Part III – Beginning your Public Relations Campaign with a Professional Photo and Bio

While your manuscript is being edited, it’s time for you to get busy preparing for your self-marketing campaign. You will need to have a professional photograph taken for your back cover and will need to write both a short (50 words or less) and long bio to use on your web site as well as other various forms while promoting your book.

Why is a Professional Photo So Important?

As you begin to build your marketing plan (I will talk about this in the next post), it is important to start creating the kind of image you wish to portray. A professional photographer can provide the kind of head shot that you will be proud to display on your book cover, inside flap, and in all your media packages you will be sending out. A blurry, poor quality photograph taken by an amateur or family member will not portray you in a professional light. It is true that readers, agents, and radio show hosts will often rely on a good photo to make a decision whether or not to buy your book, represent you, or have you guest on a show. It’s a fact that a crisp, high-resolution photo that truly illustrates your personality will help you sell books.

When you hire a photographer, you want to ask for a head shot, in color, and you will also need the photographer to provide you with a jpeg file of your photo that you can send out electronically.

Photo Do’s

Wear a solid color on top (such as blue or green). Don’t worry about what you are wearing on the bottom half of your body, as your shot will be taken from the upper-chest up only.
Men should wear collared-shirts.
Manicure your nails as they may be in the shot if the photographer wants you to rest your head on your hands.

Photo Don’t’s

Do not wear white or wild prints.
Keep the jewelry to a minimum.
Do not wear more make-up than you usually wear as you want to look natural and not overdone in the photo.

Practice smiling in the mirror – you want to seem approachable and relaxed in your photo, not too posed.

Bringing Out Your Best Accomplishments in Your Bio

There’s a fine line between writing a great bio that details your writing experience with a little personal information thrown in to help you build a relationship with your readers before they read your book, and writing a lengthy bio that doesn’t demonstrate your professional credibility or reflect your true personality.

Write your bio in third person. Your short bio should include your full name, your college degree, where you work, whether you have written any other books, and personal/regional information. An example of a concise bio might be:

Award-winning humor writer Vicky DeCoster has over 25 years of writing experience. She is the author of two books of humorous essays and her work has been published in over 60 magazines, books, and on several web sites. Vicky lives in Nebraska with her husband and two children. Visit her at www.wackywomanhood.com.

Generally, your shorter bio will be requested more often, but it is a good idea to have a longer piece ready to go when needed. A lengthier bio might feature why you love to write, a few of the magazines you’ve been published in, or detail your professional accomplishments. I use a longer bio in all my media packages. I insert my professional photo in the left corner along with all my contact information, and separate the bio into three to four shorter paragraphs, making it easier for the recipient to read.

As you continue to build your credibility as an author and expert on your particular subject, a professional photo and well-written bio are two stepping stones that will lead you down a path to success, respect, and admiration from not just your fans, but the media as well.

Read more about Vicky at www.wackywomanhood.com.