Author Bio for Anthology

[dgaughran]

Hi all,

I have to send off an author bio (by tomorrow morning) for an anthology that is coming out soon with one of my stories in it (hooray!).

The only guidance we got from the editor was to keep it to one paragraph, keep it professional, but not to be shy about our other collections/novels/projects.

I have never really written one like this before, so please let me know if this sounds good or awful, I have no idea.

Dave

*** AUTHOR BIO ***

David Gaughran is the author of AMÉRICA!, a fast-paced historical adventure solving the mystery of why Jose de San Martín, who led a twelve-year campaign to liberate South America, resigned and allowed Simón Bolívar the glory of the final victory. He spends much of his time traveling the world, collecting stories, and occasionally writing them. He is currently living in Sweden. To read more of his work, please visit www.davidgaughran.com

[dgaughran]

Oh thank you Alleycat for spotting that one, that was a little amateur of me.

I'm going to blame the flu and the medication I am on, even though the flu is nearly gone and the medication ran out yesterday.

Thanks again,

Dave

P.S. I'll go back and edit the original post

[alleycat]

I might change a word or two. Just a possible alternate:

David Gaughran is the author of AMÉRICA!, a fast-paced historical adventure involving the mystery of why Jose de San Martín, after leading a bloody, twelve-year campaign to liberate South America, resigned and allowed Simon Bolívar the glory of the final victory. He spends much of time travelling the world, collecting stories, and writing about them. He is currently living in Sweden.

I'm not sure whether America! needs to be all caps in this case, but I assume the editor will take care of that.

[dgaughran]

Thanks again alleycat, I think your version is better actually. And yes, América! doesn't need to be in caps here, maybe just italics.

Thanks

Dave

[dgaughran]

The only thing I am not sure about is the "who" before the comma in alleycat's version.


alleycat's version:

David Gaughran is the author of AMÉRICA!, a fast-paced historical adventure involving the mystery of why Jose de San Martín who, after leading a bloody, twelve-year campaign to liberate South America, resigned and allowed Simon Bolívar the glory of the final victory. He spends much of time travelling the world, collecting stories, and writing about them. He is currently living in Sweden.


My version (with some of alleycat's suggestions):

David Gaughran is the author of América!, a fast-paced historical adventure solving the mystery of why Jose de San Martín, who led a bloody, twelve-year campaign to liberate South America, resigned and allowed Simón Bolívar the glory of the final victory. He spends much of time travelling the world, collecting stories, and writing about them. He is currently living in Sweden.


Which is better (I'm not sure)?

Dave

[dgaughran]

Sorry - cutting and pasting issues there - should be fixed above.

I really am not very good at this!

[alleycat]

I was just throwing out a quick alternate (with just a few word changes). I'm not sure which is better myself.

[dgaughran]

It's no big deal, I think they both do the job.

Thanks for you help.

Dave

[alleycat]

On second thought, I would drop the word "who" in my version. I had thought one thing, but decided on something else, and never removed the "who".

[dgaughran]

Thanks alleycat - I sent it out.

Looking forward to seeing my name in a real book.

[alleycat]

Congratulations and good luck with it.

[alexshvartsman]

Hi Dave,

Is the novel published and available for sale? If not, I am not sure I'd spend much time talking it up in the bio, since the reader doesn't have access to it.

I approach bios as a way to intrigue the reader and encourage them to visit my blog and/or read my other stories. Obviously, they would have had to like the story they are reading enough to want to click on my link in the first place, but every little bit helps.

I'd strongly encourage you not to drop the link to your site from the bio (as the latest posted versions seem to do).

[Nathaniel Katz]

I agree with Alex. In my opinion, the link is the most important part. Once they're on the site, you have all the time to convert them, but the bio itself might best be kept snappy. I'd even trim the book description a bit (maybe just mention the title), but that's up to you.

[alleycat]

I would agree not to drop the link. I did in my example just for convenience.

[dgaughran]

Hi all - I didn't drop the link, don't worry, I was only quoting the bit of the bio that was changing.

The novel isn't published and available for sale, but I don't have a huge amount of stuff to fill out the space, and I thought if I'm gonna use the space for anything, I'd rather use it for that than telling people I liked fast cars and slow walks on the beach.

My site is going to be changing a lot in the next little while, and I'm hoping to have links to short stories for sale on Amazon, maybe even a blog (am I the last person in the world to have a blog?), but without having figured out all the details, and knowing exactly how I'm going to do it, I thought that a brief description of my novel was the best copy to drive traffic to the site for anyone interested in my writing.

A lot of my stories have international settings, the story they are publishing is set in the Czech Republic, so giving another, more exotic location where I have written a story, might reinforce that idea.

I read an article by Barry Eisler on using the bio as a branding tool, it was very interesting, and something I never really thought about before.

There is also the possibility that I was very excited by the fact that I had never been able to sum up my novel in one sentence before and I got a little carried away.

So it goes.

Thanks for all the help and advice guys, the Short Fiction section is definitely my new favourite place to hang out.

Dave

[dgaughran]

I agree with Alex. In my opinion, the link is the most important part. Once they're on the site, you have all the time to convert them, but the bio itself might best be kept snappy. I'd even trim the book description a bit (maybe just mention the title), but that's up to you.

I was also influenced by the editor telling me they had 16 pages for the 48 or 49 writers. That's three a page. I didn't want to be the dude with two lines sandwiched between the Glimmer Train girls.

P.S. I am looking at that hat and I'm freaking out.
P.P.S. Your reviews site is cool, I'm looking forward to your take on The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

[alexshvartsman]

I read an article by Barry Eisler on using the bio as a branding tool, it was very interesting, and something I never really thought about before.


Dave,

Is this article available online? I'd be interested in checking it out, but I am failing to find it via a brief Google search.

[MatthewWuertz]

Keep the bio about you if you don't have any publishing credits. It's okay if it's only two lines; just try to be a bit creative in describing yourself. Definitely keep the link! I wrote an article about writing bios a couple of years ago, in case anyone's interested:

http://matthewwuertz.blogspot.com/2009/07/author-bio.html

[dgaughran]

Dave,

Is this article available online? I'd be interested in checking it out, but I am failing to find it via a brief Google search.

Here: http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/2009/02/guest-blogger-barry-eisler-on-its-the-marketing-stupid.html

[Nathaniel Katz]

Here: http://mjroseblog.typepad.com/buzz_balls_hype/2009/02/guest-blogger-barry-eisler-on-its-the-marketing-stupid.html

An interesting read and probably good advice, even if my bio's a total failure by that standard (it's short and contains no personal info whatsoever).

I was also influenced by the editor telling me they had 16 pages for the 48 or 49 writers. That's three a page. I didn't want to be the dude with two lines sandwiched between the Glimmer Train girls.

P.S. I am looking at that hat and I'm freaking out.
P.P.S. Your reviews site is cool, I'm looking forward to your take on The Wind-up Bird Chronicle

Thanks. I've got a few requested reviews next, but I'll post the Wind-Up Bird after those. I agree that it's a different situation if it's in the back; I was thinking one of the ones that's right above the story. What anthology is this?

[jaksen]

You can always say currently working on ... then mention the novel.

I've noticed my editor, just lately, refers to my stories in all caps. She does this in emails. Is this a new standard or something?

And, is it me, or does it sound like Jose de San Martin spends his time traveling the world? etc. ...

Edited: Already sent out? Good luck with this!

[dgaughran]

It's an anthology of all the Stories of The Week from Short Story America (http://www.shortstoryamerica.com/) in 2010.

The hardback is out next month and they're even doing an audio version which is very cool.

[dgaughran]

Yeah...em...it's an alternative history version of...eh...

Bugger.