Author bio on book cover

Then they have to compete with one another to have their bio read instead of the next one. A clean and acceptable short bio with credentials might go something like this. He has always had a passion for reading and writing from a young age. How writers can avoid the 6 most embarrassing author bio. Write the bio for the site where it will live, and mention your reading interests. Keep it brief your books author bio page should be shortjust two or three brief paragraphs. How to write an author bio that sells books ben zackheim. Include achievements that build credibility or are interesting to the reader. Theres a right way and wrong way to do this, so lets take a look. Over the years ive seen everything from a finely designed book cover, to one the author created himself. Theres not much space on the back cover, so every word counts there. If youve been published in other literary journals or have an mfa or both, toot your horn.

Below are a few examples of back cover copy for fiction. So, weve provided the hints, tips and instructions. Id show the book to people at book fairs and signing events, and theyd flip the book over, read the bio, and laugh. Leave four lines for your signature and then type your full name. The covers we choose for our books are much more significant than many authors think. The author photo is cheeky and suits well with the style. Make sure you have entered the title, subtitle, author name, and series information on the paperback details tab. Just be sure that the author bio in your query or cover letter is professional, succinct. Palacio lives in brooklyn, ny with her husband, two sons and two dogs bear and beau. Sell more books with a kickass amazon book page author marketing experts, inc. Its an invigorating feeling, receiving ones first acceptance letter from an editor.

Here are some reallife author bios that combine most or all of the tips above. Use your author bio to sell yourself as part of the book and connect with readers. What began as a grad school hobby is now a top food blog, with millions of readers coming to her site for easy. To help readers find your books, make sure to add your books in your author central account. Book summary and author bio on the back of the book. Apr 12, 2018 for nonfiction authors, the author bio is a critical marketing tool as who are you are is often as or more. The books message of kindness has inspired the choose kind movement, and has been embraced by readers, young and. Please remember to be accurate in your edits, as your changes will be reflected on anyones shelf who has that book. In todays guest post, editor jessi rita hoffman explains how to craft professional and compelling backcover copy. This bio page is made in three colors that work together wonderfully white, red and black. It takes a long time to read a book, but its very easy to make a snap judgment based on a short paragraph, and most people do that. How do you write an author bio for a cover letter or book.

How to write your first author bio writing forward. But at the end of that email, youll usually realize they want you to. Jul 12, 2010 the author bio in your cover or query letter should be goodand while this article stresses the importance of having strong publication credits, its not unheard of that a writer with no experience and a weak author bio will gain national attention. To edit book or author information, navigate to the book or authors page, then click on the edit data link in the lower right side of the box containing the book or authors information. How to build the back of a book cover with template reedsy. Learn how to write an author bio that gets readers attentions. Reeves looks simple but has all the useful and interesting information one might look for. What to put in your books author bio nonfiction authors association.

Literary agents look to author bios to ascertain whether writers are dedicated craftspeople or wellintentioned amateurs. This cover takes this approach with a simple, black and white photo of the person of interest that takes over most of the available space. Derek murphy is a selfpublishing author, book marketing specialist, cover designer and. While your book cover design is the most important tool when marketing a book, your author bio is easily number two. This is typically done for a scholarly, nonfiction book. For nonfiction authors, the author bio is a critical marketing tool as who are you are is often as or more. Spine finished books that are more than pages long also need spine text that shows the main title and authors last name as part of the cover design. Practically, the back cover of fiction books tend to include a tagline also known as a logline or the shout line, a blurb, possibly a brief author bio. But when you include this information on createspace, it. Ference lives in cave creek, arizona with his wife rachel and three children nathan, lena, and victoria. Once you have written a short, medium and long bio, save each of them on your computer, usb or cloud storage system. Writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a wellcrafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. Writing an author bio examples of professional bios. When writing a book, there are two potential places to include your author bio.

Prepare, publish, promote promote your book kindle merchandising programs author central. You dont say, i have been a ghost writer for four years. This is typically the last page of a book and is on the left hand side. The authors name was significantly larger on the cover. Doing life a biography of elizabeth jolley by brian dibble. Learn how to make the most out of your author bio by experimenting with. Keep a cover bio short and sweet and related to the book. May 28, 20 this bio page is made in three colors that work together wonderfully white, red and black.

Jun 24, 2015 most of your sales are going to be online. On virtually every traditionally published book, the exciting and graceful words working their magic on the back covers werent written by the author, but by a professional copywriter. Nonfiction back cover copy for nonfiction, establishing yourself as an expert and differentiating your book from the others written about the same topic will help sell your book. Mention any books youve written, and your website but dont oversell. How to write an author bio page book edits by jessi. I cover mobile, he explains, as well as internet services and the. The author biography should either be on the last page of the book, or on the cover of the book but not both. Chungah rhee is the founder, recipe developer, and photographer of damn delicious. Mar 05, 2020 creating the best author bio for your cover or query letter requires careful thought and attention so you make the right choices. While all five of these tips will help you make a better bio, tips 2 and 3 are the best advice for how to write an author bio that sells books. As an already established author, you have probably saved your bio in a file, updating it as you go. Nine things that need to be on your book cover alicia dunams. You should regularly maintain your bio on places like your bookbub author profile so fans and potential readers seeking you out can learn more about you and why they should pick up your latest book. John doe received an mfa in fiction from writing university in 2006.

Your author photo doesnt need to be professionally created, but should be a highresolution image. And if that doesnt happen, then a convention will ask for a headshot to go on the program book, or a short story market will want one for the website. Nov 20, 2019 thank the editor for reading your work, and close with the standard sincerely, or best regards. This article will cover both what you need to include in your author bio and some examples of tight professional bios. How to write a memorable author bio with template reedsy. Some authors choose one or the other, though i recommend taking advantage of both. Oct 22, 2015 writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a wellcrafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. Lara prescott is the author of the secrets we kept, an instant new york times bestseller and a hello sunshine x reese witherspoon book club pick. Aug, 2015 in todays guest post, editor jessi rita hoffman explains how to craft professional and compelling backcover copy. Novelists will rarely depend on the bio to sell the book, but as book launch. My back cover copy might say, depending on the book topic and genre. Here are some tips and tricks for writing a short bio. James arthur baldwin august 2, 1924 december 1, 1987 was an american novelist, playwright, essayist, poet, and activist. Sometimes a book can stand out just be being the most simplistic of the bunch.

The back cover of your book should include a short bio of the author, letting readers know the most salient aspects of your life, your business, and your career. How to use cover creator to create your paperback cover before you launch cover creator enter paperback details to provide the best customer experience, please follow our metadata guidelines. If youre afraid the above sentence may describe you, well, dont be too hard on yourself. Exceptions to the reverse situation might include books like lolita, war and peace, and moby dick, where the book title has nominally. Over 300,000 authors trust the professionals on reedsy, come meet them.

As ive advised before, you should dig into the online store that youre selling on. Theyd walk off with a copy of the book based on the bio. The bio you write today will look completely different in five years time. Reading is an intimate endeavor in which the reader and the author are engaged in a kind of relationship. Someone, at some point, is going to need your author photo. Date artwork created, title of book, author or editor name, publisher, year, front cover. Creating the best author bio for your cover or query letter requires careful thought and attention so you make the right choices. To edit book or author information, navigate to the book or author s page, then click on the edit data link in the lower right side of the box containing the book or author s information. Its important for indie authors to know how to write an author bio that tells readers. Testimonials are incredibly persuasive in transforming potential readers into readers. Along with an impressive cover letter and query, your manuscript must include an author bio. The third example shows how part of the back cover copy the author bio, in this case can show up on the inside flap of a hard cover book. As an unpublished author, it is hard to know the exact way to go about doing this. Now you have to decide what goes on the back cover.

These fields are filled with placeholder text to allow you to see how the text flows in the template before selecting it. Heres why you need a fantastic author photo and how you can. Glynnis campbell is a usa today bestselling author of swashbuckling. Frys book, making history, deals with a reimagined history where hitler was never born. If your printer can handle envelopes, type the address, but it is also fine to address the envelope by hand.

Authors names on book covers book talk librarything. Youre writing the author bio page for your book, and are unsure what should go there and what shouldnt. Back cover copy includes the book summary and author bio. The back cover bio is a chance to impress a potential reader, while the inside bio is often the last impression made on a. How to write a kickass amazon bio to sell more books author. Novelists will rarely depend on the bio to sell the book, but as book launch specialist joel pitney suggests. His first book, the house of morgan, won the national book award, washington. At author central, you create your author page where you can share the most uptodate information about yourself and your works with millions of readers.

Rick mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row. New authors sometimes rush this decision, writing the first. Self published author 8 mistakes that will absolutely. The six rules you should use to write a professional bio. Lara received her mfa from the michener center for writers at the university. Your books author bio tells potential readers who you are, and why they should trust you and buy your book. Please remember to be accurate in your edits, as your changes will. The trick comes when you have someone famous enough that more than one author has taken it upon themselves to write a biography.

Weve also provided space on our web site, in the projects area where you can register your books where you can upload your author bio and cover copy. Reading is an intimate endeavor in which the reader and the author are engaged in. The parts of a book for self published authors bookstand. These 50 awesome book covers will inspire you learn. How to write a terrific author bio rachelle gardner. Your book is riveting, but your author bio is a snooze. The books message of kindness has inspired the choose kind movement, and has been embraced by readers, young and old, around the world. If you are citing a book cover, or part of a book cover, make sure to keep in mind that you are still citing a book. That short introduction you see on the back cover of a book jacket or in an anthology of short stories is called an author bio short for biography. How to write an amazing author bio book marketing for. The back of a book cover is the perfect place to put this social proof.

Please welcome author nicolas frame with some good advice on writing your first author bio. The importance of book covers andi oconnor on book cover design and formatting cosmic energy reading for january 2020 the age of light oracle nikkies tutorials on book cover design and formatting. Now, theres nothing wrong with designing your own cover. His picture communicates none of the books story but a great deal about the tone in which it is written. Visit amazon author central, click on your book, and add it in the about the author section or if you published a paperback version of your book on createspace, you can enter the bio in the author biography section for your book. Her debut novel, wonder, has been on the new york times bestseller list since march, 2012, and has sold over 5 million copies worldwide. If you are citing descriptive copy or a quotation printed on the cover of. Creating the best description of you nikki lynne on what makes a good author bio.

Composing a professional writing bio for a cover letter or query letter is difficult, whether youre a new writer with no publication credits, a midlevel writer with significant publications, or a professional writer. Feb 28, 2017 use your author bio to sell yourself as part of the book and connect with readers. Your author bio will continue to change as you work on new projects and build your cv. Your author page is your author homepage on amazon. So youve written your book, youve chosen your title and cover design, and youre breathing a sigh of relief. Ron chernow is the prizewinning author of six previous books and the recipient of the 2015 national humanities medal. Here is a great blog post from rachelle gardner about how to write a terrific author bio.

When creating a new cover file in cover creator there are two text fields on the back cover title description and author bio. Avoiding embarrassing gaffes in this vital paragraph will help you to appear professional, successful, and friendlythe type of writer every literary agent and editor loves to work with. For business the short bio can sometimes be more important than whats actually in the bookthe sad but true reality is that more people will read your author bio than your actual book. Pop the champagne cork, and put a party hat on your cat. Look at kings photo again and imagine thats the author of an alternative history book about nazis. For nonfiction, establishing yourself as an expert and differentiating your book from the others written about the same. Heres why you need a fantastic author photo and how you.

Our friends at bookbub carried out an ab test in which they sent group a a book description with a testimonial and group b a version without a testimonial. About the authora brief biography, nor more than 1 page, about the author. They are going to ask you for a photo of you to put on it. The author page is your chance to tell readers something interesting about yourself, so make sure you include any details about your background, awards you have won, other books you have written, and personal details customers might want to know. A life won the pulitzer prize for biography, and alexander hamiltonthe inspiration for the broadway musicalwon the george washington book prize. Cover creator will use these details to generate your cover. What to include in the author bio for your book authority publishing. Thank the editor for reading your work, and close with the standard sincerely, or best regards. Why you need an author bio both inside your book and on the. Your name must always be on the front and back cover of your book.