Publishing

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7 Rules for Writing a Kick-Ass Author Bio

I’ve been speaking more and more lately – which necessitated the need to create a formal speaker one-sheet with my bio and an intro. And that led me to remember that it was time to update my author bio sheet for the year!

Here are my top 7 rules for writing a kick-ass author bio!

1. Write in third person
Use your full name the first time. (Be sure to decide which variation of your name you want to use! I’ve been transitioning from Kimberly to Kim – I like Kim better!) You’ll use plenty of pronouns so be sure to intermingle your name in there as well. It’s up to you if you’ll use your first name or your last. Personally, I usually use my first name (Kim) and save the Ms. Eldredge for more formal bits of writing. Now, if I was DOCTOR Eldredge, I might be more inclined to use “Dr. Eldredge” as opposed to Kim.

2. You’ll have different versions of the bio
At a bare minimum, you’ll need three versions:

  • End-of-book (300-500 words)
  • End-of-article (100-200 words)
  • Blurb (25 words or less)

AND you might have different variations on the bio as well. I write in two distinct genres, outdoor recreation and book publishing. My bio for my outdoor recreation books isn’t going to impress the entrepreneurial world; they don’t care many year’s camping experience I have!

#amwriting #bookpublishing You'll need 3 versions of your author bio. Find out what they are here: Click To Tweet

Don’t forget that each version needs to link your opt-in gift!

3. Lead with your credibility
This can be your degree, training or certificates. Just make sure it applies! If you have a certificate in underwater basket weaving but your book is about investing, it might be best to leave that “credential” off. Your credibility can also include awards you’ve won, memberships, and education. This can be a bit dry (okay so a LOT dry) so limit it to the most relevant. Also skip the alphabet soup UNLESS you know your audience will

  1. KNOW what the abbreviation means
  2. CARE that you have earned it.

Keep Reading!

You’re Making Your Bestselling Book too #$%*! Complicated

Let me lay it out for you:

You’re making your bestselling book too complicated.

I don’t {necessarily} mean your topic or the writing – although it’s been my experience that most people make that too complicated too.

Nope. I’m talking about the idea of a Bestselling Book.

You’re getting all wrapped up with the peripherals and you’re forgetting the three things that really matter:

1. Your Message

The message you want to share in your bestselling book is the guiding light, the golden thread, it’s the REASON you’re writing at all.

I believe, deep in my heart, that your message matters to the world. That your message is the reason you’re here – and the reason you’re meant to help someone. It’s the foundation of your book and your work in the world.

And you’ve been trying to make your message fancy. And have it down pat – like an elevator speech.

Give it over, already!

Your Message Matters. (Full stop.)

Your message matters. Don't let it be missing from your book! #amwriting Click To TweetIt matters in a heart-to-heart, soul-to-soul connection. It matters in a you’ve-had-a-bad-day, let-me-hold-your-hand way.

You aren’t being judged on the words you use but on your clarity of heart. Show your heart, use words that are honest and real.

2. Your Marketing

Gasp! I said… marketing.

Breathe.

Again.

It’s not a complicated Super Bowl commercial.

Marketing is the way you’ll share your message – which is the vehicle for your book.

Marketing is:

  • Being authentic.
  • Being clean and clear.
  • Being attractive.

Marketing is sharing YOU and YOUR MESSAGE in a way that excites other people.

Marketing is sharing YOU and YOUR MESSAGE in a way that excites other people. So market your book! Click To Tweet
Keep Reading!

Are the “Unknowns” Preventing You from Writing Your Book?

I’d like to think that I know a thing or two about allowing the “unknowns” in life take over and derail my plans…

For example, when I first started writing books of my own, I would get 80-90% of the way through the draft and then just…

stop.

Why?

Because I didn’t know what would come next. I didn’t know what editing and layout and cover design and publishing and royalties looked like.

Let’s be real:

If you never finish writing your book, you never have to figure out publishing!

If you never finish writing your book, you never have to figure out how to publish it. Is that what you REALLY want? Click To Tweet

The same thing happened to me last year when I was pregnant. I couldn’t imagine what life with a baby looked like. So a lot of my life just… stopped. I get it that nobody has a crystal ball but I just couldn’t wrap my head around how life would be the same and how it would change.

I didn’t even know where to begin. So I stayed stuck. Playing small. Being miserable (and broke) and then feeling bad about myself and my lack of “progress.”

Here’s the thing about me: I actually rarely procrastinate. But because I’m always busy doing something—and telling myself it’s an activity that is getting me closer to a goal—I can tell myself I’m making progress.

Yet, when there are so many moving parts at any one time, I get stuck knowing where to start, what to do next (or what to do first!), and how to keep everything I’m doing moving forward.

This is a classic definition of Unknowns Inducing Overwhelm or UIO.

When that negative, viscous cycle starts up in your head and you can’t sleep. When the “Whatifs” have their party – and start partying about things you didn’t even know you were worried about until you suddenly can’t sleep.

Keep Reading!

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How to Market Your Book to Best-Seller

During my time at the “Black Woman Millionaire Live Transformational Experience” I did one thing:

Focused on how to market your book to best-seller status.

It’s what I spoke about on stage (twice), it is what I focused at during the round table lunch discussions for three days, and it was what I got to talk to wonderful women about, 1-on-1 in a series of powerful conversations.

It’s why I recorded this short (2 minute, 11 second video) – because this is near and dear to my heart.


And don’t forget to subscribe to my YouTube Channel!

 

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Kindle version or print version? (How to publish your book!)

Almost every author I speak to offers a variation of this question:

I’m thinking of starting with a Kindle book and doing a paperback in six months. What do you think?

That’s a great question! Here’s the quick and easy answer:

NO!

I’m a firm believer that you should publish your book in BOTH versions! For a LAUNCH, you should release just one version and follow up later with the other. (Trust me, marketing!)

For the long-haul of a book, your message, you want both a Kindle version and a paperback version. And here’s why:

Keep Reading!

When is the Time to Take Action on Your Book?

When I talk to people 1-on-1 about their book (no matter where they are in the process) we look at why they’ve been stuck, why they’re unable to get where they want to go, and how long they’ve been there. It can be a pain-filled conversation as they look at the uncomfortable truths about missed dreams and opportunities.

Yet…

At some point, the conversation turns from the pains of past to the hopes for the future. To dig into what life would be like if…

  • If the book were written – the sweetness of a dream fulfilled and a promise kept.
  • If the book were published – the lives that would be touched.
  • If the book were a best-seller – the credibility gained and the doors opened.

That hope is a sweet thing.

But all too often, it stops at hope. The conversation gets scary again when it’s time to take ACTION – especially when it’s time to make an investment in that dream.

And I get it. It’s been so long of wishing-hoping-dreaming that an ACTION is terrifying. Things get real, really quickly. And this is where hope just isn’t enough.

(And no, I’m not going to blindly spout off ‘You’ve got to take action!’ Yes, action is needed – but at the right MOMENT.)

Hope is the dewy eyed, trembling look into the beautiful future that holds all your dreams. It’s the shuddering feeling in your heart and soul – wishing.

There is a place for hope!

Hope is the thread you grasp at when faith is too big a challenge. Pulling that thread closer to you, inch by inch, is the action that brings faith into grasp.

Hope isn’t enough – you need faith.

Hope is powerful but it isn't enough. To really create your dreams, you need faith. Click To TweetFaith is something else. It’s a tangible something that lies outside of you. Faith in your dreams means you know that it will be a reality. Faith is truth, unarguable. It’s knowing that a dropped item will fall, the sun will get up, babies will cry, cars will run out of gas, and you’ll need to breathe tomorrow.

Faith and hope are very different.

So let’s get all geeky on this, okay?

Hope is the action – it’s the verb (hoping). It’s next to impossible to take actions, to do the next step, while hoping. Because hope IS the action that you’re taking.

Faith is a noun – it’s a THING. You can act from a place of faith because faith is not the action – you’ve got room for other actions. To carry the thread/string metaphor:

Faith is the rope that creates the harness around you – holding you secure – so that you can take action.

Hope is powerful. It leads you to faith. And faith is required – it allows you to get into action – and stay there!

By the way: Action alone won’t get you your dreams because it’s unguided by any larger purpose. Unguided action has another name…

Busy.

You’re “busy” working on your book, but you’re really not writing. You’re checking email, surfing Google, watching cate videos, and dreaming. It’s okay, it’s not your fault. You don’t know what actions to TAKE.

So what happens when you have hope and try to take action?

Keep Reading!

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