When submitting your writing to a magazine or publisher, expect to include a short biography along with your pitch or query. While it should not matter as much as the quality of your writing, you want to make sure that your “bio” does not turn them off from the start.
Even if you sometimes suffer from impostor syndrome, your bio is where you have unfettered license to brag about yourself and your accomplishments. This does not mean, however, that you should list every publication you’ve ever been in or award you’ve been nominated for – even if you’re very proud of that essay contest you won in fourth grade. Such bios make you come across as unprofessional or insecure.
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First, there are two golden rules: always stick to the word count, and always use third person. If you write in different genres, you’ll want to have bios for each genre. For instance, if you are a poet and a travel writer, you will want to have separate bios, each dependent upon the type of publication you are pitching to.
Why have multiple bios? Let’s say you are reaching out to a top market like Conde Nast Traveler to pitch an article about the best sites in Paris for newlyweds, and the editors want you to include a bio along with your submission. They want to know that you have experience as a travel writer. They’re not interested in your poetry publications. They could actually dilute your credibility as a travel writer.
Here is a simple template to make sure your bio is as professional as possible. Assume a 50-word limit unless stated otherwise.
YOUR FULL NAME is the author of YOUR BOOK TITLE. His/her/their writings have appeared in (list up to three magazines/journals) and numerous other publications. LAST NAME lives in (city, state/country), where he/she/they work(s) as a (occupation).
That’s it. Short and sweet.
If you don’t have any books published, don’t worry. Just remove the first sentence from the above example and start the magazine publication section with your full name. Three or four specific credits would be appropriate if you’re not listing any books. The magazines or journals that you choose to list in your bio are up to you. You could list the ones that you think are the most well-known or highly ranked, or you could list ones that are along a similar vibe or topic as the magazine/journal you are pitching.
Some magazines or journals specify other things in their requirements for a bio. For instance, they may ask for a sentence about the inspiration for the piece they are publishing, or they may even ask for some personal detail. The latter could include a funny or interesting hobby, such as collecting letter openers or the number of chickens you have in your backyard.
Most publications will specify a bio length. As I mentioned earlier, this is one of the golden rules. Stick to it! If no length is specified, keep it concise – somewhere between 50 and 75 words.
At the end of your bio, if you have space, you can also include a note about where readers can find you online, such as – “Connect with him/her/them on Twitter @YourHandle. Or you can point people to your website or online portfolio – “Read more of (last name)’s writing at www.yourname.com.”
After taking the time to craft a concise bio, you’ll want to save it, so you don’t have to rewrite from scratch every time you submit writing to a new magazine. Write a couple of versions – one under 50 words and one under 75 words – and update it on a regular basis to cycle out older credits.
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BIO: Bernadette Geyer is a writer, editor, and translator in Berlin, Germany. Her writings have appeared in FundsforWriters, The Writer, Oxford American, and elsewhere. Geyer has copy edited or translated more than 20 books and teaches the “Streamline Your Book-Writing Process with a Book Style Guide” workshop through WOW! Women on Writing. You can find out more about her through her web site at https://bernadettegeyer.com.
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