Checklist to Write a Winning Non-Fiction Author Bio

A well crafted author bio should sell your reader on spending time with you. It should showcase why you were the person to write this book. So what does that author bio need? If you want to make sure you have a well crafted bio that will sell your book, then this video is for you. Hey there. I'm Julie the Book Broad, Founder of Book Launchers. You might think your author bio needs to brag about your brilliance and I suppose to a point you'll want to do a bit of that. But ultimately it's much better for it to fit with the tone of your book and make you sound like someone your ideal reader would want to hang out with. Because to read your book they're probably going to spend 4, 6, 8, 10 hours with you. I don't know about you, but I barely want to make small talk with boring people. So to be in for a long committed conversation that is entirely one sided one, well, you better sound interesting. What does that mean? Well, especially when your bio is going to be anywhere from as short as 50 words to as long as 300 words, one size won't fit all when it comes to author bios. Not even when we're talking nonfiction. This is going to be dependent first on the genre of the book and second on what you have as a background that led to writing this book. That said, every bio, while potentially structured differently, should hit most of the following five points on my five point noboringauthors and no boring Author Bios checklist. Number one, your biggest point of credibility. This could be previously successful books and their awards or bestseller status. It could be awards you've won in business. It could be years of experience or a unique experience like Chris Kremotos who wrote Start Ugly. He's a two time Guinness Book of World Records holder. His second time was beating out his first time. You'd lead with that kind of thing because it showcases something interesting and of note that makes a reader believe you know what you're talking about and or want to spend a lot of time with you or at least learn more. If you don't have that, what is the most relevant and related to your book? If it's a book about grief, like AJ Coleman's book Keep those Feet Moving, you'd start your author bio like he does. AJ Coleman is a widower and single father who's overcome a hearing impairment, job losses and crippling anxiety. You don't need to have won awards if your book is about a personal experience like grief. You just need to have lived your life and Come out on the other side. Number two on this checklist, an appeal to your ideal reader. This can be the biggest point of credibility, as we've discussed, but often it's a simple phrase or statement that will really highlight who the book is for. Tony, now author of Lights, Camera Action, has a simple line in his bio. He believes every company has a story and loves helping them tell it. That speaks to who his reader is and a passion for helping them. That is great. In a bio, Mark and Kirsten Crickey in their book, you, Me and Airbnb say their path to running their own property management business and financial freedom started with Airbnb Rentals. Now they educate young families on the income opportunities with real estate investment. You know this is for you if you want to use real estate to support your young family. Checklist Item number three Credentials. While your biggest point of credibility will specifically relate to the book and why a reader wants to read what you've written, credentials are just what it sounds like. Education, awards, years of experience, dollars made, people helped. Depending on your book topic and your expertise, experience and of course education, you may have a lot and need to choose what's most relevant. Or. Or you may just have a quick line. I'll use myself as an example. My background is in real estate. I have an MBA in real estate and finance. I've done millions and millions of dollars of deals. I've coached investors who have also done millions and millions of dollars of deals. I won awards as an investor. I was on media outlets all over Canada and I spoke on stages all over Canada. Those are all credentials, but they're not relevant to my books on book publishing like self publish and succeed. So you won't find those details on the bio. There you'll find things like number one overall Amazon best selling author, 20 time award winning author, founder of Book Launchers, a self publishing services company that's helped more than 400 authors including William Hung of American Idol, former Indiana Pacers player and two time Academic All American Devin Durant or or former NFL player and CFL player, now owner of Anatomy Gyms in Miami, Mark Megna. You'll hear that I'm the creator of Book Launchers TV, a YouTube channel with nearly 45,000 subscribers. So if you aren't subscribed, you can do that right now. So I can change that to be with more than 45,000 subscribers or even 50,000 subscribers when we'll have a big party. By the way, at 50,000 subscribers, those are the credentials that will matter for self publish and succeed and buy soon to be released Book on Book Marketing Item four for the Checklist Personal Notes if your bio is short, you may not have space for this. But for longer bios, a line about your personal interests, family or where you live, or anything you're super passionate about can go a long way. Being a Canadian living in the us I almost always want to identify myself as that so I can connect with other folks who've immigrated to the us but also so that the Canadians know I'm a kindred spirit that wants to add extra U's to words that don't need them and that I'm someone who will understand them. When they say they've been practicing their skipping or that their toque is itchy or that they're making progress with their process creation. I feel you, my Canadian friends, I do. But in all seriousness, your love of Minecraft, your passion for adopting senior dogs, your boys in football. These are interesting points of connection that show you're human. And it is important in your bio to do that if you have room. Again, again. Remember, the goal is to make your reader want to know you, so they must feel a connection to you or at least see that you're a human, even if you've accomplished grand things. Checklist Point 5 Where to Connect with you for your back of the book bio, you don't necessarily put this there. You would likely have a website somewhere else on the back of the book. But everywhere else your bio will live, you should have a place, probably your website, where you can direct people to connect with you. When you put all of this together, what's it look like? Well, let's take a look at Brigitte Pigesy's back of her book bio, which hits the points nicely. Brigitte Pegasi is a female specialist, transformation coach and mentor who developed BeautyRobic, a unique program that gained national recognition in Europe, helping thousands of women to improve their health, body shape, confidence, femininity and overall happiness. That statement is clearly identifying her reader. Women who want to improve their health, body shape, confidence, femininity and overall happiness and it teases her best credibility. Highlight the national recognition of her unique program next. Her bio says she received a Promise for the Future award from the Young Entrepreneurs association and spoke on concepts around attractiveness at TEDx. This is her credibility on this subject and further adding to the hook and interest. This book is already a bestseller in Hungary and now is finally available for you too. And it ends with a personal connection point. She currently lives in London with her family and then at the very bottom it says. Learn more@beautyrobic.com so how's your bio coming along? Let's chat about it in the comments below. After you smash that like button, of course. And then this video right here on five Big Book Marketing Questions Answered might be perfect for you to watch because your bio is one piece of that book marketing puzzle. Or this video is the one YouTube thinks you must watch now. So pick the one that you most want to watch and head on over. I'm waiting for you.