How to write “About the Author”

Writing your own bio ought to be easy — after all, what do you know better than your own accomplishments? Even so, this essential little book element is often problematic for authors. Here are a few tips to help you make your “About the Author” exactly right.

• Remember that “About the Author” has multiple purposes. Some people will be reading it before they buy or read your book to decide whether your work is worth considering. Others will read it after reading the book to get a fuller idea of what they just read and who wrote it. Others may be reading from it without reading the book, for example, if they are considering hiring you for consulting or to give a speech. And it’s very common for people introducing you before a speech to read directly from your About the Author page. You need to keep all those audiences and purposes in mind as you edit your bio.
• Write it in the third person, in paragraphs. It’s weird, but yes, you need to write about yourself as an outside observer would. Everyone knows you’re writing your own bio, but a first-person bio won’t work for your speaker intro, for example. Just pretend for a moment that you’re not you as you write about yourself. And don’t write it a bulleted list of accomplishments; people expect prose, not a PowerPoint presentation about your greatness.
• Don’t just copy your corporate bio. Corporate executives have bios on their web sites (“Meet the team.”). Those are designed to support the company, not a book or author career. Mine them for accomplishments to list on your “About the Author,” but don’t just copy them over unchanged.
• Don’t wait for the last moment. It’s easy to forget this element when you deliver your manuscript. But if you have to scramble to assemble it later, you’ll regret not having the time to polish it to make it perfect for the jobs it needs to do. Start including this in your drafts as you get to the end of the writing process so you have a chance to revise it with each draft.
• Use facts to balance egotism and modesty. Shyness and coyness aren’t going to do the job, but neither is unbridled self-praise. “Joe Smith is the greatest marketer in history,” umm, no. “Joe Smith is pretty good at marketing after doing it for a couple of years,” lame. To find the right balance, focus on facts (for example, you launched and sold three successful companies, your book won an award, you’ve spoken in 35 countries). Facts aren’t self-promoting or shy, they’re just true.
• Front-load the text, with the most important bits in the first paragraph. Many people will stop reading after one paragraph, especially people who are introducing you as a speaker. (As I can tell you from experience, there’s nothing more excruciating than listening to someone attempt to introduce you by reading a full page of text about you while you’re standing right there.) What is the one thing you’d really like people to know about you? My “About the Author” starts with “Josh Bernoff is an expert on how business books can propel thinkers to prominence. Book projects on which he has collaborated have generated more than $20 million for their authors.” Those are exactly the things I want readers to know about me.
• Focus on externally visible accomplishments, not stuff you do at work. Your resume might start with “Delivered three major software products in the same year,” but that’s designed to impress recruiters, not readers. Instead, focus on books you’ve written, awards you’ve won, groups you’ve spoken to, and other accomplishments that are externally visible. Some accomplishments are appropriate in both contexts, like starting companies, growing companies, creating things that won awards, and the like. The rule of thumb is: if this accomplishment would be more likely to impress your boss than somebody who’s never met you, leave it out.
• Write with a view towards your objectives. What are you an expert in? How would you like to be known? What would make someone hire you to give a speech or a workshop or tap you as a consultant? Make sure you skew your list to the accomplishments that support those objectives.
• Keep it to no more than 400 words. The more impressive the author, the shorter the bio. You’re going to have to leave things out, and that’s okay. One to one-and-a-half pages is ideal. And leave out old accomplishments that are no longer relevant. (I had a 4.0 average in college and helped create a product that won the InfoWorld Software Product of the Year, but neither is mentioned in my author bio, because nobody cares.)
• Include the name of your book and the URL of your web site. It’s seems silly to note that you wrote a book in the “About the Author” that appears in that book. But you’ll be happy you did when somebody is reading it as an introduction to you for a speech. And include your web site so people can look up what you’re doing now and contact you.
• End it with a sentence that’s not about work. It’s fun to know that you have three kids and five dogs, or that you’ve bowled 300 four times, or that you can rap Tom Lehrer’s “The Elements” in 76 seconds. People will pluck those things out and use them to introduce you. But one sentence is all you get. More than that is cutesy.
• Create some alternative versions for other uses. Having written the bio, you should also create some variants. Ideally, you can use the bio unchanged as your author description on sites like Amazon. But you’ll also want a short version of 30 words or so to put on your book flap. And you may want to revise the full bio if you’re submitting it along with a request to speak at a conference, if you judge that conference organizers would be looking for something different from book readers. You’ll also want to revise and update it if you use it in a book proposal for your next book.
• Revise it with each book. Authors evolve, especially as they publish new books. So take a fresh look at your “About the Author,” each time you publish a new book.

Reflect

It’s good to take a look at your accomplishments every year or two. “About the Author” is a good excuse to do that. People really do want to know about who wrote the book they just read, or are about to read. This is your chance to take a moment in the spotlight.