Writers: Are
you having trouble putting together a short, concise bio for your book
proposal? I hate to admit that it’s one of the greatest challenges I’ve had in
recent years when preparing to pitch. How do you capsulize everything you are
as a writer, and still tell enough about yourself to interest prospective
editors or agents?
A
while back, my agent Rachelle Gardner (Books & Such Literary Agency) put together
a list of tips on this subject that I’ve found extremely helpful. With Rachelle’s
permission, I’m going to share them with you now.
- Write
your bio in first person for query letters, third person for most
other purposes including proposals, book jackets, article bylines.
- Make
it professional
but you also need to convey personality and writing style. Don’t try too hard
to be funny, but include something that makes you seem like a real person.
- What
gives you credibility? What makes you interesting? What helps people connect with
you? (When you’re on Twitter, Facebook or your blog, what kinds of posts seem
to get the most comments?) These are things you can briefly include.
- If
your book centers on something specific—the Civil War, for example—are you
a member of a Civil War society? Have you published any articles in historical
journals? Include that.
- Try
not to include too much “resumé” type information–education, job history,
etc. because it tends to be boring. Only include what’s relevant to the book
you’re pitching.
- As you write a bio, consider carefully the purpose of the bio – who is the audience? Is it agents and editors? Is it your blog readers? Tailor it to this audience.
Rachelle
also suggests reading the author bios in a couple of dozen books, paying close
attention to the things you like and don’t like. I've done that a time or two when updating my bio.
An additional tip that I can offer is to find the rhythm of your voice and use it in your biographical text. For instance, when writing my bio for the promotional material for a lighthearted devotional called Delight Yourself in the Lord...Even on Bad Hair Days, I added one short sentence that displayed the spirit of my writing: Sandra D. Bricker states that she hasn't seen a good hair day in more than twenty years.
An additional tip that I can offer is to find the rhythm of your voice and use it in your biographical text. For instance, when writing my bio for the promotional material for a lighthearted devotional called Delight Yourself in the Lord...Even on Bad Hair Days, I added one short sentence that displayed the spirit of my writing: Sandra D. Bricker states that she hasn't seen a good hair day in more than twenty years.
Rachelle also encourages authors to
compose several bios of varied lengths and save them to an author file so that
they’re handy when needed. Speaking from experience, I can tell you this is a really helpful suggestion!
For
additional information about nearly anything you can imagine in regard to
the publishing industry, Rachelle’s blog (named multiple years by Writer’s
Digest in their list of 101 Best Websites for Writers) is a wonderful source.
Sandra
D. Bricker is a best-selling and award-winning author of laugh-out-loud
romantic comedy for the Christian market. Her most popular series (that started
with Always the Baker Never the Bride) will conclude this spring with Always
the Baker FINALLY the Bride, which is now available for pre-order at Amazon and Christianbook.
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