be on the back of my self-published book?

A. Your author bio should be no longer than about one hundred fifty words—and that’s on the very long side. Remember, you’re only touching on the highlights of your writing career. Readers don’t need to know how old you were when you got your first tooth.

Q. Should I give my author bio a personal touch?

A. Your author bio is a great opportunity to encourage readers to care about you—in connection with your writing. When readers are curious about you as a person, they may be more likely to seek you out on social media or on your author website. And that opens doors for future sales!

To add a little bit of personalized insight to your author bio, consider mentioning things like:

  • Anything that gives you a personal connection to your book’s subject
  • How you spend your free time when you’re not writing
  • Your day job
  • Your pets

Be careful to avoid TMI: a phrase or two of personal information should do the trick. The bulk of your bio should talk about your professional achievements. And if you don’t have many yet, use these unpublished author bio tips.

Q. Is it worth it to include ALL of my publishing credits in my self-publishing bio?

A. A very long list of publishing credits, educational details, and awards might be interesting to people in publishing, but most people might find their eyes glaze over when readings such details. The key to deciding what to include and what to leave out is to consider your goals: Do you need your author bio to impress colleagues or to make a connection with readers outside of your field? There’s no wrong answer; trust your instincts to find the choice that’s right for you.

Q. What are the best safety tips for writing my author bio?

A. Don’t include any information in your author bio that could compromise your or your family’s safety. You may decide that you don’t feel comfortable publishing the name of your town or region, the names of your children or relatives, or your place of employment.

Q. Are there alternatives to a traditional author bio?

A. While your author bio can give readers a short overview of your writing and life, you may choose to include text inside your book that offers a better opportunity for creating emotional connections. Browse in your bookstore to find books that include “special features,” like interviews with the author, “dear reader” letters, and bonus content like essays on writing and life.

Q. Do I really need to include an author head shot or portrait to accompany my bio?

A. Some writers simply don’t like having their picture taken (let alone published). Other writers don’t want to attach their personal image to a pen name in order to hide their identity. Most publicists agree that including a photo with an author bio is helpful for marketing in an age of transparency and social media. But as an independent author, you get to do whatever you want to do!

Learn more about how to create a great author portrait on a budget.

Share with us: Post your author bio in our comments section!

Save

0 Comments

Submit a Comment

Your email address will not be published.

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Find An Article

Recent Articles




Reviews

 

Thank you so much for all the amazing help you provided! I’m already thinking about my next project and you better believe I plan to use Self-Publishing Relief!

—Bianca Chambers Carter, Writer

Read Bianca’s review!

 

 

Using Self-Publishing Relief is the only way I would ever consider publishing my work… the process was seamless: They answered all of my questions and always kept me apprised of the next steps.

—John McCord, Writer

Read John’s review!

 

The team at Writer’s Relief and Self-Publishing Relief was supportive and helpful in creating my chapbook — from sending multiple cover design options to patience and thoroughness during review rounds. They made the publishing process easy and enjoyable!

Laurin Becker Macios, Poet

Read Laurin’s review!

 

 

I have found my people with Jill, Carol, Dave, Joey, Ronnie, and all the fellow “bookies” at Self-Publishing Relief. Their level of expertise is seasoned and savvy for navigating through the indie publishing landscape, as we established the imprint Occupy the Word Publishing. What is more, the team’s enthusiastic tenacity to solve difficult issues and create new opportunities in developing serious readership for my novels makes it a powerful pleasure to work with them. 

King Grossman, Novelist

Read King’s review!

Thinking about self-publishing?
Receive your FREE copy of our helpful guide...

 


Act now! Enter your name and email on the right to receive..
  • Design tips to boost your book's marketability
  • Insider secrets for writing the best back cover book blurb
  • The importance of a flattering headshot


YES!
Send Me My FREE Guide!
  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.
Close

Pin It on Pinterest

Shares
https://selfpublishingrelief.com/2017/05/6-author-bio-faqs-for-self-published-writers-self-publishing-relief/
selfpublishingrelief.com
crawl=CC-MAIN-2022-33
95150
application/http; msgtype=response
sha1:H3KCOYLUQ7QHODHLBG5GGFEW353K2JM2
<urn:uuid:8ec41e26-0e79-45e1-b0a8-f942b701776d>
2022-08-16T07:15:23Z
162.241.137.89
text/html
sha1:CKVS3AXHQZDHDHIKNBO5OVB5Y36LBIES
<urn:uuid:8d27699f-fb35-4e8f-92d0-9233021e00e9>
https://selfpublishingrelief.com/2017/05/6-author-bio-faqs-for-self-published-writers-self-publishing-relief/
response
<urn:uuid:35705fd5-489f-4c9f-a402-ffbbd182b5ca>
isPartOf: CC-MAIN-2022-33
publisher: Common Crawl
description: Wide crawl of the web for August 2022
operator: Common Crawl Admin (info@commoncrawl.org)
hostname: ip-10-67-67-70
software: Apache Nutch 1.18 (modified, https://github.com/commoncrawl/nutch/)
robots: checked via crawler-commons 1.4-SNAPSHOT (https://github.com/crawler-commons/crawler-commons)
format: WARC File Format 1.1
conformsTo: https://iipc.github.io/warc-specifications/specifications/warc-format/warc-1.1/