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Author Bio–It’s All About Me

Blogger: Kathleen Y’Barbo

Today is normally Janet’s day to blog. We are grateful to have Kathleen step in once again. Her marketing expertise has stood us in good stead many a time, especially during this fire. (Wendy’s picture shows because she’s the one who posted this for Kathleen and she’s the one who doesn’t know how to change the automatic head shot.)

Fire Update: The Santa Rosa fires are that close to containment at the writing of this blog. Rachel’s hero/husband/firefighter is finally back home and they are safely tucked in their house. Michelle would be snug in her house if she wasn’t off at Wheaton College, lecturing about her brand new book, Mrs. Oswald Chambers. (Can you imagine packing to go on a trip when you are evacuated from your home?) Janet got the go ahead to return home just about 48 hours ago. She’s spending the weekend cleaning out the fridge and the freezer and all the fun things you do when you’ve been out of power. The Books & Such office should be up and playing catch-up next week. We love our clients who have been so patient and supportive. We are thanking God for preserving these homes and lives and we are praying for so many friends and neighbors who lost everything. We thank our blog community for your prayers on our behalf

Okay. Here goes. It’s author bio time!

Bragging rights. How many of you cringe when forced to brag about yourself? Count me in your number. There’s something about tooting your own horn that makes the music sound a bit flat, isn’t there? And where else is the requirement to do just that more obvious than in writing your author bio?

If you’re a new author, you may not have written your first author bio yet. Now is the time to get started. Veteran authors would do well to dust off the old bio and polish up a brand new version. In either case, you’ll find a well-written author bio is useful for agent or editor pitches and essential in completing a book proposal.

There are several types of bios. Short, long, and in between, they all serve as your calling card to anyone who might pick up your book or, if you’re unpublished, your proposal. To dash through this exercise of creating a bio is to do a great disservice to your publicity efforts. While bios come in varying lengths, the first one any author needs to craft is the brief bio.

The brief bio is–generally one or two sentences–states who you are, what you write and, if appropriate, the general area where you live. Great examples of this can be found on the backs of most books. Here’s one from my friend Rachel Hauck off the back cover of her novel, Diva NashVegas: “Rachel Hauck lives in Central Florida with her husband and ornery pets.”

Not only does this bio do the trick in a modicum of words, but it also leads to my next point which is writing in voice. What does that mean? It means that a good bio should sound like the person it is describing. Rachel writes sassy, contemporary novels.

Be careful when plotting out the information you give in your brief bio. Notice how Rachel alludes to where she’s from but doesn’t go so far as to give her specific location. If you live in a large urban area, you might be safe in stating the city where you’re located. However, a general idea of where one resides is almost always better than providing a roadmap to your door.

Think about what you write. Does your bio reflect your voice? Your turn, now. We would love to hear your one-sentence bios. 

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    • Cute! And given the mention of coffee in this sentence, I’d say by way of Brazil–or is it Venezuela or Central America where all the good coffee is grown? See, I’ve unmasked myself as a non-coffee lover.

      Reply

      • Kathleen, Jamaican Blue Mountain is the best, and it had better be, at $35/lb. (Haven’t had any in years…ah, the sacrifices I make for my art.)
        * It has no bitter aftertaste, and even a non-coffee-lover might become hooked.

      • I’m partial to the Viennese-style. They invented the coffee shop. And Bruce perfected the art, if I say so myself.

        Of course, Ireland is all about the cuppa (tea). They’ve perfected that, too!

  3. ej bohan is a risk taking woman with an overflowing file of project ideas, and plenty of verve who lives in the heart of Minnesota with a patient husband and little furry shadow named Peanut.

    So happy for the fire update, and that the office and Janet’ s, Mary’s, and Rachel’s homes still stand. I have been praying daily. So glad Rachel’s husband is home and safe. Now to pray for strength and the rebuilding and healing of Santa Rosa and the people. May God continue to strengthen and underguird you all.

    Reply

  5. Thanks so much for the fire update! Glad to hear that B&S pulled through with homes intact. Prayers continue for everyone. I can only imagine how difficult it must be over there right now.

    E McD lives in Northern Idaho with her husband, numerous children, and extensive yarn collection.

    Reply

  6. I’m glad to hear the fires are nearly contained and that everyone at B&S is safe!

    Here’s mine (technically two sentences :)): A lover of language and grammar, Laura spends her days trying to inspire college students in rural West Texas. Outside the classroom, she’s a pastor’s wife and dog-mom to an 80-pound Weimaraner and a rescued Wheaten Terrier.

    Reply

      • Laura, we have a broken-backed Yorkie who can scoot around faster on two legs than most dogs can on four…and she’s the terror of our Pit Bull population (we found Bella discarded in a flooded ditch). She’s especially hard on Humphrey, who is many, many times her size…she’ll drive him cowering into a corner and then spin around in a noisy victory dance until she makes herself dizzy and falls over, whereupon Humphrey will make a break for it, and hide behind the sofa.
        * Unfortunately he doesn’t realize that his tail is visible when the rest of him is not, and when Bella regains her equilibrium, she seeks him out and…you guessed it.
        Chomp!
        WAAAA!!!!!!!!!!

      • That is too funny! I can completely imagine it. Our Weim, Rizzoli, practically puts Charlie’s whole head in her mouth when she wants him to play, but despite the size difference, he is definitely the alpha. He’s a good sport with her most of the time and then he lets her know when he’s done. 🙂

      • Love that image, Laura! Humphrey could swallow Bella in one gulp, but she’s ‘got the power’ and he KNOWS it. But when she gets tuckered out and falls asleep (she goes out like the proverbial light after playing), he’ll lie down and curl himself around her, to keep her feeling warm and safe in her dreams.

  7. The eighth child and the sixth redhead in a family of achievers, Ada Nicholson Brownell writes with stick-to-your-soul encouragement from her Missouri home where she lives with her handsome husband –the father of their five children—not one of them a redhead.

    Reply

  8. Jennifer Z. Major is a West Coast Canadian living on the East Coast with her hockey playing husband and kids. She cannot spot an off-side, but knows exactly how to climb the fences of New Mexican historic sites without getting spotted.

    Reply

  9. Here’s a 2-sentence bio that I’ve used: Angela lives in the middle of a big wood with her husband, Charles, and Buddy the Wonder Dog. (We wonder who left him in our yard.)

    Reply

  10. So glad the fire threat is winding down!
    * Andrew Budek-Schmeisser worked as a paramilitary contractor, lives on a mesa in New Mexico with many Pit Bulls and clear sight lines for any approach, and strongly suggests that visitors call in advance.

    Reply

  11. Anne Riess lives on the Saskatchewan Prairies with her husband and his animals. She has a mother’s heart and loves to mentor and nurture other mamas – or at least as many as she can.

    Reply

  13. Janet Ann Collins is a teacher, speaker, author of books for children and of more articles in periodicals than she can count. She lives in the beautiful Sierra foothills of California.

    And she’s DELIGHTED to hear all of you Books & Such people are safe and haven’t lost your homes.

    Reply

  15. I’ve watched a forest fire from my desk while praying for rain. So thankful the B&S team made it through!
    *One sentence is much shorter than the four I use, but my bio is in the back matter, not on the cover where it would detract from the style of the series covers. One sentence that captures the essence in an intriguing way is much harder to craft, but here’s my try at one.
    *Carol Ashby writes stories about difficult friendships and life-changing decisions in dangerous times, with short breaks to watch birds, deer, goldfish, and yard turtles in the mountains of New Mexico.

    Reply

  16. Dana McNeely writes novels from an oasis in Arizona, where she lives with her husband, Mike, two good dogs, and migrating butterflies.

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  17. It’s funny you wrote about this, Kathleen. I have been thinking it’s time to update my bio somewhat. But, since I haven’t had the inspiration to figure out how I want to word it, I’m sharing what I currently have. 🙂

    *Jeanne Takenaka writes contemporary fiction that deals with real life issues with a heart to draw women closer to God and to those around them. She is wife to one amazing man who is her real life hero, and mother to two exuberant boys who hope to one day have a dog of their own and they make their home near the mountains of Colorado.

    Reply

  19. David Todd, originally from Rhode Island, works in The Dungeon in Northwest Arkansas, writing and planning more books than he could ever complete in a lifetime, many based on his world-wide travels.

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  21. These are so great! I like how your personalities shine through with such economy of words. I need to learn to do this.

    This is what I’m working on for my blog bio: Jennifer Muller is a follower of Jesus Christ and a widow with three school-aged children.  She hopes to inspire other widows to live intentionally because there is hope to be found and life to be lived, not just survived, because there is a God who is faithful.

    Reply