For authors at every stage
Author Bio Examples and Template
Example bios for every stage, including no credits yet, plus one template for your jacket, website, speaker and Amazon Author Central bios.
Sam Reyes
Thriller author · four bios, one template
- Jacket · third person
- Sam Reyes is a former Phoenix paramedic who writes thrillers about first responders. Dead Air is his second novel.
- Website · first person
- I worked as a paramedic in Phoenix before I started writing thrillers about first responders. [What readers can expect from your books.]
- Speaker intro · read aloud
- Our next guest was a paramedic in Phoenix and now writes thrillers about first responders. Please welcome Sam Reyes.
- Author Central · plain text
- Sam Reyes writes thrillers about first responders. Dead Air is his second novel.
What you'll get
Author bio examples, plus jacket, website, speaker and Author Central bios in one doc
- Example bios for every stage, including no credits yet
- A jacket bio of about 40 to 100 words
- Website, speaker and Author Central versions
Examples
Author bio examples
Five jacket bios for writers at different stages. Each says what the author writes, gives one credential and ends on a human detail.
| Stage | Example bio | Words |
|---|---|---|
| Debut novelist, no credits | Lena Okafor writes small-town romances with big families, slow burns and kitchens that are always too crowded. By day she schedules flights for a regional airline, which explains why her heroines are always running late. She lives outside Columbus, Ohio, with her husband and a beagle who has never met a sandwich he couldn't steal. Second Helpings is her first novel. | 61 |
| Querying writer | Calvin Mapes teaches high school history in Richmond, Virginia, and is a member of SCBWI. When he isn't grading essays, he writes middle grade adventures for kids who are sure history is boring. | 33 |
| Series author | Ruth Ellery taught eighth-grade English for thirty-one years, so very little shocks her, but murder still makes her curious. She writes the Birch Hollow Mysteries, clean whodunits set in a Vermont town with more maple trees than secrets. She lives in Burlington, where she bakes a competitive shortbread. | 48 |
| Memoirist | Priya Natarajan grew up above her parents' dry-cleaning shop in Queens, translating customer complaints from the age of seven. A hospice social worker for two decades, she writes about families, caregiving and the conversations we put off too long. The Last Pressing is her first book. | 46 |
| Nonfiction expert | Marcus Hale is a certified financial planner who works with freelancers, artists and gig workers. For fifteen years he has helped clients with uneven incomes plan for slow months. He is the author of Paid Irregularly and writes a monthly newsletter about money for people without a steady paycheck. He lives in Minneapolis. | 53 |
Written for this page; every author is fictional. Borrow the shape, not the facts. The template download includes these and more.
Before and after
Your facts in. Four bios out.
Sam Reyes (he/him), former Phoenix paramedic, writes thrillers about first responders, second novel Dead Air, wife, two kids, a dog named Siren.
Sam Reyes is a former Phoenix paramedic who writes thrillers about first responders. [What readers can expect from your books.] Dead Air is his second novel. He lives in [your town] with his wife, their two kids and a dog named Siren.
Anything you didn't say stays in brackets for you to fill. Nothing is invented.
Why it works
How do you write an author bio?
An author bio is a short introduction to you as a writer, and the quickest way to write yours is to read a few. The examples here are original. They cover a debut with no publishing history, a querying writer, a series author, a memoirist, a nonfiction expert, a picture book author and a poet. Each shows its word count, so you can see how much fits. On a book jacket, a bio usually runs about 40 to 100 words in the third person.
A good jacket bio says what you write, gives one relevant credential and ends on one human detail. Short is fine. Bryn Donovan, a writer who works in publishing, asks authors for 100 words or less for an About the Author page. You'll need other lengths too: a longer bio for your website, an introduction a host can read aloud before you speak, and a plain-text version for your Amazon author page.
This template holds all four in one doc with fill-in lines. Tell River about yourself, a few facts or an old bio to rework, and it fills every version from what you said, and nothing more. Details you didn't share become brackets, like [your town]. Author Central takes plain text, so keep that version under about 1,000 characters so it reads well. Publish a Book on Amazon writes your Author Central bio along with your book's description and keywords.
What lands in your doc
What's inside the bio template
- Original example bios
Debut, querying, series, memoir, nonfiction, picture book and poetry bios, each with a word count. - Four versions in one doc
Jacket, website, speaker introduction and Amazon Author Central, each with its own length. - A fill-in formula
Four lines for the jacket bio, so you never start from a blank box. - A speaker intro a host can read
Third person, with a line on how to say your name and a warm close. - A plain-text Author Central bio
Plain text and under about 1,000 characters, so it reads well on your Amazon author page. - A longer bio for proposals
Pitching nonfiction? Grow the website version into the author section of the book proposal template. - A bio for the back cover
The jacket version sits beside your blurb; the book blurb generator writes that copy too.
How it works
From your facts to four bios
Open the template
Click Edit with AI. Your bio doc opens in River with all four versions ready to fill.
Tell River about you
Optional. Say what you write and a few true facts, or paste an old bio and your credits.
Get four bios
River fills each version from what you shared and leaves brackets for anything you didn't say.
Use them everywhere
Put the jacket bio on your back cover, the plain-text version in Author Central, and send the intro to event hosts.
Questions authors ask
Common questions
What is an author bio?
A few sentences that introduce you as a writer. A good one tells readers what you write, why you're the person to write it, and one detail that makes you human. You'll use it on your back cover, your Amazon author page, your website and anywhere someone introduces you.
How long should an author bio be?
It depends on where it appears. A jacket bio usually runs about 40 to 100 words and a website bio 150 to 300. A speaker introduction takes about 40 to 60 seconds to read aloud. Author Central takes plain text; keep it under about 1,000 characters so it reads well.
Should I write my bio in first or third person?
Use third person on your book jacket, on Amazon and in press materials, since others reprint them. First person suits your own website, where readers expect to hear from you. A speaker introduction is third person because the host reads it, and Toastmasters advice for hosts stresses getting the speaker's name and pronunciation right.
What do I put in my bio if I haven't published anything yet?
Lead with what you write and one true thing that connects you to it, such as your job, a lifelong interest or a writing group. Add one human detail and stop. Don't apologize for being new; leaving out credits you don't have is enough. The debut and querying examples beside the template show how.
How do I add my bio to Amazon?
On the KDP Marketing page, choose Manage author page to reach Author Central, then add your biography (KDP help). Author Central takes plain text, so skip bold and italics. Keep it under about 1,000 characters so it reads well, and update it when a new book comes out.
What do the best "About the Author" examples have in common?
The strongest About the Author pages do four things in a few lines. They say what the author writes, give one credential that connects to it, name the book or series, and end on one specific human detail. They skip the life story, the list of hobbies and any praise the author can't stand behind.
Do you have short author bio examples?
Here's one in 38 words: Nora Lindgren is a poet and high school chemistry teacher in Duluth, Minnesota. Her poems have appeared in literary journals across the Midwest. Her first collection, Freezing Point, is about grief, winter and the science of letting go. It names the work, a credential and the book.
Your next step
More for your book
Write your bio once, in every length you need
Open the template, or tell River about yourself and get all four versions.