Many writers struggle to figure out how to write an author bio for themselves. It can feel weirdly self-promotional to list out your strengths and accolades, but the person that knows your achievements best is almost certainly you. A good author bio introduces your potential reader to you and also helps search engines pull your author website more easily by using keyword-rich descriptions. Your bio can be witty or straightforwardly informational, and the tone you take will be informed by both your personality and the author brand you’re building. A few key areas to include in the majority of author bios are: achievements, personal facts, education, and contact info.
It’s likely your bio will include awards or achievements in relevant fields to the topic of your book. (This is especially important if you are backing up your authority to speak as an expert with a nonfiction title.) Keep it restricted to relevant fields because an overly enthusiastic inclusion of accolades could end up disjointed and confusing for readers. For example, the author of a book on fly-fishing does not likely need to say that he won the Great Chili Cook-off Award at the local Rotary Club. A Best Trout Catch might be a fun thing to include, though. Staying on theme will help your bio remain relevant to your readership.
Often, author bios include some personal information such as where the author lives and maybe even a few hobbies he or she enjoys (especially if they are somehow of pertinence to your writing subject matter). Mentioning clubs or associations you are a member of is also an important piece of personal information that may cultivate additional professional credence. Consider your relationships, affiliations, experiences, and background. The fly-fisher mentioned might have a line about where he prefers to fish, which will create connection points to local fishers in that area.
Sometimes, your educational history makes sense to include in your bio. If you attended a prestigious institute it’s probably worth mentioning—your yearlong stint at a community college is likely not the type of education you need to include.
The last piece of your author bio puzzle is your contact information. Making sure to list your author website, Twitter handle, or other ways for readers to find out more info about you is a vital part of building your author brand. Make sure you take advantage of this easy way to gain social media fans.
Here’s a faux bio for the fly-fishing friend referenced throughout this chapter:
Wade Troutson is a professional fly-fisherman, angler, and dedicated outdoor sportsman. He has been named a Master Angler for Region 4 of the U.S. every year since 2013 and most enjoys fishing for local varieties of his namesake in the Elk River. Wade is a member of the local Fisherman’s Club of Lynchburg where he resides with his wife and three dogs. Visit him at www.WadeTroutson.com to stay in touch.
If he wanted to include educational information (which doesn’t have high relevancy to this book or author), he might add a line such as, “Wade was previously an immigration law attorney and holds his law degree from Columbia University, though he much prefers schools of fish to classrooms full of lawyers.”
You’ll note the keywords in this bio that would help search engines are: fly-fisherman, outdoor, sportsman, Master Angler, Region 4, Elk River, and Fisherman’s Club.
Using these keywords is important because it increases the chance that someone’s random Google search for information about a topic related to you and your book might pull in your bio from your author website, Amazon, etc. and lead this searcher to you. In your bio, make sure to use keywords that are very relevant to your field of interest and book genre to accomplish something similar to Troutson’s bio in terms of keyword relevancy for competent search engine optimization.
One mistake self-publishers make within their book metadata about themselves—believe it or not—is their name. If you use your middle initial or a hyphen in your author bio, spell it exactly the same way on your book cover, your author website, your social media profiles, and beyond. This creates more links to you and your book, and the more links there are, the more you and your book will appear in searches.
Don’t forget to include any contributors in your book metadata as well. There is a place to enter this in your IngramSpark title record. Any contributor to your book brings their own marketing success to yours and helps your book appear in relation to your contributor as well. Your book sales can be boosted by a Foreword or even a blurb written by an award-winning or currently-popular author. Conversely, a contributor whose own work is completely unrelated to yours might not have the positive impact you were hoping for, so be sure your contributors are relevant to your field before asking them to be a part of your work.
This chapter was compiled from the following posts on the IngramSpark blog:
“How to Write an Author Bio” by Sara Wigal, Senior Manager at JKS Communications
“8 Components that Influence Book Sales” by IngramSpark Staff
“Book Metadata Tips for Indie Authors” by IngramSpark Staff
