The Importance of an Author Bio for Self-Published Authors
Self-published and published authors need to consider the value an author bio brings to the table. While published authors benefit from the publisher and PR agent assisting them with their bio, self-published writers must compile it themselves.
Writing a bio is a challenging disposition for many authors. It helps to remember what you want your bio to do for you when you list it on your website or media pages. When you understand what your bio does, you can write it with the end goal in mind, ensuring you get as much juice out of it as possible.
Your bio is a primary sales and reputation-building tool. Understanding how to write it properly lets you leverage it to attract more readers and generate more sales.
Your Author Bio Tells Your Audience Your Backstory
When penning your author bio, you’ll add details on your life, showing the reader what life circumstances led you to become an author. This strategy allows you to connect with the prospective reader, identifying with their life experience. When you connect with the reader, you inspire them, creating a sense of community with your target audience.
Your backstory doesn’t have to be pages long, but it gives brief details of what led you to your writing career and the inspiration you draw from it. You’re looking at creating 50 to 100 words that attract the reader’s attention, helping you build rapport with them.
Your Author Bio Builds Your Credibility
Your author bio showcases your education and your successes. It gives the reader something to consider when purchasing your book. For instance, do they want to read something by a highly-awarded author or a writer without accolades?
The more awards and prizes you have, the more credibility and authority you build with your readership. For instance, think about walking on a newly built bridge. Do you want to hear that its developer slapped it together without knowledge of civil engineering? Or would you feel safer knowing that a qualified individual constructed it?
The Author’s Bio Showcases Your Work
Your bio acts as a showcase for your work. While mentioning your past achievements is important, it’s a good idea to tell the prospective reader about your previous books. If they like your novel, they’ll know there are more titles to cover and likely enjoy your other work as much as their first reading experience when they discovered you.
List your top-selling novels in your bio if you have more than four previous releases. Listing more than four books overwhelms the reader, and they don’t need that much choice. It also adds length to your bio, boring the reader. For instance, while Stephen King is one of the best fiction writers of all time, including all his titles in his bio would be a waste of space. Keep it to four books if you have that many titles available.
Listing your work also shows the reader you have a career, and they can expect your writing to be good if you have so many titles. As a self-published author, it’s up to you to promote your work. If you don’t do it, nobody else will feel compelled to do it for you. Leverage your bio to promote your other titles, and your sales will increase.
The Author Bio Builds Your Email List
Self-published authors don’t have the luxury of depending on the publishing authority or an agent to promote their work. Publishers have entire PR departments dedicated to boosting their writer’s brand image. You have only your desire and a few tools at your disposal.
A website is a vital tool for any self-published author’s marketing plan. However, having a website hanging around in cyberspace is useless if you don’t do anything to drive traffic to it. Leave a link to your website in your bio, and you’ll notice more traffic arriving at your site. Understanding traffic-building strategies are the first part of the puzzle, but what will your visitors do when they land there?
Your email list is the core of your website marketing strategy. Offer the prospective reader a value offer in exchange for their name and email list. It could be a chapter of your new book or a free novella. When they give you their information in exchange for the value offer, you start building a list of names to market to for future releases.
Your Author Bio Displays Your Interests
As mentioned, your readership reads your bio to get an idea of your work and who you are. Humanizing yourself with your audience is the fastest way to build rapport with them. Your bio should include points of interest in your life regarding your hobbies and how you spend your free time. These trinkets of information on your personal life show your softer side.
By listing your interests, such as your family and pets, you connect with the prospective reader with similar interests. They understand you’re not a writing machine sitting behind your word processor 24/7. Keep your interests general and specific to your genre. For instance, if you write thrillers, mention how you enjoy a good game of Cluedo with friends.
Your Author Bio Visualizes Your Persona
An effective author bio includes a photo of yourself. You’ll need a professional to take this for you so they can capture your image in high definition. As the adage goes, a picture says a thousand words, so keep that in mind. Do you want to appear professional or more relaxed? Your decision could affect sales dramatically, so match it to your writing style and genre.
For instance, if you’re writing literary fiction, a black-and-white photo of you in a suit seated at the desk in your office would be the best choice for your bio photo. If you write children’s stories, a color picture of you in a children’s park with your kids will connect with your prospective readership.
Whichever strategy you use, keep the focus on you and look at the camera; it’s like making eye contact with someone you meet for the first time, engaging them in your persona.