If we want to connect with our readers we need to let them into our world. Although the elusive writer figure has been much romanticized in the past, these days a well-written author bio is an essential part of building your brand. It should be succinct and reflect your personality. Writing an author bio can be unnerving, especially for new authors, so here's a few tips to ensure your author bio doesn't put readers to sleep:
Keep it concise
No one likes to read a pointlessly long description. Your author bio should be no more a paragraph covering your experience writing, previous books and a fun fact or two. Rather than telling your life story or listing every award you have won focus on relating to your readers and even throwing in some humor where appropriate.
Picture this
Readers love a good author photo. It allows us to form an instant impression of an author, fair or otherwise. Your author headshot needs to be professional quality and convey the impression you want to give your readers. Think about your work and how you'd like to be portrayed; open, honest, fun loving, playful or studious and serious?
Include Your Contact Details
While you don't have to provide everyone who shells out for your book with your phone number, you do want to give readers a way to find you. Include your author website and social media usernames.
Keep it fresh
As your writing career progresses it's important to keep your author bio up-to-date and representative of yourself and your writing. Make sure to revisit and revise your bio prior to any new publication.
Want to grow your author Instagram account? These tips will make it easy to take stunning photographs and build a reader-attracting Instagram feed in no time.
400 million users a day means you can’t afford to ignore Instagram Stories any longer. For authors, Stories can be a fantastic way to take your readers behind-the-scenes in your writing, show them what you are currently working on and keep them updated on upcoming events. In this post we cover all the Instagram Story content ideas, tips and tricks you need to reach readers, increase follower numbers and boost book sales.
Your Instagram bio only features one precious link. One chance to direct your readers where you want them to go. So, how can you best optimize this link to make it as easy as possible for your readers to get to your best content?
As a writer your book marketing to-list can seem endlessly long. Often authors are already juggling multiple roles with full-time work, writing, childcare and other responsibilities. You may be navigating the steep learning curve of self-publishing, on top of which you are expected to do all your own book marketing and now maintain a regular presence on social media as well. How to fit in time for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram when it all seems too much? Let’s look at how you can work smarter instead of harder by simplifying your social media in three easy steps.
Looking for the best hashtags to grow your readership? Wondering how many to use for Instagram, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube? Hashtags remain one of the most effective ways to grow your visibility and increase reader engagement. In this post we look at the golden rules of hashtag usage on every social media platform and essential hashtags for writers.
With over 800 million users, Instagram is a massive marketplace that writers can’t afford to ignore. A solid Instagram following means more readers, more book sales and stronger connections with your audience.
So how do you grow your Instagram following? Here are 11 top tips that will help you grow your influence and reach more readers.
We all wish we had more time in the day to write. Perhaps you’ve felt despondent by the days, weeks, or even years being swallowed up by endless obligations that don’t allow you the time you need to work on your manuscript. Given that a thirty-hour day isn’t coming anytime soon, let's look at how you can make the better use of the writing time you do have.
The ongoing COVID-19 outbreak has seen an abrupt and significant change in our daily lives. For a large proportion of us, this means self-isolation and more time at home. As this new reality sets in you may find yourself with more time on your hands. For some, it’s the perfect time to finally write that novel. The one you are always saying you’ll write someday. So, how can you maximize your writing productivity during quarantine without losing your sanity? Here are my top tips to make the most of your newfound time.
Think you don’t have time to write? Think again. The truth is even the busiest person can find time to write, be it as little as ten minutes a day. Many famous authors including Anne Rice, Toni Morrison and Harper Lee wrote their books while holding down full-time jobs and many authors continue to write while juggling family commitments. The truth is we all have the same amount of time in a day and it’s up to us what we do with it. Here are six ways authors fit writing into their lives.
Whether your goal is to release more books, complete NaNoWriMo or get that first draft down before the idea evaporates, almost every writer would love to write faster. To make writing a viable career, you need to produce quality books regularly. And while a well-written book can take time, there are some habits that can help you speed up the process, without losing any of the quality.
If you are an author then you are also a marketer. Long gone are the days when you could just upload your book to Amazon and it would sell itself. Increasingly author life is one of entrepreneurialism. You are responsible for not only writing but also the marketing of your book and balancing both is an ongoing juggling act. So before you self-combust from overwhelm at all the tasks you have ahead of you, here are our tips for mastering the balance between writing and book marketing.
If ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ is your mantra for book marketing then it’s time to replace that with ‘Just do it’. You know it needs to be done, yet day after day it’s there at the bottom of your to-do-list and you haven’t started on it. We all have tasks we procrastinate on, jobs we should be doing but search for any excuse not to. We tell ourselves we’ll do it when we are in the perfect mood, the right time of day, when we have oodles of time for the task. Well that time is now! Let’s get rid of that guilt and get started on your book marketing.
Dream of being able to have adventures in exotic lands while simultaneously writing your book? Trip coming up and worried about it clashing with your book marketing plans? Or already working overseas, laptop perched precariously on hotel pillows? It’s a blessing to be able to travel and work at the same time and it brings it’s own set of challenges. Here are my top tips for maintaining your book marketing and writing momentum on the road.
Every day we are bombarded by a constant stream of book marketing tools, techniques and trends. Added to this is the highlight reel of social media, making us feel that everyone else is hustling so much harder and smarter than we are. It’s enough to make even the most persistent author feel like giving up. So how to succeed in book market when it feels like you are trying to eat soup with a fork? Here are our straight-forward strategies for beating book marketing overwhelm.
As a writer your book marketing to-list can seem endlessly long. Often authors are already juggling multiple roles with full-time work, writing, childcare and other responsibilities. You may be navigating the steep learning curve of self-publishing, on top of which you are expected to do all your own book marketing and now maintain a regular presence on social media as well. How to fit in time for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram when it all seems too much? Let’s look at how you can work smarter instead of harder by simplifying your social media in three easy steps.
Social media is an integral part of your book marketing strategy but how long do your posts remain effective for? How many days or minutes until your content no longer appears on your reader’s Facebook feed or Instagram stream? All authors can benefit from knowing the average lifespan of their social media posts and how to extend post visibility to reach more readers. So let’s examine the major social media platforms further.