From author Anne R. Allen:
No matter how great a book’s cover and blurb, one thing can stop me from buying yet another ebook for my Kindle: an author bio on the buy page that screams “amateur.”
I spent some time as an editor, so when I pick up a book for relaxation, I want to know it’s going to be a professional work and not something that makes me want to run for my red pencil.
If you start your bio “I’ve always wanted to write a book, ever since I won a penmanship prize in third grade, and now that I’ve self-published, “If My Cats Could Talk” my wish has come true…,” all you’ve told me is you’re a beginner.
Is that really what you want your customers to know?
. . . .
An author bio should not be a chronological report of your whole life. And you don’t want a list of dry facts, like a resume. But it’s also not a personal essay about your hopes and dreams. Readers don’t care about that stuff when they’re deciding whether to buy a book.
What readers do care about is an author’s competence. We want to know if you’re qualified to:
- Teach me something.
- Entertain me.
- Make me laugh.
If your author bio doesn’t convey your qualifications to do those things, the reader is going to move on.
Link to the rest at Anne R. Allen’s Blog
Here’s a link to Anne R. Allen’s books. If you like an author’s post, you can show your appreciation by checking out their books.
I may not read author bios, but I do tend to read bios at the bottom of blog posts.
And yes, I also like the bios with the fun fact – it’s more humanising than knowing where they went to school or that they won some literary prize I’ve never heard of (or, worse, think is a scam).
I think you should have one for those that care about them. I only occasionally read them and kind of like the ones that are a bit funny.
But what I loath is book descriptions that start with what other books your book is like or other awards or books you may have written. That is not a book description and if you are not giving me a book description in the first sentence of the book description, you have lost me. You may have made your way to a book description eventually, but I will never know. (you do know that your book description is often cut off and I have to do something to see the whole thing right? The first sentence better work)
The author’s bio is definitely more important for non-fiction. Is this author an expert or a loony? However, I took the advice from Bookbub and rewrote my bio on Amazon. The reader will chuckle, rather than fall asleep.
The only time I ever read a bio before reading a book is if I’m reading non-fic. I want to know if the author went to school for the subject matter, if they have experience to talk about said subject matter, and if they’re being woo about it. The last part is an automatic reject.
The only time I have EVER paid attention to an author bio is after I have already read and loved a book.
The only exception to this is if it’s a fitness or self-help book.
I think Anne has a little too much editorial wind in her sails.
This excerpt doesn’t do justice to the entire post, which is quite helpful for writing bios of various kinds, a task that many writers dread. A bio might not matter to the average reader, true, but it might get quoted in an article or blog post that mentions our work. It should therefore be considered as part of our marketing material, and updated regularly. (Now I’m going to slink away and do something about my cringe-worthy bios.)
Agreed. In any case, even if only a few potential readers read the bio first, do I really want to risk turning them off? I suspect my own bio could use an overhaul. 😉
I will check an author’s bio on the way to looking at the reviews (I start with the one stars, end at three stars). If there isn’t one, or it’s some tedious rendition of My Life So Far, or a rant about how liberals/conservatives are idiots, I lose some respect for the author and often interest in the book.
The bio is part of the marketing of ourselves as authors. Don’t ignore it, or waste it by doing a bad one.
If I’m trying to decide between multiple books, the author’s bio could well be the deciding factor as to which one gets purchased. A bio is further down the list than reading a sample or reviews but it can matter to me.
^^
Agree with Shad. I read for the book. I don’t care where someone went to school or how many dogs (s)he has.
I get we all put some little bit of info in there, but I agree it is something I look at IF I like the book.
I think the bio for non-fiction is more important than for fiction, because I want to see the author’s bona fides or credentials to talk about the subject.
For fiction, it matters less, although I’m also turned off by the author’s “origin story”. One of the services I offer is writing author bios. Authors fill in a form and nowhere on there are questions like “why do you write” or “how did you start” or “what inspired you”. I ask the same questions that interest me when I read a bio: awards/achievements, type of writing (i.e. steamy romance, sci-fi thrillers), and something personal that’s interesting (works as a sheep herder, former nun, roller derby queen, etc.) Most of my favorite bios do include some kind of humor, even if what they write is deadly serious.
I don’t think I’ve ever looked at an author bio before reading a book. I need to love the book (or something in the book) to care about the bio of an author. Otherwise I don’t really care.
That goes for fiction or non-fiction — and I look up the bio for fiction authors a LOT less than non-fiction. (I fact check non-fiction AFTER reading.)
I agree, I never check author bios. My own author bios are all nonsense, like “John Smith is a talking giraffe and hopes one day to conquer Vermont”.
> I spent some time as an editor, so when I pick up a book for relaxation, I want to know it’s going to be a professional work and not something that makes me want to run for my red pencil.
—
Unfortunately too many others of your profession have much less rigorous standards.
I’ve read too many books from major publishers, where the editing apparently consisted of reading the first half-chapter, running it through a spell checker, and kicking the output to the printers.
A publisher’s imprint is no longer a sign that a book doesn’t contain issues that an editor should have corrected before it went into print.