Thursday, February 14, 2008
On Author Biographies
There's a funny essay by Giles Turnbull in The Morning News today, discussing author bios -- those little one- or two-sentence blurbs in books and at the end of magazine articles that tell the reader something about the writer. Well worth reading.
I've had a rough time with author bios, but not for the reasons that Turnbull mentions. My biggest problem has been with bios that embarrass me because they list the many defunct publications that I've worked for. Somehow -- I suppose because of cuts-and-pastes from old articles -- Silicon Valley TechWeek still appears in my author bio sometimes. TechWeek hasn't been published for years and years.
My favorite version of my own author bio is the one that appeared in How to Organize (Just About) Everything:
I've had a rough time with author bios, but not for the reasons that Turnbull mentions. My biggest problem has been with bios that embarrass me because they list the many defunct publications that I've worked for. Somehow -- I suppose because of cuts-and-pastes from old articles -- Silicon Valley TechWeek still appears in my author bio sometimes. TechWeek hasn't been published for years and years.
My favorite version of my own author bio is the one that appeared in How to Organize (Just About) Everything:
Fred Sandsmark is a freelance writer in the San Francisco Bay Area, covering technology and home-related subjects. Working on this book inspired him to organize his garage, a task that should be completed sometime next week.
# posted by F.S. @ 10:13 PM 
