About the Author

[rolanni]

I need to get a little bit serious about producing an author bio page for both of my snazzy new sites. The trouble is that I Purely Hate to write my own bio, and tend, therefore, to revert to smart ass mode. I don't think I'm alone in this among my literary colleagues, but! I'm determined to be a grown-up now and do the thing correctly.

The current Sharon Lee Author Bio, for those interested, is here and is not, you might say, entirely useful.

The question being: What is useful to you as a reader, in an author bio? What do you expect to see? What bothers you? What do you wish writers will tell you that no one ever does?

Comments

[jhetley.livejournal.com]

I have found, quite some time back, that there are many authors I don't *want* to know more about . . .

You aren't in that select company, of course, but I share your pain on the author bio. You may recall that I sent two versions to Steve, one in the afore-mentioned "smart ass mode."

[(Anonymous)]

I'm no help at all. I like your bio, smart ass or not.

Adrianne

[readinggeek451]

I like your current author bio. I prefer the ones that give a sense of the author's personality to dry recitations of facts.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

Ditto. The only addition I would make is about the location -- I know now where "between the Kennebec and the Sebasticook rivers" is (very approximately) because I've been reading this blog for ages, but if I were coming to it 'cold' then I'd rather like some indication about "in America" (it does say 'Maine' in the page subtitle but that doesn't tell me, a Brit, much).

Actually, just saying "American author" would give me more to go on.

Possibly add something about "married to [another author of whom I might have heard]", cats, and other pets.

But otherwise, I don't really want life history at that point. Possibly deeper in the website, but as a short summary I'm much more interested in personality features like humour. For instance, Anne McCaffrey's famous self-description of "My eyes are green, my hair is silver and I freckle; the rest is subject to change without notice" tells me a lot more about whether she's an author whose books I'd like to read than a 'formal' biography.

(When I have to give a bio, when working on a convention, I generally use the one a friend wrote for me. Completely smartarse...)

[cailleuch.livejournal.com]

I agree. I'm interested in something that tells me about the personality of the author. This is more useful to me than a resume or CV. It may be that I currently have my view colored by the fact that I am on an search committee (of the academic sort) and have been slogging through the most overdone and boring self descriptions imaginable.

"Smart ass" author description usually implies a bit of smart ass in the writing and that is something of interest. Long winded and serious description, more than likely book to be avoided.

When I do a bio wise ass, snark, silly is the name of the game.

[joycependle.livejournal.com]

I think your current bio is fine. The main thing I'm interested in is whether the author is continuing to write.

[prismakaos.livejournal.com]

I enjoy snappy, snarky bios as well. The one you have is entertaining. :)

[stormsdotter.livejournal.com]

I like knowing what my favorite authors read. Which authors do you like best?

[baggette.livejournal.com]

I am a fan, no matter what comes off your pen, but I like the snarky, flip sort of thing best. I think it is much more telling than something more serious and formal.

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I'm another one who's putting in a vote for smart-ass bios. I like to get a feel for an author's personality, and that helps quite a bit with it.

[(Anonymous)]

As a bookseller, I look for where you're from. You state that
currently, so I'm good with the current bio.

I love a sense of humour, personally, so the wittier the better.

While knowing you're married to X or mother of Y is nice, it
isn't necessary at ALL - and can be a pleasant surprise when I
find it out other ways. (I'm remembering a "Laura Lippman's married
to David Simon?!" moment.)

Lauretta@ConstellationBooks

[elbales]

I'm adding my voice to the chorus of "But I Like Your Bio." You may wish to include interests; I seem to recall that the old bios for you and Steve included his collecting of cat whiskers, for example. Favorite authors are nice to know, too. But really, I think the best bios are the ones that give a sense of who the person is, and this one does that admirably.

Hmm...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>The question being: What is useful to you as a reader, in an author bio?<<

* Discussion of how the author got started writing and/or their writing process.
* Where the author grew up and/or lives, if it influences their writing.
* Mention of author's dayjob, if any; listing of multiple weird jobs held over the years is fun.
* Mention of the most successful/best known books or series by this author.
* Author's musings on life, writing, or the book's theme.

>> What bothers you? <<

TMI, whining, drama, snark, or slamming other people/books. Bios that are not accurate or mix true and false points.

[mardott.livejournal.com]

Looks like no votes for the 'grown up' bio. I'm going with the current one, as well. I like to see a hint of the author's personality and sense of humor. This is true even if the author in question writes books on economics, but it's especially true for a fiction author. If I'd never read any of your books, your smart-ass bio would tell me I should.

[(Anonymous)]

I agree with the majority opinion that your current bio gives sufficient information for the average person accessing your site(s) - and does it in a way that gives a hint of the way you write/think. Adding a comment about authors who have influenced your writing or that you particularly enjoy might be interesting. You could always add a link to a more serious page for those who feel the need. The second page could give your "official" CV - education and work history (as it applies to your writing career, at least), and publications. That sort of stuff is interesting to some, and would save you having to pull it together every time you need to send it to a con committee for the program, etc.
Mary

Person first, then the dull stuff

[mtz322.livejournal.com]

I do like the ones that give me enough to tell whether I'd willingly cat-sit or if I'm glad I don't live in the same state. (For the record, you and Steve, and Mozart, and Scrabble, and Hexapuma, are in the first group. Not likely since I'm in California, but it's the feeling that counts.)

Doesn't mean I won't read stories by an author in the second group. I can think of one author I'd prefer lived on a different planet, but I still read his work, once. (Not criticizing the work by the once. It is just so intense that while I'm glad I've read it once I can't imagine being desperate enough to reread.)

But, it does add to the comfort read/reread/grab as soon as available legally feeling if author(s) are in group one. Not just visiting with good fictional friends but sorta visiting with virtual as well.

[(Anonymous)]

I like the current one. Could be a bit longer; just because it seems short -- not that it needs more info.

Work background? I have seen that before, maybe because it gives the reader an idea of the experiences the author brings to the table. Why does it seem like that involves the military or world travel (more often than not).

[(Anonymous)]

That last post was me.
Muehe

[hakuen]

I think the smartass version is more interesting too; as someone else suggested, you could always link a "grown-up" one from it. The only thing that bothers me is this: We're on your site about you-the-writer that you've made, and you write in first person as far as I can see on the rest of the site (which is very interesting and I've enjoyed looking through it), so how come the bio is in third person?

Ah, not related to the bio, but -- I just spent a few minutes looking around for a link to the blog main page, like somewhere that I could scroll down through all the entries instead of pick them one by one from the sidebar... I'd expected to see a "blog" link or the equivalent in the left menu, or at least "Blog Without a Name" to take me there, but no joy. Of course if this is a deliberate design choice, by all means, disregard! :)

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

so how come the bio is in third person?

Because I Purely Hate to write bios, and it's slightly easier in third person than first.

Try it: I am a fascinating and delightful person, at home alike in High House drawing rooms and on jungle safaris.

As opposed to: Sharon Lee has traveled the world in pursuit of her hobby of big game photography, and numbers among her close friends such social luminaries as Bertram Wilberforce Wooster and Lady Harriet Wimsey.


Of course if this is a deliberate design choice, by all means, disregard!

Well...it's a deliberate design choice in that I couldn't figure out how to make it behave properly, so finally gave up and went with what (sorta) worked. Any hints toward how to make it do as it ought would be gratefully received.

[(Anonymous)]

It sounds like what Hakuen wants is http://sharonleewriter.com/category/blog/ (which I found from the "Posted in Blog" link automatically inserted at the bottom of each blog post).

One imagines it ought not to be hard to link the text "Blog without a Name" in the right sidebar to the above URL, though one could be wrong...

Philip, from Auckland

[hakuen]

One imagines it ought not to be hard to link the text "Blog without a Name" in the right sidebar

Exactly! But the thing is, with a CMS and all these fidgety theme things and all that, it seems like it's just not that easy. Is there a way to just go straight in and DO it, the way you would with a regular self-html-built website? It's really confusing looking through all this CSS stuff and going, what the heck happened to my nice straightforward html, I am so lost...

[hakuen]

Yeah, I do see the pain there XD I think that what you have up right now would come across just fine in first person, but what makes you comfortable is more important, definitely! (♥ J&W!)

Hmm. I don't know wordpress or any css (which could be probably be used to make the theme behave too), so there is probably a more elegant way to do this! but it looks like the way that a lot of sites seem to do it is to place category content on pages, like http://sharonleewriter.com/category/blog/ -- which gives an archive-formatted page instead of straight posts, but it's something? (I really hope that someone out there with wordpress and/or css skills can give a hand here.)

This page might be useful. You have "home" set to a page as opposed to the blog posts, so it just needs adjusting of names for that (I'm thinking note 2 here, but note 3 might do it if a different name than 'home' were used there, depending on how your theme makes it work out with the 'index' part?).

This thread (down the page a bit) also talks about a plugin that does it, just for info.

The way they make these sites nowadays is really confusing! The way that I know to do stuff, that is, just code it out in html, is apparently on the level of dinosaurs now. >_<;; I apologize for not being able to be of more help.

----just found this one but I don't know that it'll work with your theme, and then there's the automatic suspicion of anyone saying "the best way," heh. The step 7 there would bring in the "tabs as links" subject above.

And wordpress documentation on the static front page/blog page split, but I don't know whether this will shed light or not, since I don't know what you're looking at from the back end. *g*

I really wish they made these things more straightforward, it's not like this is any kind of unusual need.

[hapaxnym.livejournal.com]

I almost never read author bios, since I have found from experience that they are likely to make me either sad or homicidal. But with that caveat, folks as DO read 'em seem to be looking for What Else I Have Written / Am Writing (for obvious reasons), Where I Live (for no earthly reason I can discern), and some sense of style and personality (witty, erudite, passionate, whatever).

Your current bio does pretty well on all that.

Personally, I think that TMI is a far graver error than Not Enough, and false representation virtually unforgivable. But I'm from the Midwest.

[(Anonymous)]

I think your bio is Just Right. It gives me an idea of who you are and your voice shines through. And I really really like the new website!
Barbara in Texas

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

A biography? Would it be any easier if I ask you to write a character sketch?

Gender, age, employment, location... your current bio actually has most of the key points. I'm not sure if it needs more of a hint that you aren't just starting out or not, but I know that's one thing I am sometimes looking for -- is this the first thing this author has written? Your bibliography gives that away, but it might be worth saying that you're not a teenager?

Actually, the little bit of an intro on the Be Welcome in My House page is part of your biography, isn't it? Between the two pages, I really think it's pretty complete.

One suggestion -- and I know it's odd -- might be to change the title? Not "Who is Sharon Lee?" But something that fits better with be welcome in my house? "Why Do I Write?" Hum, I like that, and it could certainly subsume some of what is in your bio right now.

Mike

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

I like to know:
writer's gender
if they've written other stuff (not necessarily a bibliography in the bio but something like 'over a dozen books & short stories) so I know if I can look for something else,
a general idea of where they live (because I'm nosey, or hey this author is local!)
Marital status (again nosey)
pets (dittto)
I only care about an author's profession/day job if it directly pertains to what they write about i.e. a hard SF writer who is an astrophysicist.
I love seeing a bit of the author's personality, and humor is a big plus every time!

Seems that many authors wrap up most of that with "Author lives with domestic partner, 2 grandparents and a zebra fish in rural Maine." But from that I get that the author has a family, likes fish and lives in the country.

In your specific bio (not looking at the info on your other pages, which does flesh things out, but, you didn't ask about those pages, you asked about your bio) I wonder when the year of the dragon is, and one of these times I will be irritated/curious enough to go look, but I have no idea what the characteristics of that sign are. They are hardly as familiar as the signs of the western zodiac. (Okay I wanted to mention my sign but had no idea so I had to go look here (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chinese_zodiac). I thought I was rat but I'm actually a rooster. Silly place mats at the chinese restaurant are never the same.)

Next, even though you say you have written in 3-4 genres it isn't quite enough for me to realize you have a substantial body of novels under your belt. You might have short stories in each of those areas and what I really want to know is about stuff that I can find to read if I like your work. (Remembering that we may read or reach this info from other places and not just through your front page gateway. Once you have an "official bio" it gets copied and printed lots of other places without your knowledge.

Finally, maybe it's late & I'm tired, but this bio is a bit on the dry side. Kick up that smart-assiness just a bit more. I think you need to add some of the biographic info (and tone) from your Be Welcome in My House page. Maybe remind us to wipe our feet before we come in. =)

[sctechsorceress.livejournal.com]

I like the current bio as well. If I really wanted to know if a writer managed to graduate from elementary school, for example, these days, I can be sure that someone was posted the information on Wikipedia. I want to get somewhat of a sense of who you are, not what you've done. So, if smartass fits you, by all means, go ahead.

Likewise, if an author really wants me to know who their first grade teacher was, well that says something about the person as well, and I will be just as happy with that.

[(Anonymous)]

But I *like* this one. Grown-up author biographies remind me far too much of resumes, job-huntings, and the screenings of C.V. (I have been the hunter and the hunted for jobs and employees.)

This tells me that here is a writer, sorta where she lives, that she still writes, and that she is married to another writer. "When I First Knew I Was A Writer" and "What I Do To Get Benefits" are not on my wanna know list. Neither are "Salary when Leaving," "Name of Employer X," "Educational Background," (unless it's Will Shetterly's 'kicked out of school') or "Exact City and Street of Abode."

I'm a lot more likely to want to know preferred dessert, likes/loathes wine/beer/tea/coffee/tipple x, adores/abhors artist x/genre y/eclectic, enjoys/excoriates cave diving/mountain climbing/walks/sofas, etc. Appears at cons? is always interesting, and takes up one sentence, with a link to past/present/future cons.

Aarrrghghh

[jane-barfly.livejournal.com]

The message above with adore/abhor enjoy/excoriate like/loathe was me.
Laura

About the author

[(Anonymous)]

I remember that Patrick O'Brian is an un-favourite of yours, but his comment about author bios might strike a chord:

.....As to the personal side, the Spectator for March 1st 1710 begins, “I have observed, that a Reader seldom peruses a Book with Pleasure, till he knows whether the Writer of it be a black or fair Man, of a mild or cholerick Disposition, Married or a Batchelor, with other particulars of the like Nature, that conduce very much to the right understanding of an Author.” To gratify this curiosity, which is so natural to a reader, we may state that Mr O’Brian is a black man, choleric, and married.

He clearly was also a fan of 'I'm doing this because the publisher insists'.

Alastair Glyn-Jones