How to Market a Book: Author Bios and Profiles

Next thing to discuss is your author bio and profile.

You may be wondering, isn't that the same thing? Ah ha! No! OK, yes. Sort of. See? That's why I have to write about these things.

Author Bio
An author bio is similar to the blurb about yourself you put on your book jacket. It is a short overview about you that should include, if nonfiction, why you are qualified to write the book on the topic you've chosen.

If fiction, you may just want to mention something about what spurred you on to write.

The key to the bio is that it should be short, a paragraph. Bios are used for some of the following situations:

• Captions on photos
• On blog tours
• For publicity materials like flyers
• Blog and Amazon profiles
  

Author Profile
The profile can be a much lengthier description of you and your background. A profile is where you want to do what my mom calls "brain dumping." Anything you think people might be interested in, educational degrees, certifications, how many pets you have, what area of the world you inhabit, your hobbies, etc. Your author profile will likely be used in situations like these:

• author interviews for background
• on your website or blog
• snippets may be taken to give articles layers

Credentials
One other thing you may want to list is your credentials as they relate to your writing topic. For example, if you've written a book about dealing with death and you are a psychologist, you'll want to create a list of all your licenses, certifications, whether you lecture or teach, and if you write articles. The reason for this is simple: your qualifications underscore how much trust your readers will have.

This is most important for nonfiction books. For fiction, you may be a certified Ford mechanic in your daily life, but if you've written a novel about a girl who wins a horse show after overcoming all odds, well, it isn't going to help sell your book. Now if you happen to be a horse trainer ... that's, well, a horse of a different color!

Keep checking in for additional posts about the "How to Market a Book Publicity Shopping List" Series.