Your author's information is a brief bio — not a resume — that highlights your qualifications to write your book. It should include your career experience or education only if these factors are relevant to the topic of your book. If you have twenty years of experience in dealing with diabetic patients as a doctor, for example, or if you have a degree in psychology, you would include that in your proposal for the inspirational living-with-diabetes book. If you have your degree and work experience in computer science, it wouldn't be relevant for this project, so it's best to omit them.

Highlight Your Writing Experience

If you have published writing credits, put those first in your bio. This lets the agent or editor know right away that you have some writing experience, even if this is your first book. If your published credits include national newspapers or magazines, mention them by name; if your work has been for smaller organizations, mention that your work has appeared in these publications, but don't go into specifics. If you're a regular contributor to a newsletter with a decent readership, a respected and well-known Internet site, or similar outlets, you can mention that experience, too.

List your most impressive writing credits first. Published credits should be listed in the following order: book credits, magazine and national newspaper credits, local and regional media credits, and alternative media credits. Here's how a bio for a reporter might begin: “Jane Brown is an award-winning writer with more than a decade of experience in print journalism. Her work has appeared in Adoption magazine and USA Today, as well as in several local and regional publications.”

If Jane Brown already has a book credit to her name, her bio might start like this: “Jane Brown, author of The Great American Nonfiction Book (ABC Publishing, 1998), is an award-winning writer with more than a decade of experience in print journalism.”

If you've received awards for your writing, be sure to include that information, with the most prestigious award listed first. Don't worry about including dates or other details; you can say you received an award from the California Business Writers Association without specifying which article or series of articles the award was for or when you won it.

If Jane Brown is trying to sell her first book, and if she hasn't won any awards or been published in national media, her bio might begin this way: “Jane Brown has more than a decade of experience in print journalism. Her work has appeared in numerous daily and weekly newspapers and regional magazines throughout the Midwest.”

Notice that the emphasis always is on Jane Brown's writing experience, regardless of the scope of that experience. The message to an agent or editor is that Jane Brown is a published writer, which helps her sell herself as being qualified to write her book.

Other Experience

If you don't have any published credits, do not say so in your bio. Instead, talk about other experience you have that relates to your book topic. Say you're the doctor writing the book about living with diabetes, but you don't have any writing credits to boast of. Here's one way to begin your bio: “John Black, M.D., has spent twenty years treating diabetic patients of all ages, economic strata, and ethnic backgrounds. Throughout his years of practice, he has collected anecdotes and tales of individuals who have transcended the physical effects of their disease to lead lives full of accomplishment and inspiration.”

In this case, the emphasis is on John Black's extensive experience and familiarity with the subject of his book. The first paragraph of his bio highlights his medical degree, which adds heft to his credentials as an authority on diabetes. It also shows how he came up with the idea for his subject and subtly emphasizes that his topic is based on years of experience with real-life diabetic patients. The one thing it doesn't say is that John Black is an unpublished writer.

Additional Information

In general, your author's bio should be no more than three or four paragraphs. It's not meant to be a list of your accomplishments, but a brief introduction of yourself. The bio always is written in the third person.

The first paragraph highlights your writing experience and/or other ways in which you are qualified to write your book. The second paragraph expands on your first paragraph, listing the organizations from which you've received writing awards, favorable quotes from reviews of your work, or other relevant experience, such as radio or television appearances. If necessary, this might extend to the third paragraph. The last paragraph should include brief personal information.

Here's how a typical author's bio might read in full:

Jane Brown is an award-winning writer with more than a decade of experience in television, radio, and print journalism. She has appeared on C-SPAN's Washington Journal and has served as a story consultant for the CBS newsmagazine 60 Minutes.

Her journalism honors include awards from the Montana Associated Press Managing Editors, Women in Communications, and the Maryland-Delaware-D.C. Press Association. A native of Oregon, Brown now lives outside Washington, D.C., with her husband.

What if I'm collaborating with another person on a book?

Include “About the Author” information for each person, on separate pages. Don't worry here about how the work and responsibility will be divided; if both your names will appear on the book's cover, you need a bio for each of you.