How to Write an Author Bio: 3 Essential Elements (With Example)
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If you're currently reaching out to literary agents in the hopes of getting an offer of representation to publish your book, you might find yourself scratching your head at one element of the query letter that always seems to confuse and frustrate writers: the author bio.
What should you include in your author bio? What should you leave out? How long should it be? The author bio is a critical component of your query letter that you should absolutely include, but it can be one of the most confusing to approach, and it can frankly be challenging to write. So, I'm going to go through the three key elements of a stellar author bio and also explain what you should not include and how you should format the author bio. At the end, I’ll give you an example author bio that you can model yours after.
What to Include in an Author Bio
Let’s start with the three elements every author bio should include: your writing credentials, your professional background and where you’re based.
1. Your Writing Credentials
The first and most important key element of your author bio is your writing credentials. This could include a wide array of different types of credentials, including any previous publications that you have. That goes for any publications you have in magazines or newspapers or short stories in literary journals — any place where you've had some type of published written work.
This could also be any awards you've won for your writing or any membership in writing organizations. Or, you could mention conferences or workshops you’ve attended, many of which are highly regarded and well-known in the industry. If you have an MFA or a creative writing degree, you definitely want to mention that in your author bio. If you write outside of the context of your book, you can absolutely also mention that. Whether you run a blog for moms or you are also a journalist or a content writer professionally, definitely mention that because it speaks to the breadth of the type of writing you do.
If you have self-published, you can choose to mention this if you want. If your books have sold well or you've established a strong readership as a self-published author, I would definitely recommend including that in your author bio. However, if you have self-published and maybe you haven't gotten a lot of sales or the reviews aren't as good as you would like, then you don't necessarily need to call it out in your author bio. That said, you are going to eventually talk about this with any literary agent who is interested in working with you, so just keep that in mind.
Now, what if you reached the end of my list and you're saying, “I don't have any of those writing credentials”? Don't worry. And I mean it — don't worry! It is completely fine if this is your first foray into creative writing or if this is your first time trying to get published. There are plenty of authors who are in that exact position and still secure representation and book deals, so don't feel discouraged if you don't have any fancy writing credentials. In that case, you can simply say, “This is my debut book” in your author bio. That signals to the agent that you're a newcomer to the scene.
2. Your Professional Background
The second key element of your author bio is your professional background. The reason I recommend including this is because it gives the agent a sense of how writing fits into your life. It can be really interesting to know that during the day you're an ophthalmologist and then at night you're writing a novel. They do not expect that your professional background has to do with writing or has to be in a creative field, and they absolutely do not expect that you have quit your full-time job to write full-time at this point or at any point.
Mentioning your professional background is especially important if you are writing nonfiction, because in that case your authority as an author is very important to how you're approaching your book. The agent will likely want to see a connection between what you're writing about in the non-fiction space and your professional background that you go over in your author bio.
Now, what if you are not currently working professionally — either you're a student or you're retired or you're a caretaker? Again, that is totally fine and valid. You can feel free to mention that in your author bio if you feel comfortable doing so. If you are not currently working but you used to have a career, you can also reference what you formerly did for work.
3. Where You’re Based
The last key element of your author bio is where you're based. I'm not saying to include this because agents are only going to work with people based in certain locations; that's not the case at all, and most agents work with authors who are based globally, so long as they're writing in English (if they are looking to get published by an American or UK publishing house). But it is just good for the agent to know where you are based, especially because you are going to eventually have to share this with them when you start working together professionally.
The other plus is that you never know if they have a personal connection to wherever you're based (maybe that's their hometown), and while that's not going to get you representation, it's nice to draw that personal connection whenever you can.
What Not to Include in Your Author Bio
Now that I've gone over the three key elements of a successful author bio, let's talk about some things that you shouldn't or just don't have to reference in your author bio.
Intimate details about your life or your family: You don't need to disclose personal information to the literary agent in the author bio. This is still a professional relationship, so don't feel the need to have to tell them all the details of your life story.
Your educational background: You also don't necessarily have to mention your degree or your education if it is not related to creative writing.
Your social media following: You don't need to mention your social media follower count, particularly if you don't have any significant social media following. One case where I would mention your social media following is if you have a significant number of followers on some type of platform — that can show a literary agent that you potentially have an outlet for reaching readers that can become a marketing channel for your book, which can be a plus. So, I would recommend it if you have some type of following, but if you don't, you do not need to list your social platforms at all in the author bio.
The inspiration for your book: I would resist the temptation to explain the inspiration for your book, where you got the idea for your book, or how you became interested in writing as a kid. While these are all nice facts about you, it's not really pertinent for the purposes of the query letter and for the purposes of the literary agent evaluating the viability and the strength of the book you are presenting them. I would only mention these types of details if they are particularly relevant, such as for a memoir, where you want to explain what compelled you to write this story, or if you are writing fiction that is based on some real event that you have experienced.
Your favorite books or authors: The author bio is also not really the place for you to talk about your favorite books and authors. Instead, I would incorporate that into your comparable titles paragraph, but only if indeed those favorite books and authors are comps for your book.
Details about your identity: Lastly, you should not feel obligated to disclose any aspects of your identity that you don't want to or don't feel comfortable sharing. For example, you don't necessarily need to call out that you are LGBTQIA+ or that you are a BIPOC author or that you are neurodivergent. You can certainly reference these points if you feel compelled to, if you want to share that with the agent, or if those aspects of your identity are relevant to the story you are telling, but you do not have to. It is totally up to you.
Author Bio Format
Now let's talk a little bit about the nitty gritty details of formatting your author bio.
Write in first person: When you publish the book, the author bio is going to be written in third person, but for the purposes of the query letter, which is essentially a cover letter to a literary agent, you'll want to write it in first person so it sounds a bit less stiff.
Put the most important information first: Lead with the most compelling and pertinent information, which in most cases will be your writing credentials. Then you can mention the less important details, such as where you're currently based, at the end of the author bio.
Keep it brief: In terms of length, I would aim for around two to four sentences. The author bio should ultimately not be longer than any other section of the query letter because remember the agent is likely just going to skim through it rather quickly. You don't want to have this huge paragraph about yourself right at the end of the query because they're likely just not going to read all of it in that much detail anyway.
Use simple language: Also make sure that you use plain, straightforward language. There's no need to be overly flowery or cutesy in your author bio. Just give them the information that they need, and don't overthink it.
Example Author Bio
To give you an example author bio, if I was querying, I might write something like this:
After working in editorial at Penguin Random House, I became an independent developmental book editor specializing in fiction. My clients include New York Times bestselling authors, and I have more than 20,000 subscribers to my YouTube channel, where I provide free book writing and publishing tips. I am a graduate of NYU’s English and creative writing programs, and I'm currently based in San Francisco.
You can see how I incorporated all three of those key elements to a good author bio. The first is my credentials, so I talk about being an editor. That also encompasses my professional background, which is the second point. I chose to include a reference to my social following via my YouTube channel because I think that would potentially be of interest to a literary agent. I closed out the bio with a mention of where I'm currently based and also briefly referenced my education because I was a part of a creative writing program.
I hope this helps demystify what you should and shouldn't include in your author bio and helps you write one that you feel great about. I hope you also have a better sense of what agents really are looking for when they are reviewing this section of the query letter.
Thanks for reading and happy writing!