User:Currenta

Writing short is hard.

Authors in anthologies are often asked to provide a 50- word biography in preparation for publication. If asked, you might want to follow the example below:

Bull, award-winning author has more than one hundred short stories published. His short story collections and his three novels are available http://tinyurl.com/l3xajn3 Warren is an active member of Mystery Writers of America and a lifetime member of Sisters in Crime with no hope of parole.

That’s 45 words so I might add:

He comes from a functional family or he is a retired psychologist.

While it’s not exactly scintillating reading, it accomplishes a number of things:

It is within the word count.

It is written in the third person.

My name is on the first line.

Awards and publications are noted.

Information is given on how to purchase my work.

The bio has a clear target audience.

My audience is the people who buy the anthology. I know they like short stories and mystery so I want to say, “If you enjoy this story, you might want to find, buy and read my other work and then write glowing reviews about it on Amazon and Goodreads. Here’s a map to my works.”

Awards and publications say, “Look, dear readers, I know my way around a paragraph. I’ve worked with a thesaurus, a dictionary, an eraser and a red pencil many times before.”

What did I write before I had publications and awards? I tried to give readers a little background and taste of my word-smithing. For example: “Warren Bull is a psychologist in his ‘day job.’ He comes from a functional family and is a fierce competitor at trivia games.”

A biography gives you the opportunity to address the most important people in the writing world — readers. So write, polish, re-write, run it by people whose skills you respect and keep your audience in mind. Humor helps.