You're a writer. You should be able to comp a decent passage. And all the more when it comes to writing an author biography approximately yourself, you freeze up. Fiction writers and journalists tend to always gun outward. It's compacted to figure outside what's engrossing approximately yourself. You're used to yourself. You're commonplace.
Writer bios are not indeed that insoluble, with a collection of preparation and a elfin participation. It's principally a event of affliction lists of doable dossier, and then figuring elsewhere what is salient to a specific editor's needs.
Instructions
1. Inceptive assume approximately who Testament be reading this. A blurb published in a Periodical with your account is a means to touch mannequin with your readers. They Testament be awakened in witty dirt, and further jewel your other works. An editor or agent reading a dubiety will want to differentiate approximately your published exertion, publishing participation, and anything relating to the album you're pitching them. Provided you are a speaker at a convention, and you necessitate a bio for the brochure, your readers Testament fancy augmented formal advice approximately your background and qualifications.
2. And deliberate how gangling it should be. It's a favorable abstraction for any author to draft assorted biographies, of contrary lengths, over you never recognize when you might must one.
For tome and Periodical blurbs, the editor should announce you the length, on the other hand provided they don't, control it SHORT. Largely for author bios in magazines, where it should be twenty-five contents tops. (For these in reality short bios, comprehend compressed approximately process 6.)
For a questioning packages, possibly fifty text. The writers biography baggage of a query letter should be approximately a quarter of the send. Less whether likely, exceeding matchless provided important to the jotter you are pitching.
A longer author biography for a convention or press release can break to many pages, but you are better off keeping it under a page -- maybe 100-250 words. Keep it short unless you have reason to believe you should do more (if they ask you to, or you see that all the other writer bios are really long). If you want to do more material for a press release add an "interview", which can be several pages long.
When I don't get any length requirements, I sometimes write two bios and give them a choice. (Be careful with that. They inevitably choose the one you like least.)
3. Make a list things about you that relate to the story. Consider what action you want the reader to take. For example, you want your fans to be able to find your other works, so your bio on a narrative or book should include your website address. Your author biography on a conference brochure should entice people to come to your presentation so you might mention the topic of the presentation in your bio. And you want an agent or editor who is reading a query letter to read your book, so keep the stuff about yourself to a minimum, and push the book instead.7. Now that you've considered all of this: write your bio. Use step 1 and 2 to figure style, and steps 3-6 as material for the content. Make sure you use the right pronouns. For published material (blurbs in magazines, books, press releases and brochures) write in third person. "Susie Scriptor has written fifteen stories for children and adults." In a query letter, you should write in first person: "I have written fifteen stories for children and adults."
4. For queries and long biographies, make a list of your credits. (In a very short magazine blurb, don't waste time with this. Better to use that space to give them your website, where they can find all your writings.)
Pick no more than three credits to highlight in your bio. Choose them by whether they are relevant, prestigious and recent. Consider again your audience - what would this audience care about?
5. Be careful about resume type information (school, work experience, volunteer experience). Such info tends to be pretty boring, and there are only a few cases where you want to use them. They may be necessary as "credentials in a conference bio or press release. Thanks to case, wow them with your best stuff, and keep it short, and keep long lists to the END of your bio. The other case is if it is relevant to the article, book or story you are promoting. If you write about the Civil War, people will want to know that you are a professor of American History who got your degree an ivy league university.
The other exception is if you are truly passionate about one of these resume items. It does not belong in a blurb or query letter unless it relates directly to the story in question, but in a longer biography, especially one for a press release, it's a detail about who you are. Don't try to force it in where it doesn't fit, but by all means, if you are passionate about working for Habitat for Humanity, or making hand-crafted door-bells, mention it as a personal interest item. Relate it to your writing work if you can, even if it is only that the writing is a break from saving the world.
6. What got you interested in the subject of the story? What got you writing? Where did the idea come from? What have you done that makes this story, book or article personal to you?Try to focus on one thing on this list, but you can sometimes tie several of them together into one. For example, when I wrote a mystery/western, I wrote "Camille LaGuire spent her childhood riding horses, watching westerns and reading mysteries. Sure she ended up writing gunslinger whodunnits!"These personal details are most appropriate for blurbs and some longer biographies. For query letters, you want to be casual, but only use this sort of detail if it really reflects the nature of the book. You want the whole letter to sell your style, by reason of case.
