How to Write a Great Bio for Your Children’s Book
Whether it’s something that you’ve wanted to do ever since you were a little boy or girl, or it’s something you decided on during your adult life, you set the goal of writing a children’s book. After spending a great deal of time researching, investigating, reading published children’s books, spending time with members of the age group you wanted to gear your story toward, tons of hours writing, proofreading yourself and working with children’s book proofreaders – way too much coffee, you’ve finally done it! You’ve successfully written a children’s book and you’re ready to publish.
First, let us start by saying congratulations! Writing a children’s book is so rewarding, but after all of your hard work, there’s one more thing that you need to attend to: your author bio. Writing your own author bio can be just as overwhelming and stress-inducing as writing the children’s book itself – especially if you’ve never done it before.
What is an author bio? Why is it important? How do you write one? To find the answers to these questions and learn how to write a great author’s bio for your children’s book, keep on reading!
What is an author bio, and why is it important?
Imagine putting all of that time, energy, and hard work into writing a children’s book, publishing it, and it’s well-received by your audience, but your audience doesn’t know anything about you? That’s where an author bio is for.
An author bio, as the title suggests, is a short biography of a book’s author. It’s that little blurb that highlights important details about an author, as well as a photo, on the back or inside jacket cover of a book, on an Amazon page, and on marketing materials. It provides readers with a snapshot of your life and introduces them to you, as a person. It helps your readers establish a connection with you, and in turn, it can help them establish an even stronger connection with your writing.
An author bio is important for several reasons. As was pointed out above, it helps your readers establish a connection with you, which can also help them establish an even stronger connection with your writing. It also established your reputation as an author, which can help to influence sales. Believe it or not, an author’s reputation is one of the main factors that readers consistently state drives their decision to select the books they read. An author bio can help you establish yourself as an authority on the topic that you’ve written about, and because readers are more inclined to purchase books by authors who they view as authorities, well, it makes sense that your author bio can also help to drive sales of your children’s book.
How to write a bio for a children’s book
Your author bio should accomplish a few key objectives. Below, we’ll highlight these objectives and discuss how to achieve them.
Make it interesting and relevant
Readers are more likely to read books that are written by authors they find interesting. It’s for this reason that making sure your author bio is attention-grabbing is important. What information can you include in your bio that will pique the interest of your readers’, or depending on the age of your audience, those who will be reading your book to children? Are there any notable accomplishments or achievements that relate to your experience as a writer or the content of your book that readers would find interesting?
For example, if your book is about the underdog who finally became the start football player after his hard work and dedication paid off, if the story was inspired by actual events in your life, you could highlight that in your bio:
“After trying out for the football team four times and never being select, his hard work finally paid off when… “
Be informative
An author bio should be informative, as providing your readers with more information about you – the author – is the main purpose of writing a bio. The information you share in your bio should help your target readers decide whether or not they should purchase your book. The information you provide should also encourage readers to learn more about you.
Including markers that establish your credibility is beneficial for readers, as it allows them to see that you are an expert in the topic you have written about. It’s important to note that when we say “expert”, we don’t mean that you have a doctorate degree in a particular field of study; in fact, you don’t have to have any high-ranking degree or specific professional experience to effectively discuss a topic. By “expert”, we mean that you’re knowledgeable about or have first-hand experience with the topic. Credibility markers allow you to establish yourself as an expert. The following are just a few examples of some markers that you can include in your author bio to establish your credibility:
- You have worked with or still work with children
- You’re a parent of a disabled child
- You were bullied yourself as a child
- You lost your childhood home to a fire
- You have been featured in the media
Establish a connection with the reader
If you have not already established a connection with your readers with the informative details you provided, make sure that you focus on making that connection. There are several ways that you can achieve this; by showing your readers that you have a lot in common with them, or that you’ve endured the same problems as them, for example. Don’t be afraid to let your creativity shine, as doing so will only help to foster an even more powerful connection with your audience.
While the title, the content, the illustrations, and the cover art are all vital elements of a children’s book, the author bio is another element that’s just as important, yet is often overlooked. With the tips shared above – and a little creativity – you should be able to create an author bio that will really help to make your children’s book shine.