Author bio templates at 50, 100 and 200 words, and where each one is used

You need three author bios: about 50 words, about 100 words and about 200 words. The 50-word bio goes under your photo on the back cover and at the top of a podcast when the host reads you in. The 100-word bio is the one for your Amazon Author Central page, the boilerplate paragraph at the bottom of a press release, and the byline on a guest post. The 200-word bio goes in your press kit, on the about page of your website and in a festival programme. Write all three once, in the third person, keep them in the same document as your blurb, and you will stop rewriting them on request.

Where each length is used

Amazon's Author Central biography field takes plain text without formatting, and the guides we read disagree on its length limits, so paste your 100-word version and let the field tell you. Kobo, Apple Books and Google Play each carry an author description on the book record, and the retailer links article covers where each one is set.

The order of facts

Every length uses the same order, and the shorter bios stop earlier.

1. Start with your name and what you write, in one sentence: "[Name] writes cosy crime set on cruise ships." The reader knows in ten words whether this is for them.
2. Name the book or series, because a bio without a title sends nobody anywhere.
3. Give one reason to trust you: a career, training or experience that connects to the books. If nothing connects, skip it rather than reach.
4. Add recognition if you have it, with the source named: an award, a list, a named review. Leave out anything vague like "critically acclaimed".
5. Say where you live and give one concrete personal detail. Readers remember the dog or the allotment long after they forget the award.
6. Finish with what is next and where to find you: the next title and month, your website, your newsletter.

Cut from the bottom when you need it shorter. The 50-word bio keeps items one, two, three and five and a website, the 100-word bio adds four and six, and the 200-word bio has room for all six and a line on what you can speak about.

First person or third

Use third person for anything someone else will publish or read aloud: store pages, press kits, back covers, programmes, podcast intros. A host cannot read "I live in Sheffield" about you, and third person turns an achievement into a fact rather than a boast.

Use first person for the places that are already your voice: the about page on your own website, the welcome email to your newsletter, the back matter of the book. There the reader has chosen to hear from you, and "I" is the natural register. Keep both versions of the 100-word bio, because a first-person bio can admit a motive ("I started writing these because") that a third-person one states more flatly.

The templates

Replace each [bracket] with your own words and delete any sentence you cannot fill honestly. The bracketed instructions run longer than the words that replace them, so a filled template lands close to the target length. Count it once you are done.

50 words

[Author name] writes [genre or kind of book] about [the subject or the kind of people the books follow]. [Pronoun] is the author of [book or series title], [one fact that gives the reader a reason to trust or like the author]. [Pronoun] lives in [place] and [a short, concrete personal detail]. Find [pronoun] at [website].

100 words

[Author name] is the author of [book or series title], [one sentence saying what the book is about, in the reader's terms, not the publisher's]. [Pronoun] [earlier career, training or experience that connects to the books, in one sentence]. [Pronoun]'s work has [an achievement or recognition, one sentence, or cut this sentence if there is none yet]. [Pronoun] lives in [place] with [who or what shares the house], and when [pronoun] is not writing [pronoun] is [a concrete habit or pastime that fits the books]. [Pronoun]'s next book, [title], is out in [month and year]. Find out more at [website] or sign up for [pronoun]'s newsletter at [link].

200 words

[Author name] writes [genre or kind of book] about [subject, in one plain phrase]. [Pronoun]'s first book, [title], [one sentence saying what happens in it or what problem it solves, in the terms a reader would use]. It was followed by [second title or series name], and [pronoun] is now [number] books into [series name or the current project].

Before writing full time, [pronoun] [earlier career or training, two sentences at most, with the detail that explains why the books are the way they are]. [One sentence on how that experience shows up on the page, or cut this sentence.]

[Pronoun]'s work has [recognition, an award, a bestseller list, a notable review or a reader milestone, stated plainly with the source named. If there is none yet, replace this paragraph with one sentence about what readers say the books are like].

[Pronoun] lives in [place] with [who or what shares the house], and spends [a concrete pastime, one phrase] when the writing is done. [Pronoun] speaks about [two or three topics an event organiser could book] and is happy to talk to book groups, podcasts and festivals. [Pronoun]'s next book, [title], is out in [month and year]. Readers can find [pronoun] at [website], and a free [short story, chapter or guide] is waiting for anyone who joins [pronoun]'s newsletter at [link].

A filled example, invented

The author below is invented, to show the 50-word template with its brackets filled.

Morwenna Tregellas writes cosy mysteries about a retired harbourmaster who cannot stop noticing things. She is the author of the Porthleven Quay series, and she spent thirty years on the Cornish coast before she started writing it down. She lives in Falmouth with two unimpressed cats. Find her at morwennatregellas.example.

That is 50 words, with no "award-winning" without a named award and no "passionate about storytelling": one line each for the books, the reason to trust her, the place and the detail, and the link.

Keeping them in one place

Put all three lengths on the press kit page with the headshot and the cover files, and send one link when anyone asks. The press kit article lists what else belongs there. If your author page runs on the Indie Author Toolchest, the press kit page holds the bios and headshot alongside the press release, so a podcaster can take what they need without emailing you first.

Revisit the bios every time a book comes out, because the next title, the series count and the recognition line all change. The launch checklist has a line for it four weeks before each release.