how do you write a short biography

How to Write a Short Bio: Templates, Examples

By Status.net Editorial Team on June 16, 2023 — 12 minutes to read

• How to Write a Short Bio Part 1
• What to Include in a Short Professional Bio Part 2
• Example of a Formal Short Bio Part 3
• Example of a Casual Short Bio Part 4
• Examples of Well-Written Short Bios Part 5
• Short Bio: Best Templates Part 6
• Tips for Writing a Short Bio Part 7
• Optimizing Your Bio for Different Platforms Part 8

A short bio is a concise and informative summary of your professional background, accomplishments, and personal interests. It’s an opportunity for you to introduce yourself to others, whether it’s for networking, job applications, or social media profiles. By writing a short bio, you allow others to quickly understand your expertise, strengths, and personality.

As you write your short bio, consider your audience and tailor the content accordingly. You might want to have different versions of your bio for varying contexts, such as a professional conference, a job application, or a social media platform. Regardless of the situation, strive to be authentic and maintain a tone that reflects your personality while also adhering to professional standards.

Part 1 How to Write a Short Bio

When writing a short bio, first focus on being concise and relevant. A short bio should be approximately 4-6 sentences or about 150 words. Be sure to highlight your achievements, experience, and expertise with confidence and clarity.

To start, introduce yourself briefly, including your name, title, and current role or profession. Next, mention your most significant accomplishments in your field thus far. This can include awards, certifications, publications, or any other relevant milestones. Discuss your current work and projects, providing the reader with a snapshot of your professional life. Make sure to emphasize your unique strengths and specialties. Then, touch upon your education or any other credentials that showcase your expertise.

Here’s an example to follow:

“Jeremiah Smith, an award-winning graphic designer, specializes in creating visually stunning websites and marketing materials for a diverse clientele. With over 10 years of experience, Jeremiah has led branding projects for major corporations and small businesses alike, receiving accolades for his innovative design solutions. Currently, he serves as the Creative Director at X Design Studio, where he is dedicated to helping clients grow their digital presence. Jeremiah holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design from the prestigious Art Institute of Chicago.”

For a stronger impact, customize your short bio by tailoring it to the specific platform, audience, or purpose. By prioritizing information and emphasizing the most relevant points, you can create a brief, engaging bio that showcases your unique skills and accomplishments.

Part 2 What to Include in a Short Professional Bio

• Your job title and current role : Start by mentioning your current role and the industry you’re working in. This helps to establish your expertise and gives readers an immediate understanding of your professional focus.
• Career accomplishments and milestones : Highlight a few significant achievements in your career thus far. These can be successful projects, promotions, or awards you’ve received. Be specific about what you’ve accomplished and how it demonstrates your expertise.
• Skills and qualifications : Briefly mention the key skills and qualifications you possess that make you an expert in your field. This can include technical abilities, soft skills, certifications, or degrees.
• Interests and personal touch : Add a few personal details that showcase your interests and passions outside of work. This can humanize your professional persona and help you connect with readers on a more personal level. However, be careful not to share too much personal information.
• LinkedIn and networking opportunities : Include a link to your LinkedIn profile or other professional social media accounts. This provides readers with an opportunity to connect with you and discover more about your background.

To present this information effectively, write your short professional bio in the third person and maintain a confident, knowledgeable, and clear tone of voice. Keep the content concise and easy to understand by breaking it into paragraphs and using formatting elements such as bullet points and bold text when necessary.

Here is one more example of a well-crafted short professional bio:

“John Smith is a seasoned marketing manager with over 10 years of experience in the tech industry. He currently leads product marketing efforts at X Company, where he has successfully launched new products and significantly increased market share.

John holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration and is certified in digital marketing. His expertise includes strategic planning, content creation, and driving brand awareness through innovative campaigns.

In his free time, John enjoys hiking, photography, and volunteering at the local animal shelter. Connect with him on LinkedIn to learn more about his professional experience and accomplishments.”

Taking Into Account Personal and Professional Aspects

Try to strike a balance between your personal and professional aspects:

• Make sure to mention any relevant professional accomplishments and skills that showcase your expertise in your field. If you are a student or a working professional, add details about your university, current position, or professional experiences that give readers an insight into your capabilities.
• Don’t forget to add a touch of personality to your bio. Including personal details, interests, and hobbies will make you more relatable and create a connection with your audience. However, try to keep these personal elements brief and relevant to your overall bio. For example, if you are writing a bio for a personal website or Twitter, you could mention that you are an avid painter or a dedicated volunteer at a local animal shelter.

When writing in the second person, use short paragraphs to make your bio easy to read and understand. For instance:

• Full name: Briefly mention your full name at the beginning of your bio.
• Professional skills: List your core skills and accomplishments in bullet points or a table format.
• Personal interests: Share some hobbies or interests related to your profession or that showcase your values.
• Personal goals or mission statement: Include a sentence or two about your professional philosophy and core values to give readers a sense of your personal brand.

Related: How to Write a Personal Mission Statement (20 Examples)

Be cautious with the contact information you provide, especially if your bio will be accessible to the public on your personal website or social media profiles. Make sure only the necessary details are included to avoid any privacy concerns.

In summary, your short bio should be a reflection of both your personal and professional self. Showcase your skills and accomplishments while adding personal touches to make it engaging and relatable. Keep the text concise, use appropriate formatting, and remember to maintain a confident, knowledgeable, neutral, and clear tone throughout your bio.

Related: What Are Your Values? How to Discover Your Values

Selecting the Tone for Your Short Bio

Selecting the right tone for your short bio is crucial to portraying yourself in the way you want to be perceived. Consider the context in which the bio will be read and choose a tone accordingly. There are two main tones you can adopt: formal and casual.

Part 3 Example of a Formal Short Bio

Formal Tone : If you’re writing a bio for a professional context, such as a job, conference, or publication, opt for a formal tone. This means using more sophisticated language, avoiding slang, and maintaining a professional vibe throughout the bio. To achieve this, write in complete sentences, utilize proper grammar and punctuation, and highlight your achievements and expertise. Be sure to remain confident and clear in your writing. Example: “Dr. Jane Doe is a renowned expert in the field of molecular biology, with over 15 years of research experience to her credit. As the recipient of several prestigious awards, Dr. Doe’s groundbreaking work has had a significant impact on the scientific community.”

Part 4 Example of a Casual Short Bio

Casual Tone : A casual tone works well for less formal situations, such as bios on personal websites, blogs, or social media profiles. Here, you can use more relaxed language and showcase your personality. However, it’s still important to sound knowledgeable and approachable. Feel free to use contractions, incorporate humor, and speak directly to your audience to create an engaging tone.

“Hey there! I’m John, a travel enthusiast who loves exploring new cultures and tasting exotic dishes. When I’m not backpacking across the globe, you can find me geeking out about the latest tech gadgets or sipping on a well-crafted cocktail.”

In both cases, whether formal or casual, always ensure that your voice is confident, neutral, and clear. Remember to keep it concise, avoid exaggeration or false claims, and maintain a second-person point of view.

Part 5 Examples of Well-Written Short Bios

Short bio example 1.

Jane Smith is a marketing expert with over 10 years of experience in helping brands elevate their online presence. With a passion for storytelling, Jane excels in creating content that engages and inspires. In her free time, she enjoys hiking, photography, and exploring her city’s local coffee shops. Connect with Jane on LinkedIn or follow her on Twitter @JaneSmith.

Short Bio Example 2

John Doe is an experienced software engineer with a knack for developing cutting-edge applications. Specializing in full-stack web development, John’s expertise lies in JavaScript, Python, and Node.js. When he’s not coding, John can be found playing the guitar, tutoring local students in programming, or cheering on his favorite esports team.

Part 6 Short Bio: Best Templates

Short bio template 1.

[Your Name] is a [industry or profession] expert with [number of years] of experience in [specific skills or areas of expertise]. [He/She/They] specializes in [technical skills or industry knowledge] and has a passion for [relevant interests]. In [his/her/their] free time, [your name] enjoys [hobbies or activities]. Connect with [your name] on [social media platforms] or through [his/her/their] website.

Short Bio Template 2

As a [occupation or field], [Your Name] incorporates [unique qualities or skills] to produce [specific type of work]. With a background in [relevant experience], [He/She/They] has been able to [achievement or accomplishment] through [personal path or passion]. When not [working or creating], [Your Name] spends [his/her/their] time [hobbies or activities], always seeking new inspiration.

[Your name] is a [profession or role] with a background in [relevant expertise or industry]. [He/She/They] earned a [degree] in [field] from [institution]. [Your name] has [number of years] experience in [profession/industry], providing [valuable service or skill]. Outside of work, [your name] enjoys [hobbies or personal interests]. Connect with [your name] on [social media platform] or visit [your website or portfolio].

Customize these examples and templates to fit your own unique skills, experiences, and personality. Using a second person point of view, focus on the key aspects you want your audience to know about. Be confident and transparent about your achievements and interests, and let your short bio speak for itself. Happy writing!

Part 7 Tips for Writing a Short Bio

• Know your target audience : Consider the people who will be reading your bio and focus on the information that will be most relevant to them. Tailor your bio to best serve their needs and expectations.
• Highlight your accomplishments : Share information on your achievements, awards, and notable experiences. This will give your audience an understanding of your expertise and success in your field.
• Include your goals and mission statement : Tell your audience what drives you and what you hope to achieve. This can help create a connection with the reader and showcase your dedication to your work.
• Maintain a professional tone : Write in a clear and concise manner, avoiding casual language and slang. A confident and knowledgeable tone will convey your competence in your field.
• Keep personal information to a minimum : While you may choose to mention some personal tidbits, be mindful of what you share. Focus on information that enhances your professional image, rather than oversharing personal details.
• Promote your brand and company : If you represent a business or have a personal brand, mention your company name and mission statement. This can help reinforce your brand identity and make a stronger impression on your audience.
• Prioritize transparency and authenticity : Be honest about your experience and qualifications. Avoid exaggerating or making false claims in order to maintain trust with your audience.
• Limit self-promotion : While it’s important to show off your accomplishments, be sure to keep the focus on meaningful information rather than excessive self-promotion. This will help engage readers and build credibility.
• Use formatting to enhance readability : Break up your bio into paragraphs, use bullet points for lists, and bold text for important details. This will make it easier for your audience to read and understand your bio.
• Include contact information : Provide a way for your audience to get in touch with you, whether it’s an email address, phone number, or a link to your website.

Part 8 Optimizing Your Bio for Different Platforms

On LinkedIn , focus on your professional achievements and skills. Use bullet points or a table to highlight your most significant accomplishments. Feel free to include any relevant certifications, courses, or awards. Remember that LinkedIn is a professional networking platform, so maintaining a professional tone is crucial.

For a resume , your bio should be concise and focus on summarizing your career history and specific expertise. Make it easy for potential employers to grasp your main strengths quickly. Use bold text to emphasize crucial information, such as your job title, years of experience, or industry-specific skills.

On a personal website , you have more freedom to express your personality and showcase unique aspects of your life. Consider adding anecdotes, hobbies, or personal achievements to give visitors a glimpse of who you are outside of your professional life. You can also touch on your professional capabilities but keep it concise.

For Twitter , keep in mind the character limit for bios and make every word count. Capture your profession or industry, and maybe add a touch of your personality or interests through emojis or hashtags. It’s common to see authors and celebrities mention their latest projects, books, or achievements here.

Frequently Asked Questions

What are the essential elements of a short bio.

A short bio should include:

• Your name and current role or profession.
• Brief background information including education and relevant work experience.
• Notable accomplishments or skills relevant to your profession.
• Personal interests or ambitions that showcase your personality.
• A call-to-action, such as directing readers to your portfolio or LinkedIn profile.

How can I create a compelling short professional bio?

To create a compelling short professional bio, follow these steps:

• Start strong with a clear and concise introduction.
• Focus on your most relevant qualifications and experience.
• Highlight key achievements and successes.
• Provide a personal touch that showcases your unique attributes.
• Keep it brief and easy to read, aiming for around 100-150 words.

What are some tips to make my short bio stand out?

• Use vivid language and strong, active verbs.
• Tailor your bio to your audience, emphasizing information that is most relevant to them.
• Share a unique or unexpected personal interest to pique interest.
• Edit and proofread your bio carefully, ensuring it is free of errors and reads smoothly.

How can I tailor my short bio to different contexts?

Adjust your short bio for different contexts by:

• Focusing on relevant skills, experience, or accomplishments for each specific audience.
• Adjusting the tone or language to suit the platform (e.g., more casual for a social media profile or more formal for a conference bio).
• Emphasizing specific personal interests or accomplishments that align with the context or audience.
• Updating your call-to-action as needed to direct readers to relevant content or profiles.

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Summary. To write a short bio you should first make an initial introduction introducing yourself in the first or first person. Your short bio should include your brand, your accomplishments, and your values and goals. Your short bio should be one to three short paragraphs or four to eight sentences long.

Knowing how to write a concise, informative, and interesting biography about yourself can help throughout various parts of the professional process. You can use your bio to capture the attention of potential employers or clients and convince them to choose to employ or work with you.

In this article, you’ll learn more about what goes into a short bio and how to write one, and you’ll also get to see some short bio templates and examples to help you get an idea of what yours should look like.

Key Takeaways

A short bio serves to introduce you, your achievements, and what you offer professionally to potential employers or clients.

It’s important to keep your bio brief so that readers stay engaged and will remember your main points.

You may need to adjust your bio for different audiences, as your clients may want to know different information than a recruiter would.

Talk about your skills and accomplishments in your bio, but don’t exaggerate them.

What Is a Short Bio?

How to write a short bio, what to include in a short professional bio, short bio examples, short bio templates, tips for writing a short bio, writing a short bio faq.

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A short bio serves as your introduction to the professional world. In terms of finding or expanding on your job, a bio will cover your:

Work history

Achievements

Any other relevant professional information

Think of it as a professional memoir that a hiring manager or consumer can read and understand quickly. It’s usually about one to three paragraphs depending on experience.

There’s an emphasis on being succinct when it comes to writing a professional bio. This is because a bio is supposed to be a preface to attract recruiter attention and incline them to reach out for more information. Many readers will get lost or bored with a lengthy bio.

Using a short bio can be helpful across very different industries, from marketing to accounting, from psychiatry to sales.

You’re probably familiar with providing short bios on social media websites and applications. While the information and skills you include in a professional bio may differ, the general formatting is similar.

There’s a lot of considerations to take into account when writing a short bio, and it can quickly become intimidating. Deciding what information is relevant and how to keep it near 140 characters is no small task.

If you’re having difficulty writing a short bio, follow the outline below to craft an introduction that engages your reader.

Make an initial introduction. You can’t jump right into everything you’ve done and what you want to do in the future before introducing yourself.

Your bio’s first sentence should begin with your full name in the third person or introduce yourself in the first person and continue to briefly outline your most notable skills and accomplishments. It’s a good place to state your current job and employer.

Go deeper with what motivates you. Once you’ve catchily illustrated who you are in your short bio, you can use the second sentence to describe your motivations for your work.

Stating what drives you to do the work you do is essential to employers and customers alike. Whether you work as a physician or fitness consultant , there’s a reason why this is your profession, and you should explain that in your short professional bio.

Describe your accomplishments. Your short bio is for detailing why you’re the ideal candidate to be trusted with handling an employer or consumer’s business. By describing your prior accomplishments, you let them know what you could offer as an employee and how you’ve succeeded in the past.

While you should avoid sounding braggy, the reader is looking for information about what your qualifications are , and your accomplishments generally measure these qualities.

Even though you could probably go on for ages about the details of your accomplishments, save that for an interview . In a short bio, only include the most impressive of your achievements to outline.

Accomplishments relevant to a short bio could include:

Impressive results on a project

Former promotions

Awards received in your field

Certifications received

Include contact information. The purpose of a short bio as either a business or a job seeker is to inspire the reader to reach out. Without contact information, this pursuit becomes futile. Make sure your short bio has some way to contact you at the end.

Relevant contact information may include:

Phone number

Professional networking profile

A short professional bio includes:

Your full name. You can choose to write your bio in the first person (I, me, my) or third person (he, she, they), but either way, you need to include your full name at some point. Branding doesn’t work so well without a brand name (i.e., you!)

Your brand. Of course, if you have an actual brand that you’re trying to market, you should include the brand name as well.

What you do. Summarize what you want the reader to know about what you do in one sentence — tricky, we know.

Your accomplishments. For a short bio, you can stick with just one major accomplishment from your professional life. Or, if you have a string of impressive achievements, try condensing all of them down to one sentence.

Your goals and values. Let the reader know what makes you tick — why do you do what you do and what do you hope to achieve with your work? People are compelled by a story more than anything else, so it’s important to get this part right.

Something personal (optional). If you have a quirky tidbit about yourself you’d like to include, go for it. Just make sure it doesn’t throw off te the tone of the rest of your bio.

Contact info (optional). If your bio is serving as a call-to-action to drum up business or get leads on job opportunities, it makes sense to include your contact information at the end of your bio. It’s not necessary if that information is available elsewhere on the page , though.

Entry-Level Job-Seeker Bio Example

Mitchell Morrison is an upcoming video producer and editor who believes in the art of visual organization. He is a recent graduate from the University of Washington and focused on post-production during his time studying there. He was introduced to the magical world of visual art production by watching his father work on editing commercials growing up and has been working towards his dream of becoming a video editor ever since. During his last year of college, Mitchell participated in a competitive internship with Digital Space Films. He was chosen out of 2,000 applicants based on his academic portfolio and personal statement essay. This internship was an incredible learning experience and resulted in three professional accreditations for music video editing. Mitchell currently lives in Seattle, Washington pursuing freelance opportunities and spending time with his Dog, Pikachu. To get into contact with Mitchell: MitchellMorrisonVideo.com/contact

Working Professional Website Bio Example

Lisa Kennedy is an experienced real estate professional. She knows how important a home is for long-term happiness and has invested her career in putting people in the house they’ve always dreamed of. Lisa was driven to pursue real estate from her passion for helping people during life-altering times, and a keen interest in high-end, luxury homes. She’s been working in the real estate industry for ten years and in that time has assisted over 3,500 people in finding homes. She was educated at the University of Los Angeles with a bachelor’s in business management. She’s worked for some of the most respectable Real Estate companies in Los Angeles and individually under her agency “Kennedy Homes.” Lisa has also been published in Real Estate Quarterly Magazine as the 2017 winner of the “Top Luxury Home Seller” award. Lisa loves the culture of Los Angeles and has been living there with her family of five since she graduated from college. She enjoys spending her free time exploring towns along the West Coast and swimming. If you’d like to get in touch with Lisa: Email: [email protected]

Professional Networking Profile Bio Example

Bianca Jones Marketing Manager Miami, FL The first step towards customer satisfaction is being reached by stellar product marketing, and that’s what I aim to provide. My professional experience as a product marketing manager has allowed me to assist many organizations in improving their sales margins and audience response to emerging products. I’ve brought dedication and positive results to the companies I’ve worked for because I am passionate about product perception, marketing, and business statistics. What drives a product to success interests and inspires me. I specialize in long-term growth strategies and audience outreach. In addition to eight years of experience in professional product marketing, I have also published two books on creating a career as a marketer called “What to Do After Your Bachelor’s” and “A Marketer’s How-To.” If you’re interested in learning more about how to market your business better, or just discuss more, feel free to contact me by email at [email protected].

Your first choice is whether you want your bio to be written in the third person or first person. These short bio templates show both options, and also include different ideas for what to include, and how. Feel free to pick and choose your favorite parts of each of the two.

[Full Name] is a [job title] who [believes/knows] in the power of [what you do]. [He/She/They] began their journey in [field] by [how you got started in the field], and now dreams of [what you hope to accomplish]. [His/Her/Their] biggest accomplishment to date has been [your biggest accomplishment]. [Full Name] lives in [where you live] and participates in [a hobby/interest]. To get in touch with [Full Name], call/email/message me on [how you’d like to be contacted].

I am a [job title] who helps [who you help] [what you help them do]. It’s my belief that [your unique perspective on the field]. In the past [# of years] years, I’ve [major accomplishment #1] through [how you accomplished it]. I have a passion for [your professional passion], but on the side, I also enjoy [personal passion]. Get in touch with me today at [contact info] — I look forward to talking with you about [what you want to talk to your readers about].

You have a firm grasp of the structure of a short bio and what to include. Now, you may need some tips for how to polish your short professional bio and make it stand out from the competition.

Be mindful of length. While you’re probably getting sick of hearing that your bio should be short, it’s good to keep in mind throughout the writing process. It’s easy to go off on a tangent while trying to include everything relevant or rationalize, making your bio too long.

Avoid this impulse. The point of a bio is that it’s limited. You want to intrigue the reader enough to inspire them to seek more information about you or your services.

Tailor your bio to your intended audience. Whether you’re using a short bio to attract a particular customer base or potential employer, tailoring it to fit their wants and needs is crucial. Consider your intended audience base and what they’re looking for in a candidate or service.

Be genuine. Your short bio should be an authentic representation of your traits, experience, and personality. People are repelled by what they interpret as stretching the truth. If you’re being received as disingenuous by the reader, they’ll probably move on.

Proofread. The only way to steer clear of errors in your short bio is by proofreading it. Imagine a hiring manager being completely interested in your bio.

They love what you have to say about yourself and find your prior experience enticing. That is, until they come across a mistake that clearly shows you didn’t do proofread or edit.

Include links to your portfolio, website, or networking profile. One way to circumvent the confining factor of keeping your bio short is by including links to more detailed sources.

This can be in the form of linking your portfolio or website to allow the reader to go deeper into your discussed skills if they please, without taking up more space in your bio.

Implement these links seamlessly into your bio by attaching them to anchor words that describe what clicking will lead them to.

Add some personality. You aren’t the only person who has an impressive list of accomplishments to put on a bio, so you’re going to need to find some additional ways to make an impression.

What should a short bio include?

A short bio should include your name, what you do, and your achievements. You should also include your company or product’s brand, if you have one, and your goals and motivations for doing what you do. This humanizes you and helps you stand out from the rest of the pack.

How long is a short bio?

A short bio is typically one to three paragraphs long. These should be short paragraphs though, as other experts say that between four and eight sentences is the ideal length for a short bio.

What makes a good bio?

A good bio is succinct and memorable. Readers don’t want to spend long reading about your professional and personal life, so go back and cut it down to the important parts multiple times after you draft it. You might be surprised at how little you actually need to include.

What should you avoid putting in a short bio?

You should avoid including anything negative or arrogate. It’s never a good idea to write anything negative about previous jobs or employers. Only include positive things in your professional short bio.

It’s important to include your achievements in a short bio, but there is a fine line between mentioning your achievements and bragging about them. Stick to the facts when talking about your accomplishments.

Fremont University – Building Your Professional Bio

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Sky Ariella is a professional freelance writer, originally from New York. She has been featured on websites and online magazines covering topics in career, travel, and lifestyle. She received her BA in psychology from Hunter College.

Don Pippin is an executive and HR leader for Fortune 50 and 500 companies and startups. In 2008, Don launched area|Talent with a focus on helping clients identify their brand. As a Certified Professional Resume Writer, Certified Digital Career Strategist, and Certified Personal Branding Strategist, Don guides clients through career transitions.

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How to write your own short professional biography (with examples)

First, begin with your name and current job title or job title that you’re seeking. For example:

Elaine Benes is a Senior Copy Editor at Pendant Publishing.  

Next, describe what you do.

Explain your primary job responsibilities by painting a picture of your daily work life, your interests and what you have to offer.

Elaine Benes is a Senior Copy Editor at Pendant Publishing who specializes in editing books and periodicals focused on the increasingly complex lives and careers of sports and entertainment figures.  

Share one of your most significant professional accomplishments to build credibility.

You don’t have to go into a lot of detail. What makes you a valuable person to have on their team or working on their behalf? 

She’s edited more than a thousand articles and more than one hundred books, including “How to Make a Home Run” by Babe Ruth and “The Life and Times of Bette Davis.”  

Speak about your values or passions.

Explain why you do what you do. Did you get into this business for a reason? Help people understand what matters to you.

Elaine was inspired to become a copy editor in college, where she realized that she had a gift for finding typos and grammatical errors.  

Talk briefly about your life outside of work.

When you’re relatable, people will reach out to connect. Tell us about your family, your hobbies and interests, your hometown. Whatever speaks to who you are when you’re not working.

When she’s not editing, Elaine spends time teaching freeform dance and yoga classes, along with competing in local and national dog shows with her Brussels Griffon, Farfel.  

End on a good note (or a funny one, if possible).

By sharing something fun or quirky with your readers, you leave them with a positive and unique impression of you.

To date, while Farfel has not won any prizes, he’s still the bestest boy.  

The best part is that when you put together a good basic biography, you won’t have to struggle at the last minute to write one, and you can edit it down to whatever length is necessary. For example:

Elaine Benes is a Senior Copy Editor at Pendant Publishing who has edited more than a thousand articles and more than one hundred books. She lives in New York City with her dog, a Brussels Griffon named Farfel.

Include a call-to-action (CTA).

What do you want your readers to do next? Do you want them to follow you on Twitter, connect with you on LinkedIn or check out your latest blog? Don’t forget to invite them! While a lot of us are hesitant to make the ask, a strategically created CTA can make the difference between a bio that introduces you versus one that does the work for you.

Make sure to follow Elaine on Twitter at [email protected] for writing tips and grammar guidance.

Where should you share your bio?

The possibilities are wide and varied, but here are some key places to post your short bio:

• Company website
• Guest blog posts
• Speaker profile
• Twitter bio
• Wikipedia page
• Instructor profile
• Author’s page
• Press releases

Last but not least, consider getting a professional headshot taken or taking a professional headshot at home to send along with your bio.   

Related Article: Four Considerations to Keep in Mind When Planning for a Professional Headshot

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5 Inspiring Short Bio Examples + How to Write a Professional Bio

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Are you a business owner who wants to share your expertise but is unsure of how to stand out in a crowded marketplace? Maybe you want to write a book or create a course but there’s still the matter of convincing people of why they should trust you. This is where a professional bio comes in.

When you are building a personal brand , every word you use matters. In this article, we’ll break down the parts of a professional bio, walk through the steps of creating one, and share some short bio examples. 

This guide for writing a professional bio includes:

What is a professional bio.

Your professional bio is a short, curated snapshot of your education, accomplishments, and career highlights. Similar to an author bio , it gives background information on why you are qualified to do what you do, but unlike an author bio that focuses only on a book, a professional bio is a broader take on who you are as a business owner and your brand.

The best professional bios are streamlined, highly focused, and targeted to your audience. They condense all of your years of experience and knowledge into a bite-sized snippet that you can share across various mass media outlets like your website, podcasts, social media, television interviews, and speaking engagements .

Creating a short bio that resonates with readers and doesn’t sound like a boring list of accomplishments may sound like a tall order, but it’s doable with the right template. 

How do you write a professional bio?

The challenge that many career professionals face when trying to write a short bio is that there’s so much information to sift through. What do you include? What do you leave out? When do you use generalities? When do you get specific?

Here are some basic steps for writing a professional bio. 

Gather the necessary information. Prewriting is a great way to pull everything together.

• Start with your personal brand. Think specifically about your current offer and the products and services that you sell. Write those down.
• Define your audience. As a business owner, you likely have an avatar or multiple avatars (marketing personas) of your ideal customer. Before writing your professional bio, you’ll need to know who will be reading it.
• Know your why. Where are you in your career currently? Why is now the time to define your personal brand? Knowing this will help you develop the tone for your professional bio. You don’t want your bio to be static and boring. You want it to have personality, and knowing your why will help you create an engaging one.

In this article, we’re focusing on short bios, and one of the best ways to get to a short bio is to start with a longer one. It’s easier to subtract from a short one than to try to make a short bio longer. You’ll need different bio lengths for different purposes, and starting with the longest and narrowing it down to the shortest will help make the process more efficient.

Here’s how to build your main bio.

There are several ways to write a professional bio, but one of the easiest is to use the 5-paragraph structure that's common in personal essays: introduction, body, and conclusion. 

Writing it in the third person is standard and often viewed as more formal and professional, but some opt for the first person which has a more casual feel. 

• Introduction (1 paragraph) – This opening paragraph sets the stage for the rest of the bio. You can start from your childhood if it’s relevant or whatever point on the timeline when your career focus began to take shape. Some even begin with their current title and position and move on from there. Wherever you start, you want this paragraph to catch everyone up to where you are now so you can tell them where you’re going.
• Body (3 paragraphs) – Your body paragraphs are where you “flesh out” your history. It’s your story. This is where you talk about your education, your accomplishments, and the whys that motivate you to do what you do.
• Conclusion (1 paragraph) – This is where you tell your reader where you are going—your vision for your brand and the people that you serve. 

Once you’ve written your full bio (up to 400 words, give or take), you’ll want to cut it to about 200 words to create the shorter version. This is where you go from specifics to generalities. For example, in a longer bio, you might mention the subject of your dissertation as it relates to your current career path, but in the shorter bio, it would suffice to say you received a Ph.D. and from where. 

5 short bio examples

Below I’ve shared 5 short bio examples from business owners who've put in the work to create outstanding personal brands. Some are solopreneurs whose personal and company brands are the same, while others head up large companies and have chosen to separate their personal brand from the company's. 

The first example from Whitney Johnson, the CEO and co-founder of Disruption Advisors shows her full bio (pulled from her LinkedIn profile). Underneath you’ll find the shortened version she displays on her website. I found even shorter versions on her YouTube and Twitter (X) pages. This is a good example of how to take a longer bio and shorten it.

1. Whitney Johnson

Area of expertise or Industry: Leadership training

Products / Services: Coaching, public speaking, books, workshops

Full bio ( source )

Word count – 372

Whitney Johnson is the CEO of Disruption Advisors (thedisruptionadvisors.com), a leadership development company, helping you grow your people to grow your business.

A Wall Street Journal, USA Today and Amazon bestselling author, Whitney was named by Thinkers50 as one of the ten leading business thinkers in the world (2021). She is a world class keynote speaker and a popular lecturer for Harvard Business Publishing’s Corporate Learning. She has 1.7 million followers on LinkedIn where she was selected as a Top Voice in 2020. Her course on Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship has been viewed more than one million times, and her LinkedIn Lives have more than 1 million cumulative views. In 2017, she was selected from more than 17,000 candidates for the initial cohort of Marshall Goldsmith’s 100 Coaches, and was named as the #1 Talent Coach.

Johnson is a frequent contributor to the Harvard Business Review, as well as the author of the WSJ bestselling Smart Growth, Build an A Team, a Financial Times Book of the Month, and the critically acclaimed Disrupt Yourself. In these books, she codifies the S Curve of Learning and the Seven Accelerants of Personal Disruption, both of which operationalize disruption theory by applying it to the individual. Integral to her work is the weekly Disrupt Yourself Podcast which has millions of downloads. Guests have included Brené Brown, Adam Grant, Susan Cain, and Stephen M.R. Covey.

Johnson was the cofounder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Harvard Business School’s Clayton Christensen, through which they invested in and led the $8 million seed round for South Korea’s Coupang, currently valued at more than $25 billion. She was involved in fund formation, capital raising and the development of the fund’s strategy.

A former award-winning Wall Street stock analyst, Johnson applies her understanding of momentum and growth in stocks to people. She was an Institutional Investor–ranked equity research analyst for eight consecutive years, rated by Starmine as a superior stock-picker. As an equity analyst, stocks under coverage included America Movil (NYSE: AMX), Televisa (NYSE: TV) and Telmex (NYSE: TMX), which accounted for roughly 40% of Mexico's market capitalization.

She is married, has two children, and lives in Lexington, Virginia, where her family grows strawberries, raspberries, and blackberries and enjoys making jam.

Short bio (source)

Word count – 188

Whitney Johnson , CEO and Co-Founder of Disruption Advisors, is a world-class coach globally recognized thought leader, author, keynote speaker, and consultant helping organizations operationalize a high-growth mindset in their leaders and teams. 

Whitney is the WSJ, USA Today, and Amazon bestselling author of Smart Growth: How to Grow Your People to Grow Your Company (Harvard Business Press, 2022). She shares her passion for personal disruption, helping individuals transform their lives, careers, teams, and companies through her keynote addresses; her popular podcast Disrupt Yourself; lectures at Harvard Business School’s Corporate Learning; the award-winning books How to Build an A Team , Disrupt Yourself , and Dare, Dream, D o; and frequent article contributions to the Harvard Business Review and MIT Sloan Management Review.

Whitney is ranked a top talent coach by Marshall Goldsmith 100 Coaches, recognized by Thinkers50 as one of the top 10 leading business thinkers in the world, and named Inc.’s 200 Female Founders of 2023. She is co-founder of the Disruptive Innovation Fund with Clayton Christensen, and a former award-winning stock analyst on Wall Street, Whitney Johnson now applies her understanding of momentum and growth in stocks to people.

2. Tiffany Dufu

Area of expertise or industry: Peer coaching

Products / Services: books, public speaking

Short Bio ( source )

Word count: 203

Tiffany Dufu is founder of The Cru, a peer-coaching tech company acquired by Luminary in 2023. Their algorithm matches circles of women who collaborate to meet their personal and professional goals. She’s also the author of the bestselling book Drop the Ball: Achieving More by Doing Less. According to foreword contributor Gloria Steinem, Drop the Ball is “important, path-breaking, intimate and brave.”

Named to Entrepreneur's 100 Powerful Women and Fast Company’s League of Extraordinary Women, Tiffany has raised nearly $20 million toward the cause of women and girls. She is a frequent speaker on women’s leadership and has presented at Fortune Magazine’s Most Powerful Women Summit, MAKERS and TEDWomen. She was a launch team member to Lean In and was Chief Leadership Officer to Levo, one of the fastest growing millennial professional networks. Prior to that, Tiffany served as President of The White House Project, as a Major Gifts Officer at Simmons University, and as Associate Director of Development at Seattle Girls’ School.

Tiffany is a member of Women’s Forum New York, Delta Sigma Theta, Sorority, Inc. and is a Lifetime Girl Scout. She serves on the board of Simmons University and lives in New York City with her husband and two children.

3. Chris Do

Area of expertise or industry: Brand design

Products / Services: public speaking, courses, workshops

Word count: 123

First-person example

As the Founder and CEO of The Futur, I have over 27 years of experience in brand design, strategy, and consultancy, working with clients such as Microsoft, Sony, Nike, and Starbucks. I am passionate about helping people realize their value and communicate it to others, whether through design, content, education, or coaching.

I am also a sought-after public speaker and mentor, delivering keynote speeches, workshops, and courses at various events, conferences, and organizations around the world. I share my insights and expertise on topics such as branding, business, creativity, and social media marketing, reaching millions of people through my YouTube channel, podcast, and online platform. My mission is to empower the next generation of creative entrepreneurs and leaders to achieve their full potential.

4. Andrew Huberman, Ph.D

Area of expertise or industry: neuroscience

Products / Services: public speaking

Word count: 228

Andrew Huberman, Ph.D., is a neuroscientist and tenured professor in the department of neurobiology, and by courtesy, psychiatry and behavioral sciences at Stanford School of Medicine. He has made numerous significant contributions to the fields of brain development, brain function and neural plasticity, which is the ability of our nervous system to rewire and learn new behaviors, skills and cognitive functioning.

Huberman is a McKnight Foundation and Pew Foundation Fellow and was awarded the Cogan Award in 2017, given to the scientist making the most significant discoveries in the study of vision. His lab’s most recent work focuses on the influence of vision and respiration on brain states such as fear and high attention focus and developing rapid and effective tools for mitigating stress and improving sleep and other physiological metrics.

Work from the Huberman Laboratory at Stanford School of Medicine has been published in top journals including Nature, Science and Cell and has been featured in TIME, BBC, Scientific American, Discover and other top media outlets.

In 2021, Dr. Huberman launched the Huberman Lab podcast. The podcast is frequently ranked in the top 10 of all podcasts globally and is often ranked #1 in the categories of Science, Education, and Health & Fitness.

Alongside hosting the Huberman Lab podcast, Andrew Huberman is the co-founder of Scicomm Media, and actively invests in and advises a handful of businesses. 

5. Amy Porterfield

Area of expertise or industry: entrepreneurship

Products / Services: public speaking, book, courses

Word count: 204

I help entrepreneurs build businesses online. My areas of expertise include how to start and grow an email list, how to create digital courses and how to promote and sell courses online using webinars.

About My Podcast, Online Marketing Made Easy

How do I start an online business? Grow my email list to thousands of subscribers? Sell more and grow faster? These are just some of the big questions that leading online marketing strategist, Amy Porterfield, digs into on the top-ranked Online Marketing Made Easy Podcast.

Featuring insights from A-List online marketing experts (Russell Brunson, Jamie Kern Lima, Rick Mulready, Marie Forleo, etc.) as well as mini marketing masterclasses and step-by-step guides, each episode is designed to help you take immediate action on the most important strategies for starting, scaling and automating your online business.

My specialty is getting into the online trenches with you. Thinking about creating an online course? Want to promote with webinars? Need help building your email list? Discover why hundreds of thousands of online business owners turn to me to generate more profits and to make sense of the online marketing space, implement the strategies that really get results, and turn that side hustle into a business that lasts.

• How to Create a Successful Author Media Kit
• About the Author Pages: Writing a Great One (8 Examples)

Final thoughts

When you are designing your personal brand, how you present yourself to the world will define how the world sees you. A well-written, engaging professional bio will pull newcomers into your world and invite them to stay awhile and look around. A dry, static list of your credentials will do the opposite—push potential followers away. 

By using the easy-to-follow guidelines above and learning from the short bio examples shared, you can create a standout professional bio that demands attention. 

Are you interested in sharing your expertise with the world as an authorpreneur ? Have you given serious thought to writing a book to grow your business ? A book makes a great lead magnet to build your audience. Selfpublishing.com has a team of experts ready to show you how to create a book funnel and start growing your personal brand today!

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How to Write Short Professional Bios with Examples

• What is a Short Professional Bio

Preparing to Write Your Professional Bio

Crafting your professional bio, examples of short professional bios, short professional bio faqs.

A key aspect of growing your career is knowing how to showcase your strengths, experiences, and the value you offer a company. That includes using resume checkers , resume builders , and cover letter generators to write a top-notch professional bio and stand out in the hiring process.

The bio can be tricky when you’re only given a short space to work with and feel the need to stand out amongst others in your industry. So, where do you begin, and how do you optimize it?

We’ll guide you through the whole process in this article, covering the purpose of a professional bio, do’s and don’ts in the process, and short professional bio examples you can use as templates.

What Is a Short Professional Bio ?

Before you start writing, it’s important to understand what a short professional bio is and its purpose. If you’re wondering, “What is a bio?” or “What should a bio include?” here’s a quick breakdown of the key components and objectives.

Definition and objectives

A professional bio briefly describes your skills, education, and accomplishments. It shows your value as an employee, professional, or businessperson.

A bio’s overall intent and structure can vary depending on where it’s going. For example, a professional social media bio may need to be more compact, whereas something on a company website may provide a slightly longer description of your professional experience.

Some of the most common places to put a short professional bio will be:

• Social media: There’s a growing need for professionals to have a presence on platforms like LinkedIn or Twitter. Due to the fast-paced nature of these platforms, bios are usually pretty short and to the point, and you’ll typically be given a character limit for how long they can be.
• Company “About” or “Meet the Team” pages: If you’re employed at a company that wants to have an online presence, they may need a bio for you on their About or Meet the Team page. These bios may be a bit longer than those on social media and would be focused on the value you’ll bring while assisting the company’s clients or customers.
• Resume bio: This is similar to a resume summary but will focus more on your top accomplishments and accolades. It’ll typically be a short two to three sentence description of your professional skills, achievements, and career goals.
• Professional website: Those who are self-employed or business owners may have their portfolio or services posted on a professional website. You’d want to have a brief bio explaining your skills, experiences, and the products or services you offer.

Key components

Now that you have the use cases down let’s look at the primary components that every professional biography should have.

• Your job title or the title you’re seeking: Your listed job title is a key indicator that your skills are right for a company or client’s needs. You’ll want to list your current job title to show your primary abilities. Additionally, entry-level job seekers or those wanting to advance their careers may also want to add a goal job title.
• Top skills: Listing some top industry skills is a great way to make your bio stand out. For example, accountants may want to list skills in software like QuickBooks and Excel and essential tasks like expense reporting. Or, if you lack experience, your bio could focus on transferable skills like customer service or inventory management.
• Accomplishments: Your notable accomplishments show what you’re capable of on the job. For instance, you could include some great sales numbers you achieved or how you helped boost client retention rates. Inexperienced applicants could also write about educational achievements or non-traditional work experience , such as attaining funding goals while volunteering with a non-profit.
• Your passion: What makes you passionate about your job or the industry you want to work in? Sharing aspects like how your desire to help people made you want to become a nurse will help you connect with organizations and hiring managers when they see your bio.

Before writing a bio, you’ll want to gather the correct information to present a well-rounded overview of your skills. Determining the appropriate tone and style to satisfy your intent will also be essential.

Information gathering

So, what information do you need for a top-notch professional bio?

First, you’ll want to understand your target audience and the purpose of your bio.

For example, if you’ve recently re-entered the job market and are trying to craft a great LinkedIn bio that could grab a hiring manager’s attention, you’ll want to understand the characteristics of your ideal employer and how you can show you’re a match for their needs.

It’s often helpful to research companies hiring for your job title and write down some common characteristics you notice in job posts.

Someone looking for a role as a social media manager may notice many companies want to develop a more customer-focused approach. You could tailor your bio to emphasize how your social strategy and posting style help companies connect with their customers and make them feel valued.

The next step is determining the right skills to include. In many ways, this will be similar to selecting the right resume skills . Again, looking at job descriptions for your title will be helpful. When you see trends like many companies requiring social media manager skills in Sprout Social and the Adobe Suite, take note of that to reference those abilities in your bio.

Lastly, you’ll want to find numbers you can include to specify your accomplishments. In the example of a social media manager, that could be things like how your user-generated content strategies boosted follower counts by 32% and average click-through rates by 43%.

You can tailor this process to different use cases. For instance, if you’re writing a bio for an about page on a professional website, you could tailor it to how your skills will fit your prospective customer’s primary pain points. Or, if you’re trying to gain more followers on social media, you could detail why your professional expertise makes your posts valuable for a specific audience.

Selecting tone and style

The tone of your bio will depend on its purpose and the platform you’re posting it to.

For work or resume bios, you’d often want to tailor your tone to the company. If you’re crafting a work bio for a company website where the tone is lighthearted and fun, you’d likely want to match that. The same goes if you’re crafting a resume bio for a company that uses a very formal tone in the job description. It’s a good idea to match that to show how you’ll fit their professional workplace culture.

When your bio is more personal, such as on social media or a professional website that hosts your portfolio, you can use a tone that reflects your personality while still keeping it professional or aim for a tone that you believe would connect with your target audience.

You’ll also want to consider whether you should write your bio in first-person or third-person.

Generally, the best practice is to write your bio in the third person if it’s in a more formal context or where you wouldn’t be introducing yourself. That would be when it’s for a website you don’t own (such as the company you work for), when you’ll be a speaker at a conference, or for a book or other literature.

Using the first person will be a better fit when the context is more personal or when you’re introducing yourself, such as on social media or a professional website that you own.

Now that you know the information you’ll need, let’s get into the essentials of how to write a bio and structure it appropriately. We’ll go over the introduction, how to highlight your achievements, and ways you can personalize so it stands out.

Introduction techniques

When introducing yourself in a bio, you should know if you’ll write in the first or third person since how you start will differ slightly between the two.

When writing in the third person, you should lead with your first and last name, such as “Denise Sampson is a graphic designer with over seven years of experience crafting engaging visuals for social media content.”

On the other hand, a first-person introduction would be a little different. If your name is displayed prominently elsewhere on the website or profile where your bio is hosted, you could begin it with words like “I” or “my,” such as “I’m a software developer who is passionate about helping others learn Python.”

Otherwise, if you still need to introduce your name, you could begin with something like, “My name is Todd Labowski. I’m an architect who has been leveraging 3D-printed materials in my commercial building designs for the last five years.”

As you introduce yourself, it’ll be important to emphasize your role and professional identity right away so others know what you do. This should include your current job title, any education that makes you stand out, and potentially your current employer.

Entry-level professionals like recent college graduates may also want to include a goal job title here. For example, you could say, “I’m a recent graduate from Oklahoma University with a bachelor’s degree in exercise science, aiming to get into a role as a sports trainer to help athletes improve their performance.”

Highlighting achievements

Once you’ve effectively introduced your name and professional identity, it’ll be time to highlight achievements that grab a reader’s attention.

Remember who your target audience is when thinking about the accomplishments you want to highlight. You’ll likely want to choose things that are as relevant as possible to your job title, industry, or the career you’re striving to get into. For example, a teacher may want to highlight how their project-focused lesson plans led to higher test scores from students.

As you’ll notice in our resume templates and resume examples , we always recommend using numbers to describe your work experience . It’s a good idea to do so here as well to showcase the exact impact you had. In the example of a teacher, you could say, “I’ve always been a big advocate of using projects to reinforce learning since I’ve seen great results from project-focused lesson plans where they increased my students’ test scores by an average of 33%.”

Also, make sure these accomplishments tie into the overall message you want your bio to convey. If this were on a school’s website introducing staff members, the goal might be to reassure parents that your teaching skills will help their children get the best possible education. So, providing results like test scores or learning retention would be ideal for that purpose.

When you don’t have as much experience, you may need to get creative with the achievements you reference. However, you’ll still have many things to choose from, like educational accomplishments, volunteer work, or relevant hobbies and interests .

For instance, you could reference time volunteering as a youth baseball coach, where you used visual learning techniques to help players improve their batting percentages by 28%. Using an achievement like that would still showcase abilities that would make you an effective teacher.

Personalizing your bio

Just like in cover letters or letters of interest where you’d want to personalize your message to better connect with a hiring manager, you should take a similar approach when writing a professional bio.

Consider why you’re passionate about your job or the field you want to get into, and try to tie that into your overall message.

For example, let’s say you’re a personal trainer. A big part of your story and why you pursued that career path is that when you started working out, you lost 30 pounds, which helped you gain confidence and a better outlook on life. So, you want to do the same for your clients.

You could phrase that in your bio by saying, “Jack’s passion for the gym started after he lost 30 pounds and noticed himself having more energy and confidence in his daily life. When he sees clients smile after beating a personal best on an exercise or start walking into the gym with more confidence, it reinforces why he works hard to set up proper programming and diet plans to help others achieve the same results he did.”

Some other ways you could personalize a professional bio are:

• Sharing your values and how they impact your career. For example, your desire for accountability in business could show why you value a role as a quality control advisor.
• Briefly describe who you are outside of work, such as detailing your favorite hobbies and interests . Maybe you’re a big chess player, which will show why you’re a great strategic manager.
• Share your personal insights. What have you noticed while working in your field that others don’t always mention? What things have led to your personal success?

Professional Bio Do’s and Dont’s

You have the basic structure down. Now, let’s review some best practices and common pitfalls to ensure your short bio is as successful as possible.

Best practices

Some best practices when writing a professional bio are:

• Keep it concise: Your bio should be a quick summary of who you are and your professional expertise. This will be between three to five sentences or 100 words or less in most cases unless otherwise specified by the organization that’ll be posting your bio.
• Include the most relevant information: Consider your intent and the audience reading your bio, such as if it’s for a job application, professional networking site, or conference. Then, include the most relevant details, such as why your expertise in agile methodologies will make your speech at a conference valuable for project managers.
• Highlight achievements over responsibilities: Listing responsibilities sounds too bland and won’t grab attention. So, rather than saying you’ve been in charge of quality assurance for the last seven years, you should emphasize key accomplishments, such as using failure testing to identify 58% more product errors before launch.
• Update regularly: Just like you should refresh your resume as you advance your career, do the same with your bio. Regularly add new expertise you gain that’ll be more relevant, especially as technology changes with updates to the software you use or more efficient techniques are developed. Plus, update your job title and any other relevant information as it changes.

Common pitfalls

Some common pitfalls professionals run into with bios are:

• Sharing too many details: You don’t need to list all the top skills you put on your resume or every notable achievement you’ve had in your bio. Instead, focus on a couple of skills and one or two achievements that will relate to the audience reading it.
• Being too vague: Many professionals end up with bios that sound too generic when they don’t list specific skills or achievements. Rather than saying, “Beth Lancaster has extensive experience in the business world,” try for something like, “Beth Lancaster has been managing mergers and acquisitions for 12 years, using change management strategies to make new policy development 57% more efficient and effective.”
• Overloading with jargon: While you want to share your expertise, using too many technical terms that only someone in your role will understand will confuse an audience that doesn’t have the same knowledge. This is especially common when you’re in a highly technical field like a software engineer or medical researcher. So, aim for simple explanations with impacts that anyone can understand.
• Grammar errors: A bio full of grammatical errors will detract from your professional image. So, always proofread before you post or submit it.

To help you put it all together, here are some short bio examples for different platforms and professions. You can use these examples as a professional bio template that you customize with your own details.

Bios across platforms

When learning how to write a bio about yourself, you must consider the platform on which it will be posted. Here are some biography examples for the most popular places where you might post one.

LinkedIn Bio Example

In your “About” section on LinkedIn, you’ll be given a maximum character limit of 2,600 to write your bio. That comes out to a maximum of about 400-500 words. However, you’ll generally want it shorter than that to ensure those who come across your profile read your entire bio. Somewhere between 75-150 words is a good range on LinkedIn.

Generally, writing in the first person will be best for LinkedIn since it’s less formal, and you usually don’t need to introduce your name since it’s displayed prominently on your profile.

Here’s an example:

“I’m a driven software engineer at CodeCraft with over 13 years of experience using Javascript to create interactive webpage designs.

The main reason I started learning Javascript is I noticed that a company’s website can make or break my feelings about them and whether I’ll make a purchase. This made me want to create designs that bring a business owner’s vision to life.

My techniques have yielded great results. Using dynamic content, animation, and progressive web apps tailored to each page visitor, I’ve increased consumer engagement by an average of 55% and repeat visitors by 39% for our clients at CodeCraft.

I’m eager to connect with others in the tech industry and share how we can use software design to level up business performance.”

Twitter Professional Bio Examples

Your bio on Twitter will need to be very concise since you’ll have a 160-character maximum on that platform. You’ll need to quickly introduce yourself and show why someone should trust your expertise, look through your profile, and follow you.

Here are a couple of examples:

Twitter Bio Example #1:

“Developmental editor who has reviewed over 2 million words, including working on 3 NYT bestselling novels. Follow for tips to make your writing shine.”

Twitter Bio Example #2:

“Ex hairstylist turned beauty brand manager. You can call me the brand stylist. I’ll show you how I use design and messaging to increase sales.”

Personal Website Bio Example

When you own a business or are self-employed, you may have a personal website where you need a bio about yourself. You’d typically have a short personal bio introducing yourself on your website’s homepage or in a dedicated “About Me” section.

“I’m Kim Li, a dedicated real estate agent passionate about helping clients sell their homes and get into their dream property. I’ve always enjoyed presenting elements that turn a house into a home for the right buyer, and I know just how important it is to come home to a property you love after a long day of work.

With my 97% positive customer satisfaction score and track record of selling properties an average of eight days faster than industry standards, I’m confident my property marketing and negotiation skills will get you the results you’re seeking.”

Example of a Work Bio for a Company Website

When writing a work bio for your employer’s “Meet the Team” page, you’ll typically want to ensure it’s formal and in the third person. Usually, these will be 100 words or less, but make sure you tailor it to the specific guidelines your employer gives you.

“Jessica Martin is the junior financial account manager at Peak Performance. As a recent grad from Colorado State University with a bachelor’s degree in finance, she’s ready to apply up-to-date loss prevention strategies, like internal cost control, to ensure businesses remain profitable. Accountability is one of the biggest things she values. That value has especially grown over the three years she managed the finances as a volunteer for Pet Support, a local animal shelter. She quickly realized how expenses rack up for an organization and the importance of proper management. You can trust Jessica will put forth the same detailed effort for your business.”

Bios across professions

Now, let’s look at how you can tailor your bio based on your industry’s needs. Here are some short professional bio examples across industries.

Example Bio for IT/Tech

Creating a bio in information technology presents unique challenges due to the highly technical nature of many of your daily tasks. You’ll often need to simplify your bio to make it easy to understand for a wide audience with different levels of expertise.

Here’s an example of a cybersecurity engineer bio that makes the impact of complex tasks like cryptography easier to understand:

“Connor Blake is a cybersecurity engineer with five years of experience in external threat prevention. His passion for digital security started at age 16 when his mom’s bank account was hacked, and he saw the hardships it caused. Since then, he’s been growing his skills, having received his master’s degree in computer science from Michigan State University and working on a specialization in cryptography techniques that mask business passwords and data access points so only internal employees can access them. His efforts have reduced company data leaks by an average of 67%.”

Example Bio for Construction/Trades

Construction and trade resumes must be updated often, as modern techniques and materials are continuously evolving, such as the growing use of raised access flooring. You’ll need to make it understandable for any customer or client seeking help on a project.

Here’s an example of a commercial flooring installer bio:

“Sam Peterson is a commercial flooring installer with Elite Flooring Solutions. She’s passionate about helping businesses achieve the right flooring aesthetics and sturdy installations to ensure a standout experience for all customers who frequent local stores in our community. With four years of experience installing raised access flooring to reduce installation costs by 35% and 98% satisfaction from our clients, you can trust that her expertise will result in an accurate job that gets done right the first time.”

Example Bio for Culinary

Foodservice has many health codes and standards you must uphold, so it’s essential for culinary pros to show their responsible expertise in professional bios.

Here’s an example of how a restaurant manager could do this effectively:

“Jake Kensington is the restaurant manager for Bella Cucina Ristorante. He’s always appreciated how a high-quality dining experience can help others connect and enjoy some of life’s biggest moments. Not to mention his love of pasta and risotto, which brought him to Bella Cucina Ristorante to serve up some of the best Italian dishes in New York. Using his seven-step quality assurance process and employee health training protocols, he’s helped maintain grade-A health code ratings and reviews averaging 4.9 stars out of 5 throughout his eight-year tenure.”

Example Bio for Sales/Marketing

Every sales pitch that you want to stand out needs to be relevant to your target audience. Do the same with your bio by listing some top industry skills and accomplishments showing your sales expertise.

“Bella Richardson is a sales lead with New Marketing Solutions. Having always had an entrepreneurial mindset, she’s had a growing interest in helping startups succeed and finding intricacies that make businesses stand out amongst the competition. She’s been using a solution-selling approach for the last five years at New Marketing Solutions to better connect with prospective clients’ needs and lead an average annual growth in sales of 27%.”

Example Bio for Health

Presenting expert knowledge and the ability to comply with regulations is essential in fast-paced health jobs. Whether you’re new to the field or have advanced experience, you’ll want to present those relevant abilities in your bio.

“Matt Keyser is a recent grad of the Medical College of Washington. Matt received his MD after completing his residency at Seattle Memorial Hospital and is now aiming to get into the geriatric care sector. He decided to pursue a career in medicine after working as a resident assistant at a nursing home in high school and seeing the diligent work the medical care team did to provide a better quality of life. He aims to use his patient care and diagnostic evaluation skills to do the same for every patient he works with.”

The best ways to make a bio stand out are to include personal elements and ensure the skills and achievements you list are relevant to your audience. For example, someone seeking a job as a police officer could detail how they want to use their crisis management and community awareness skills to provide a safer community for everyone. This will stand out to police precincts seeking skilled and compassionate candidates.

When you don’t have much professional experience, you may need to get creative with how you present skills and accomplishments in your bio. Things like educational achievements, volunteer work, participating in school clubs, or your hobbies and interests can all provide relevant information. For instance, you could detail how your time in your school’s math club has given you precise abilities that will translate into jobs like data entry.

If you aren’t sure whether your bio should be in the first or third person, try reviewing the website where it’ll be posted to get an idea of how others have structured theirs. After that, if you’re still unsure, you can always ask your employer or the organization you’re writing the bio for to clarify.

Your professional bio should include your name, job title, relevant education, top skills, and an accomplishment or two that will stand out. You may also want to include your current employer’s name to give readers a better idea of who you are. Try to research things like top industry skills beforehand to narrow in on the most important details to write about.

In general, around 100 words or less is a good length for short professional bios. Typically, you’ll want it to be about three to five sentences to keep it concise and highly relevant to your audience. However, the right length can differ depending on the platform. For example, Twitter bios are restricted to a max of 160 characters. If it’s a work bio for your employer, you may also want to ask how long it should be.

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How to Write a Bio: Tips, Guidelines, and Bio Examples

When you learn how to write a bio, you create a strong first touchpoint between you and an employer or potential client. People with a well-crafted bio leave a positive first impression and increase their chances of getting hired. A good bio details your personality, impressive accomplishments, and your long-term career goals .

If divulging your life story and biggest achievements on one page can seem quite daunting, you can ease the process by understanding how to write a bio. In this article, we provide bio examples and tips for creating compelling bios for your intended audience.

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What is a bio.

A bio, short for biography, contains crucial information about your personal details, professional experience, and a list of your accomplishments. In today’s fast-paced workspace, short bios are useful for sharing your personal brand in a captivating format. You can often find these types of bios on websites or social media platforms.

What Are the Five Elements of a Bio?

A short bio should be concise and engaging. Employers favor bios that share personal experiences over those that feel robotic and cold. There are five essential elements a short bio should have.

• Full name. Introduce yourself by stating your full name and current job title in the first sentence of your bio. If you’re a fresh graduate or at the beginning of your career with no work experience, write your full name and latest academic achievements.
• Career accomplishments. State your significant achievements and contributions from your previous jobs. Also, list the qualities you gained from these accomplishments that best align with the prospective company’s ambitions.
• Professional goals. Stating your professional goals on job search platforms like LinkedIn highlights your passion for career growth. It’s essential to mention your career goals as it helps employers determine if you’re in line with the company. Stating a personal goal can help establish a personal relationship with your employer.
• Professional skills. It’s important to list the professional skills you bring to the workplace and state how you deploy them to improve job performance. Listing your primary responsibilities from previous jobs helps potential employers understand your capacities.
• Educational credentials. Credentials help you boost your bio to a higher level. To keep your resume as recent as possible , include only relevant certificates, degrees, and credentials.
• Contact information. The personal information you chose to include varies from platform to platform. In an informal setting like a Twitter bio, you could include your email address or a link to your website. Formal bios like a resume could contain more confidential details such as your phone number. Contact information is usually at the end of a bio.

How to Write a Bio: Beginning and Ending

A captivating bio hooks the reader from the very first sentence and keeps them engaged until the very end. You should keep the information structured and use a clear format. Here is how to start and end a short bio to help you stand out in the professional world.

How to Begin a Bio

The first few lines of a bio introduction are your chance to introduce yourself personally and professionally. You set the tone for your bio, so make sure that it accurately embodies you and your career. Discuss your brand, entrepreneurial activities, and current job title.

How to End a Bio

The conclusion of your bio should serve as a summary of the most important details. You want to give employers the incentive to work with you, and you can do this by recapping your successes. For example, if you were a novelist, you could highlight the outcomes of your best-selling books such as the number of copies sold.

How to Write a Bio: 5 More Useful Tips

Keep it concise

Keep your bio concise by focusing on the essential elements of your career life. Short bios conventionally contain four to eight lines, and you need to capture the true essence of yourself to the best of your abilities.

Consider confining each element of your bio to one to two lines. For example, a digital marketer wanting to become a content marketer should discuss their years of experience in the content marketing space.

Make it conversational

Your bio may have impressive feats and statistics, but it will not be successful without a feeling of human connection. A common error is forgetting to create a flow for the sake of efficiency, which makes it harder for readers to follow along. You want readers to resonate with you, and a good way of doing this is by sharing personal details like your hobbies and career mentors.

Maintain authenticity

It can be tempting to pick one of your favorite bios and personalize it to your experiences. Though you’ll technically have a good bio, it’ll be unoriginal and untrue to you. You will stand out by writing an authentic bio that accurately highlights your personality, major accomplishment, and strengths. Employers want to see you, not a cookie-cutter copy of someone else.

Customize it

Each platform is unique and has different features. These features collectively impact your bio length and how people view it. It’s important to research the platform where you’ll be posting the bio and understand its target audience.

Select a voice

Choosing a voice depends on the platform you chose. A first-person voice makes your bio more personalized, whereas a third-person voice keeps your bio formal. Think about the message you want to send and the image of yourself you want to portray while choosing a voice for your bio.

Personal Bio Examples to Help You Write Yours

Bio example 1: data scientist.

This bio highlights the career history and professional achievements of a professional data scientist . It also touches on the company’s profile and provides readers with a link.

Adams Smith is a self-taught data science professional with over 15 years of industry experience. He started his data career by utilizing spreadsheet software to help small businesses make better decisions.

Adams ascended from a junior-level role to a managerial role in a multinational company, successfully executing complex projects across several countries. Currently a co-founder of a top data science bootcamp in the US, he helps young data enthusiasts and career transitioners find their place in the industry. Want to become a data scientist? Visit betterdata.com for more info.

Bio Example 2: Fashion Stylist

Professionals can also use their bios to specify the impact of their craft in people’s lives and businesses. Here is a bio of a fashion stylist.

Sarah Young is an award-winning fashion stylist, creative director, and entrepreneur who is redefining fashion in style. She started as a fashion blogger in college and now has over 20 years of industry experience, from writing to designing.

Sarah’s career accelerated, becoming a fashion director at high-end fashion brands such as Gucci and Louis Vuitton. She’s also notable for making iconic dresses for TV stars and celebrities on special red carpet events.

Currently, Sarah works as a fashion consultant and, at this time, is in development to launch her own fashion school. For Sarah, talking about fashion never gets old. Merging creativity with art improves lifestyle. Catch up with Sarah and the fashion world on her blog sarahyoung.com.

How to Use Bio Examples to Write Your Own

Now that you’ve learned how to write a bio and reviewed some bio examples, you can get started on your own. A bio begins with your name and professional tagline. Next, briefly narrate your brand or company’s story. Finally, highlight your accomplishments and deliver a strong conclusion.

How to Write a Bio FAQ

A short bio should be four to eight lines long, containing one or two paragraphs. These bios have limited space for arranging your professional information, and you should only present what’s most relevant to potential employers while still establishing a personal connection.

The first step to crafting a short social media bio is to figure out the character limit. Research and use keywords that would make your social media account easy to find. Use a clear image of yourself and include links to your personal or company’s website.

An Instagram bio is a couple of lines describing a company or brand on the social media platform, Instagram. It allows businesses and people to pitch their brand and primary purpose to an audience in only 150 characters. Remember to include a clear profile image that represents your brand.

To write a three-sentence bio you must first fill readers in on your profession. Next, briefly highlight your ambitions and a professional accomplishment or achievement. Conclude by including a link to your resume or website that provides comprehensive details of your career history.

About us: Career Karma is a platform designed to help job seekers find, research, and connect with job training programs to advance their careers. Learn about the CK publication .

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How to Write a Biography (Examples & Templates)

A biography is a written account of a person’s life that details their life in chronological order. Another person usually writes this detailed account, and it contains reports of their childhood, career, major life events, relationships, and social impact. It also details their relationships with their family, children, and life accomplishments.

The best way to find out more about a popular figure is through reading their biographies, so you need to make sure you get the correct information. Before writing a biography, you need to do a lot of research and interviews to represent a person’s life accurately.

Types of Biography

A biography is the story of someone’s life as written by another writer. Most biographies of popular figures are written years, or even decades, after their deaths. Authors write biographies of popular figures due to either a lack of information on the subject or personal interest.

A biography aims to share a person’s story or highlight a part of their life.

There are different types of biographies, depending on the story. Some biographies are written true to the story, while some are written as fictional works. Biographies can give you true understanding of a person on an internal as well as external level along with a lot of life lessons.

Autobiography

An autobiography is different from a biography because it is written by the subject of the story, themselves. The author writes in the first-person narrative, and it flows step-by-step like a story of their life. Autobiographies contain personal accounts of the subject’s life, along with their perspectives and opinions on events in their life.

How To Write a Biography

Pick a subject.

Picking a subject is the first step in writing a biography. You can pick an already famous person or a relatively unknown person with a great life story. If you already have a few in mind, you can start by asking yourself some questions such as;

• What has the subject accomplished that makes them a good subject?
• Have they had an impact on society?
• Is the subject a celebrity or a well-known personality?
• Will the biography appeal to a wide audience?

Get Permission

When you pick a subject, the next thing to do is to get permission from them or their family or rights owners. Although, with some historical figures, there may not be any need for permission. Getting permission from your subject makes it easier for you to get stories to put into your book. You can get the chance to obtain additional personal stories and anecdotes that will make your book more interesting by doing so as well.

Do The Research

Research is the most important part of a biography’s process as the entire content of the book is dependent on it. Irrespective of what you know about the subject, you need to carry out as much research as possible to get the story’s facts precisely.

Biography research comes from various sources, depending on the book’s subject. Firsthand reports from family, friends, or personal accounts from the subjects are primary sources. They are usually the most accurate and reliable, and they are crucial for a biography. Secondary sources come from other sources like magazines or documentaries.

Pick a Format

Biographies come in various formats, with each of them having their pros and cons. A typical biography will start at the beginning, usually with the birth and childhood of the subject. Yet, if the biography’s theme involves a different event in their life, the author may want to explore the flashback option or one with concurrent events from different times.

Usually, biographies have a theme or a general life lesson at the center. The author’s role is to tell the subject’s story leading up to the major event.

Which-ever format you choose should place the theme at the center, with the other events detailing the journey.

Create a Timeline Of The Story

Since a biography takes place in chronological order, there needs to be a timeline of the events in the right order. The timeline should contain the key events in the subject’s life, in the order the author plans on revealing them. A great way to declutter the story and keep it interesting is to use flashbacks . This way, the author can introduce past events and explain later events excluding the element of monotony.

Add In Your Thoughts

The good thing about biographies is that you don’t have to stick to the hard facts only. As the author, you can share your opinions and emotions in writing. The author has the freedom to do this by commenting on a significant action by the subject in a manner that describes why they feel the subject may have done what they did.

The author can also include commentary on events depicted in the biography – how it was influenced society or its impact on the lives around them. Recounting these events through a different perspective can make the biography more relatable and interesting to read.

FAQ’s

Why is a biography template important.

A biography template has an outline that makes the writing easier for the author. Biography templates usually contain a sample timeline, format, and questions that provide more information about the subject. With a great biography template, you can cut your writing time in half and spend less time coming up with an outline.

How are biographies better in comparison to autobiographies

Since a different person writes biographies, they tend to be more objective and somewhat accurate than autobiographies. An autobiography tells things from the author’s perspective, so their views and perspective cloud it. Thus, a biography will likely tell a more factual story.

These are the important steps you need to take to help you write a great biography. Now, to make things easier for you, we have a free customizable autobiography and biography template that you can use to start your first book. Get the template and start writing today

What are some of the most important elements to keep in consideration while writing a biography?

Any author looking to write a biography must consider the factors below. They aren’t the only important factors, but a biography isn’t complete without them. • Date and place of their birth • Academic background • Professional expertise • Death, if deceased • Facts and anecdotes about the person • Main accomplishments • Detailed accounts of their child and adult life

Biographies tell the untold stories of some incredibly relevant people in the world. But biographies are not always strictly accurate. So, every biographer needs to follow the necessary steps to provide a biography with all the requirements.

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How to Write a Bio That Stands Out

As budding writers, we all understand the nuance of storytelling, but what about when we try and tell our own story? How can we promote ourselves while keeping it succinct and without wafting on?

Well, with the right approach, anyone can craft an effective and engaging introduction of themselves! 

Whether you need it for a job application or your author profile on your website, this article will show you how to write a memorable bio that people won’t forget.

We all have our own unique stories, so why not share yours in a way that does you justice? A well-written bio is an opportunity to inform readers about who you are – both professionally and personally. It’s also an excellent way to showcase your achievements in concise yet persuasive language.

With some creativity and attention to detail, your bio can stand out from the crowd and make an impactful first impression.

Definition of a bio and why do you need one?

First off, let’s cover what a bio is… A bio (short for biography) is a short description of who you are, what you do, and why you do it. It is a concise summary of your professional or personal background that can be used on various platforms, such as social media, websites, or business cards. 

Bios come in many forms and lengths, depending on the purpose and audience, but the main key is to highlight your unique selling points and make a memorable impression.

Having a bio is important for several reasons, it allows you to introduce yourself and establish your credibility or expertise in a particular field. A well-crafted bio can make a strong first impression and grab the attention of potential clients, employers, or collaborators. 

The main goal of a bio is to provide a concise and compelling introduction to the person, showcasing their unique selling points and establishing their credibility or expertise in a particular field. They come in many forms and lengths, ranging from a few sentences to several paragraphs or pages, depending on the purpose and audience.

Overall, a bio can help you stand out from the crowd and differentiate yourself from competitors. By highlighting your unique skills, experiences, or achievements, you can showcase your value proposition and demonstrate why you are the right fit for a particular opportunity.

Importance of having a bio

Having a bio is essential for several reasons. First and foremost, it allows you to introduce yourself to others and convey your professional or personal identity in a clear and concise way. This can be particularly important in situations where you need to establish your credibility or expertise, such as when you’re applying for a job or pitching a project.

In addition, having a well-crafted bio can help you stand out from the crowd from others who have similar backgrounds or qualifications. By highlighting your unique selling points, such as your skills, experiences, or achievements, you can showcase why you are the right fit for a particular opportunity or audience.

A bio can also serve as a powerful personal branding tool, helping you to establish a consistent and memorable online presence that aligns with your professional or personal goals. By crafting a compelling and authentic narrative about yourself, you can create a lasting impression on your audience and build trust and rapport with them over time.

Ultimately, having a bio is a crucial element of effective communication and self-promotion. Whether you’re a business owner, artist, entrepreneur, or job seeker, investing time and effort into creating a strong and impactful bio can pay off in many ways, from boosting your visibility and credibility to opening up new opportunities and collaborations

Where to use a bio

Bios can be used in various contexts and platforms, both online and offline. Here are some examples of where you might want to use a bio:

• Social media profiles: Social media platforms such as LinkedIn, Twitter, or Instagram often have a dedicated space for bios, which allows you to introduce yourself to your followers and establish your personal brand.
• Business websites: If you own a business or offer a service, having a bio on your website can help potential customers or clients learn more about your background and expertise.
• Author pages: If you’re a writer or an author, having a bio on your book or blog can help readers understand your perspective and connect with your work.
• Professional profiles: When you’re applying for a job or networking with other professionals, having a strong bio on your resume or LinkedIn profile can help you stand out and showcase your qualifications and achievements.
• Speaking engagements: When you’re invited to give a talk or a presentation, having a bio on the event website or the introduction can help establish your authority and credibility with the audience.

In general, bios can be used anywhere where you want to introduce yourself to others and make a positive impression. The key is to adapt your bio to the specific context and audience and to highlight your unique selling points in a way that resonates with your readers or listeners.

What to include in a bio

When crafting a bio, it’s important to include relevant information that highlights your strengths, accomplishments, and personality. Here are some elements that you might want to consider including:

• Your name and title: Start with your full name and job title or area of expertise. This can help establish your authority and credibility right from the start.
• Your background and experience: Provide a brief overview of your education, training, and professional background. Highlight any relevant experience or skills that you have that are relevant to your audience.
• Your achievements and awards: If you have received any notable awards, recognition, or achievements in your field, be sure to mention them. This can help establish your expertise and credibility in the eyes of your audience.
• Your values and personality: Consider including a sentence or two about your personal values or interests. This can help readers or listeners connect with you on a more personal level and understand what makes you unique.
• Your current projects or goals: If you are currently working on any projects or have specific goals in your career or personal life, consider mentioning them. This can help establish your focus and direction, and showcase your drive and ambition.
• Your call to action: If you want to encourage your audience to take a specific action, such as contacting you, following you on social media, or visiting your website, be sure to include a clear call to action at the end of your bio.

Ultimately, the key is to focus on the most relevant and compelling information that will help you achieve your goals, whether it’s establishing your expertise, building your personal brand, or connecting with your audience.

How long should your bio be?

The length of your bio can vary depending on the context and platform where it will be used. Generally, a bio should be concise and to-the-point, while still providing enough information to establish your credibility and personality.

For social media profiles or personal websites, a bio of one to two paragraphs is usually sufficient. This allows you to provide a brief overview of your background, interests, and values, without overwhelming your audience with too much information.

On the other hand, for professional profiles or resumes, a slightly longer bio of up to 500 words may be appropriate. This allows you to go into more detail about your education, experience, and achievements, and to provide a more comprehensive overview of your qualifications.

The key is to focus on quality over quantity. Your bio should be engaging and informative, and should provide a clear sense of who you are and what you have to offer. 

If you can achieve that in a few sentences, great! If you need a bit more space to do so, that’s fine too. Just make sure to keep your audience in mind, and to use your bio to make a positive and memorable impression.

Writing a professional bio: templates and examples

When it comes to writing a professional bio, the stakes can be higher. Your bio is often the first introduction that potential clients, employers, or collaborators will have to you, so it’s important to make it count. A well-crafted professional bio can help establish your expertise, showcase your accomplishments, and set you apart from your competition.

One way to ensure that your professional bio hits all the right notes is to use a template or example as a starting point. Templates and examples can help guide you through the process of crafting a bio that is professional, engaging, and effective. Whether you are a seasoned professional or just starting out, there are plenty of resources available to help you create a bio that represents you and your work in the best possible light.

Professional bio templates

Here are a few professional bio templates that you can use as a starting point:

The short and sweet template: 

[Name] is a [profession] with [number] years of experience in [industry]. [He/She] has worked with [company names], and specializes in [skill or area of expertise]. [He/She] is passionate about [related interest or goal], and is committed to [related value or mission].

The longer, more detailed template: 

[Name] is a [profession] with over [number] years of experience in [industry]. [He/She] has worked with a range of clients and companies, including [company names], and has developed expertise in [skill or area of expertise]. [He/She] is particularly interested in [related interest or goal], and is committed to [related value or mission].

In addition to [profession], [Name] is also involved in [related or personal projects], and has been recognized for [accomplishments or awards]. [He/She] holds a [degree or certification] from [university or institution], and is a member of [professional organizations or affiliations].

When [he/she] is not working, [Name] enjoys [related hobbies or interests], and is actively involved in [community or volunteer work].

The narrative template: 

[Name] has always been passionate about [related interest or goal] and has pursued that passion through [related education or experience]. After [key experience or turning point], [he/she] realized that [related realization or insight], and has since dedicated [his/her] career to [related value or mission].

As a [profession], [Name] has worked with [company names], and has developed expertise in [skill or area of expertise]. [He/She] is committed to [related value or mission], and is always looking for new ways to [related goal or improvement].

In [his/her] free time, [Name] enjoys [related hobbies or interests], and is actively involved in [community or volunteer work]. [He/She] believes that [related belief or philosophy], and strives to live that out in [his/her] personal and professional life.

These are just a few examples of professional bio templates that you can use as a starting point. Remember, the key is to highlight your expertise, accomplishments, and values in a way that is engaging and professional. Customize these templates to fit your own unique voice and perspective, and you’ll be on your way to creating a bio that stands out.

Examples of professional bios

Here are a few examples of professional bios:

Professional Bio Example Bio 1

Jane Smith, Marketing Director Jane Smith is a seasoned marketing professional with over 10 years of experience in the industry. She has worked with a variety of clients and companies, including Fortune 500 companies and startups. Jane specializes in content marketing, social media strategy, and brand development. She is passionate about helping companies tell their stories in a compelling and authentic way.

In addition to her work in marketing, Jane is also an avid traveler and photographer. She has visited over 20 countries and loves capturing the beauty of different cultures through her lens. Jane holds a Bachelor’s degree in Marketing from the University of Texas at Austin.

Professional Bio Example Bio 2

John Doe, Software Developer John Doe is a software developer with a passion for building innovative solutions. He has over 8 years of experience in the field, and has worked on projects for companies ranging from small startups to large corporations. John specializes in front-end development, and is an expert in HTML, CSS, and JavaScript.

In his free time, John enjoys tinkering with new technologies and experimenting with different programming languages. He is also an active member of his local tech community, and frequently participates in hackathons and other programming events. John holds a Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science from Stanford University.

Professional Bio Example Bio 3

Sarah Johnson, Nonprofit Executive Sarah Johnson is a nonprofit executive with a commitment to making a positive impact in her community. She has over 15 years of experience in the nonprofit sector, and has worked with organizations focused on everything from education to environmental conservation. Sarah specializes in strategic planning, fundraising, and community engagement.

Outside of her work in the nonprofit sector, Sarah is an avid runner and yoga practitioner. She believes that staying active is essential to maintaining a healthy work-life balance. Sarah holds a Master’s degree in Nonprofit Management from the University of California, Los Angeles.

These are just a few examples of professional bios that showcase different backgrounds, experiences, and interests. Use these as inspiration to craft your own unique professional bio that highlights your strengths and accomplishments.

Writing in the first-person or third-person

When it comes to writing a professional bio, the choice between first-person and third-person can depend on the context and purpose of the bio.

In general, a third-person bio can give a more objective and professional tone, which can be beneficial for job applications or websites. It also allows for a level of detachment from the writer, which can be useful when highlighting accomplishments and experience.

On the other hand, a first-person bio can create a more personal and engaging tone, which can be beneficial for networking or social media profiles. It can help the reader feel like they are getting to know the writer on a more personal level, and can also allow for a greater sense of authenticity and personality.

Ultimately, the decision between first-person and third-person should be based on the context and purpose of the bio. It’s important to consider the audience and the intended message and choose the style that will best convey that message

Tips for writing a professional bio

If you are unsure where to start, here are some tips to help you craft a compelling and effective professional bio:

• Start with a clear introduction: Your bio should start with a clear introduction that grabs the reader’s attention and gives them a sense of who you are and what you do.
• Highlight your professional achievements: Your bio should highlight your professional achievements, including your education, work experience, and any notable accomplishments.
• Use concise language: Use concise language to communicate your message effectively. Avoid using jargon or technical terms that your audience may not understand.
• Include your personal brand: Incorporate your personal brand into your bio by using a consistent voice and tone throughout your writing.
• Consider your audience: Your bio should be tailored to your intended audience. Consider who will be reading your bio and what they are looking for in a professional contact or colleague.
• Show, don’t tell: Use concrete examples to illustrate your professional achievements and skills. This will help the reader understand your expertise and experience more effectively.
• Edit and revise: Edit and revise your bio multiple times to ensure that it is error-free and effectively communicates your message.

By following these tips, you can craft a professional bio that effectively communicates your experience, expertise, and personal brand to your intended audience.

Mistakes to Avoid in a professional bio

When crafting a professional bio, there are some common mistakes that you should avoid to ensure that your bio is effective and impactful. Here are some mistakes to avoid when writing a professional bio:

• Being too formal or impersonal: Your professional bio should be written in a professional tone, but it should also be personable and engaging. Avoid being too formal or using technical language that may be confusing to your audience.
• Including irrelevant information: Your bio should focus on your professional experience, skills, and achievements. Avoid including irrelevant personal information or details that are not related to your professional background.
• Using cliches or generic language: Avoid using cliches or generic language that does not effectively communicate your unique skills and experience.
• Focusing too much on job titles: While job titles are important, they do not always accurately reflect a person’s skills or experience. Focus on the specific skills and accomplishments that make you stand out in your field.
• Neglecting to update your bio: Your professional bio should be updated regularly to reflect any changes in your career, experience, or achievements.

By avoiding these common mistakes, you can create a professional bio that effectively communicates your unique skills, experience, and personal brand to your intended audience.

Writing a short bio: examples and tips

Writing a short bio can be a challenging task, as you need to communicate key information about yourself and your professional background in just a few sentences. 

However, a well-crafted short bio can be a powerful tool for introducing yourself to potential clients, employers, or colleagues. 

In this section, we’ll provide some examples and tips for writing a short bio that effectively showcases your skills, experience, and personality. 

Whether you’re crafting a bio for your website, social media profile, or a professional networking event, these tips will help you create a concise and compelling introduction to your professional self.

Definition of a short bio

A short bio or a personal bio, is a brief summary of a person’s professional background, skills, and achievements. 

Typically, a short bio is limited to just a few sentences or paragraphs and is designed to give the reader a very quick and concise overview of the person’s experience and qualifications. 

Short bios are often used on social media profiles, personal websites, resumes, and other professional networking tools, and are an important tool for establishing a person’s personal brand and professional reputation.

Short bio examples

Here are some short bio examples to give you an idea of what a well-crafted bio looks like:

Short bio example 1

John Smith: Award-winning journalist with 10 years of experience covering international news. Currently working as a freelance writer and editor for various publications, including The New York Times and The Guardian.

Short bio example 2

Sarah Johnson: Marketing professional with a passion for branding and digital media. Specializes in developing creative campaigns that engage and inspire audiences. Currently serving as the Marketing Director at XYZ Corporation.

Short bio example 3

Dr. Jane Lee: Board-certified pediatrician with over 15 years of experience in the field. Passionate about improving children’s health through innovative treatment methods and community outreach programs. Currently practicing at ABC Hospital.

Short bio example 4

Alex Davis: Entrepreneur and business consultant with a focus on helping small businesses grow and succeed. Experienced in developing and implementing effective marketing strategies and managing teams for maximum efficiency. Founder and CEO of Davis Consulting Group.

Short bio example 5

Emily Rodriguez: Experienced graphic designer with a portfolio of award-winning projects for clients in the fashion, beauty, and lifestyle industries. Currently freelancing and accepting new design projects.

These short bio examples showcase the person’s professional background, skills, and achievements in a concise and compelling way. 

They provide the reader with a quick snapshot of the person’s experience and qualifications and are a great tool for establishing a strong personal brand.

How to write a short bio that stands out

Writing a short bio that stands out can be challenging, but here are some tips to help you craft a compelling one:

• Identify your key achievements and skills: Think about the most important things you have accomplished in your professional life, and the skills that have enabled you to achieve them. Highlighting these in your short bio can make it more impactful.
• Focus on your unique value proposition: What sets you apart from others in your field? This could be your approach to problem-solving, your innovative ideas, or your particular expertise. Make sure your short bio emphasizes your unique selling points.
• Keep it concise: A short bio should be just that – short. Stick to a few sentences that capture the essence of who you are and what you do. Aim for around 100 words or less.
• Use an active voice: Writing in an active voice can make your short bio more engaging and dynamic. Use strong verbs to describe your accomplishments and highlight your contributions.
• Tailor it to your audience: Consider who will be reading your short bio and what they are looking for. Customize your bio to fit the needs and interests of your target audience.

By following these tips, you can create a short bio that stands out and leaves a lasting impression on your readers.

Using a template for a short bio

Using a template for a short bio can be helpful in ensuring that you include all the necessary information while also keeping it concise and engaging. Here is an example of a template you can use for your short bio:

• Introduction: Begin with your first and last name and a brief description of what you do.
• Professional background: Highlight your relevant work experience, education, and any notable achievements.
• Skills and expertise: List your areas of expertise and any relevant skills or certifications.
• Personal interests: Share a few details about your personal interests or hobbies outside of work that showcase your personality.
• Call-to-action: End with a call-to-action that encourages engagement or directs the reader to learn more about you.

Remember to keep your short bio focused and relevant to the situation and audience you are writing for. Use engaging language and highlight your unique value proposition to make a lasting impression.

Writing a personal bio: tips and tricks

A personal bio is a great way to showcase your personality, interests, and accomplishments. Whether you are building your personal brand or simply looking to share your story, a well-crafted personal bio can be a powerful tool. 

However, writing about yourself can be challenging as it’s easy to get caught up in the details or struggle to strike the right tone. 

In this section, we will explore some tips and tricks for crafting a compelling personal bio that captures who you are and what you stand for.

Definition of a personal bio

A personal bio is a written statement that provides information about your background, interests, achievements, and goals. 

It can be used for various purposes, such as introducing oneself on social media and creating a personal website are just a few examples. 

A personal bio often includes details such as education, work experience, hobbies, and personal values, as well as any notable achievements or accolades. 

The purpose of a personal bio is to give readers a sense of who the person is, what they have accomplished, and what motivates them.

Writing a personal bio in the first-person or third-person

When it comes to writing a personal bio, there is no hard and fast rule about whether to write it in the first-person or third-person. It ultimately comes down to personal preference and the context in which the bio will be used.

Writing in the first-person can create a more informal and conversational tone, which may be appropriate for social media profiles or personal websites. It allows the individual to speak directly to the reader and showcase their personality and voice.

On the other hand, writing in the third-person can create a more formal and professional tone, which may be more appropriate for a professional bio that I covered at the beginning of the article, or for use in a business or academic setting. Either way, it can help to establish credibility and give the impression of objectivity.

In general, it’s important to consider the purpose and audience of the bio when deciding on whether to write in the first-person or third-person.

Tips for writing a personal bio

When writing a personal bio, it is important to keep in mind that this type of bio is more casual and expressive than a professional bio. Here are some tips to help you write a personal bio:

• Be yourself: Don’t try to sound like someone else or exaggerate your achievements. Be honest and authentic.
• Tell a story: Use storytelling techniques to create an engaging and interesting narrative.
• Use humor: If appropriate, inject some humor into your bio to make it more relatable and memorable.
• Consider your audience: Think about who will be reading your bio and tailor it to their interests and expectations.
• Highlight your passions: Use your bio as an opportunity to showcase your passions and hobbies.
• Keep it concise: A personal bio doesn’t have to be long. Keep it short and sweet, but make sure it still conveys your personality and unique qualities.

What to include in a personal bio

When it comes to writing a personal bio, there are a few key elements that you should consider including.

These might include a brief summary of your professional background and achievements, any personal interests or hobbies that might be relevant or interesting to your audience, and perhaps a mention of your educational background or any notable certifications or qualifications you have obtained.

Additionally, you may want to consider highlighting any particularly noteworthy accomplishments, such as awards or recognition you have received, as well as any causes or charities that are important to you and that you actively support.

Ultimately, the goal of a personal bio is to help your readers get to know you better as a person, and to understand what makes you unique and interesting both personally and professionally.

Examples of personal bios

A personal bio is a great way to showcase your personality, interests, and accomplishments.

Whether you are building your personal brand, applying for a job, or simply looking to share your story, a well-crafted personal bio can be a powerful tool. However, writing about yourself can be challenging, and it’s easy to get caught up in the details or struggle to strike the right tone.

Tips for writing a bio for different situations

When writing a bio, it’s important to consider the specific situation and audience you are writing for. Here are some tips for crafting bios for different situations:

• Business and professional bios: Focus on your skills, experience, and achievements that are relevant to your profession or industry. Emphasize your unique value proposition and any awards or recognitions you have received. Keep it professional and tailored to your audience.
• Personal bios: Highlight your interests, hobbies, and personal experiences that have shaped who you are. Be authentic and showcase your personality. Consider your audience and tailor your bio accordingly.
• Social media bios: Keep it concise and engaging. Use keywords and hashtags that are relevant to your brand or industry. Include a call to action to encourage engagement.
• Speaking bios: Emphasize your expertise and experience as a speaker. Highlight any notable speaking engagements and the topics you are passionate about. Use a conversational tone to engage your audience.
• Author bios: Emphasize your writing experience and any published works. Share your motivation for writing and your unique perspective. Be concise and engaging.

No matter the situation, it’s important to keep your bio focused, relevant, and engaging. By tailoring your bio to your audience and situation, you can create a compelling narrative that leaves a lasting impression.

Putting It All Together: Creating a standout bio

When it comes to creating a standout bio, it’s important to not only have a good understanding of what you want to convey but also to know how to put all the elements together in a way that makes sense and catches the reader’s attention. 

Just know that with a little trial and error, anyone can create a bio that truly stands out. In this section, we’ll discuss some key tips and strategies for putting together a bio that showcases your unique strengths and accomplishments, whether you’re crafting a personal or professional bio.

Determining the tone of your bio

When creating a standout bio, it’s important to consider the tone you want to convey. The tone of your bio should be consistent with your personal or professional brand and the message you want to communicate to your audience. 

Whether you want to come across as friendly and approachable or professional and polished, your tone can help set the right impression. It’s also important to consider your audience and what tone might resonate with them. 

For example, a playful and lighthearted tone might be appropriate for a social media profile, while a more serious and formal tone might be better suited for a professional bio on a company website.

How to make your bio memorable

To make your bio memorable, there are a few tips you can follow. First, focus on what makes you unique and highlight those aspects in your bio.

This could include your background, experiences, or personality traits that set you apart from others. Consider using storytelling techniques to make your bio more engaging and memorable. This could involve sharing an anecdote or personal story that helps the reader connect with you on a deeper level.

Another way to make your bio stand out is to use vivid language and creative phrasing. Avoid clichés and generic language, and instead choose words and phrases that are unexpected and interesting. 

Finally, make sure your bio is well-written and error-free. Take the time to proofread and edit your work, or even consider having someone else read it over for you.

A well-crafted and memorable bio can help you make a strong impression on potential employers, clients, or colleagues.

Showcasing your professional experience and achievements

One of the most important aspects of a standout bio is showcasing your professional experience and achievements. 

This can include your current job position, previous work experience, awards and recognitions, and any notable accomplishments or contributions to your industry. 

Make sure to highlight your unique skills and strengths that set you apart from others in your field. 

Use specific and quantitative language when possible, such as “increased sales by 25%” or “led a team of 10 employees.” This not only showcases your accomplishments but also demonstrates your ability to produce tangible results. 

By including these details in your bio, you can leave a lasting impression on potential clients, employers, or collaborators.

Adding personal details to your bio

Adding personal details to your bio can help to make it more memorable and showcase your unique personality.

However, it’s important to strike a balance between sharing enough information to make a connection with the reader and oversharing personal information that may not be relevant or appropriate. 

Consider including details such as your hobbies, interests, or unique experiences that have shaped you as a person. 

Additionally, if you have a personal brand or mission statement, incorporating it into your bio can help to tie everything together and create a cohesive narrative. 

Remember to keep the tone professional and avoid controversial topics that may be polarizing.

Using your bio for personal branding

Your bio can be a powerful tool for personal branding, helping you stand out in a crowded job market or online presence.

By incorporating your unique skills, experiences, and personality into your bio, you can create a brand that sets you apart and helps you achieve your goals.

To use your bio for personal branding, it’s important to consider your target audience and what they’re looking for. 

Highlight your relevant skills and experiences, and share your passions and values. Be authentic and let your personality shine through.

Also, make sure your bio is consistent across all of your online platforms, from LinkedIn to social media profiles – such as your Instagram bio for example. 

This will help you build a cohesive personal brand that makes a lasting impression.

Bios are like puzzles – they take time and effort to put together. But with the right elements, you can craft a bio that accurately reflects your unique story.

Don’t forget to draw on personal anecdotes or stories that make you stand out from the crowd. Writing your own compelling bio is an art form, but it’s one worth mastering if you want others to learn about who you really are.

So don’t be afraid of showing off all those special skills and talents! Let them shine through in your writing – after all, no one knows you better than yourself.

With practice and dedication, soon enough creating captivating bios will be as easy as pie for any writer.

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Book Marketing & Publishing Tips

Writing Your Author Bio? Here Are 20 Great Examples. (Plus a Checklist!)

October 15, 2020 by Diana Urban

Writing your author bio can be a daunting task, but a well-crafted bio can help readers learn more about what makes you and your books so interesting. You should regularly maintain your bio on places like your BookBub Author Profile so fans and potential readers seeking you out can learn more about you and why they should pick up your latest book.

Stuck on what to include? While there is no one-size-fits-all formula, here are some examples of author bios we love so you can get some inspiration when crafting your own bio. We’ve also created an Author Biography Checklist with recommendations on what to include, as well as where to keep your author bio up to date online.

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1. Ramona Emerson

Ramona Emerson is a Diné writer and filmmaker originally from Tohatchi, New Mexico. She has a bachelor’s in Media Arts from the University of New Mexico and an MFA in Creative Writing from the Institute of American Indian Arts. After starting in forensic videography, she embarked upon a career as a photographer, writer, and editor. She is an Emmy nominee, a Sundance Native Lab Fellow, a Time-Warner Storyteller Fellow, a Tribeca All-Access Grantee and a WGBH Producer Fellow. In 2020, Emerson was appointed to the Governor’s Council on Film and Media Industries for the State of New Mexico. She currently resides in Albuquerque, New Mexico, where she and her husband, the producer Kelly Byars, run their production company Reel Indian Pictures. Shutter is her first novel.

Why we love it: Ramona makes a splash as a new author by detailing her extensive experience in both writing and filmmaking. Her background makes an effective setup for her debut novel about a forensic photographer.

2. Courtney Milan

Courtney Milan writes books about carriages, corsets, and smartwatches. Her books have received starred reviews in Publishers Weekly , Library Journal , and Booklist . She is a New York Times and a USA Today Bestseller. Courtney pens a weekly newsletter about tea, books, and basically anything and everything else. Sign up for it here: https://bit.ly/CourtneysTea Before she started writing romance, Courtney got a graduate degree in theoretical physical chemistry from UC Berkeley. After that, just to shake things up, she went to law school at the University of Michigan and graduated summa cum laude. Then she did a handful of clerkships. She was a law professor for a while. She now writes full-time. Courtney is represented by Kristin Nelson of the Nelson Literary Agency.

Why we love it: Courtney concisely leads with her accolades and bestseller status before diving into more personal information with a witty tone. She also includes a call-to-action for readers to sign up to Weekly Tea, one of her mailing lists.

3. Adam Silvera

Adam Silvera is the number one New York Times bestselling author of More Happy Than Not , History Is All You Left Me , They Both Die at the End , Infinity Son , Infinity Reaper , and—with Becky Albertalli— What If It’s Us . He was named a Publishers Weekly Flying Start for his debut. Adam was born and raised in the Bronx. He was a bookseller before shifting to children’s publishing and has worked at a literary development company and a creative writing website for teens and as a book reviewer of children’s and young adult novels. He is tall for no reason and lives in Los Angeles. Visit him online at www.adamsilvera.com .

Why we love it: Adam begins his bio with his bestseller accolades and a list of his popular titles. But we especially love how he also includes his previous experience in children’s literature. It’s a fantastic way an author can craft a unique and credible bio using information besides accolades or bestseller status.

4. Farrah Rochon

USA Today Bestselling author Farrah Rochon hails from a small town just west of New Orleans. She has garnered much acclaim for her Crescent City-set Holmes Brothers series and her Moments in Maplesville small town series. Farrah is a two-time finalist for the prestigious RITA Award from the Romance Writers of America and has been nominated for an RT BOOKReviews Reviewers Choice Award. In 2015, she received the Emma Award for Author of the Year. When she is not writing in her favorite coffee shop, Farrah spends most of her time reading, cooking, traveling the world, visiting Walt Disney World, and catching her favorite Broadway shows. An admitted sports fanatic, she feeds her addiction to football by watching New Orleans Saints games on Sunday afternoons. Keep in touch with Farrah via the web: Website: https://www.farrahrochon.com/ Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/farrahrochonauthor Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/FarrahRochon Instagram: https://instagram.com/farrahrochon/ Newsletter: http://bit.ly/2povjuZ Join my online Fan Club, the Rochonettes! https://www.facebook.com/groups/FarrahRochon/ Farrah’s Books In Order: The Holmes Brothers Deliver Me (Mar. 2007) Release Me (May 2008) Rescue Me (Jan. 2009) Chase Me (Jan. 2017) Trust Me (May 2017) Awaken Me (Jan. 2018) Cherish Me (Jun. 2018) Return To Me (Aug. 2019) New York Sabers Huddle With Me Tonight (Sept. 2010) I’ll Catch You (Mar. 2011) Field of Pleasure (Sept. 2011) Pleasure Rush (Mar. 2012) Bayou Dreams A Forever Kind of Love (Aug. 2012) Always and Forever (Jan. 2013) Yours Forever (Mar. 2014) Forever’s Promise (Apr. 2014) Forever With You (Feb. 2015) Stay With Me Forever (Aug. 2015) Moments in Maplesville A Perfect Holiday Fling (Nov. 2012) A Little Bit Naughty (Mar. 2013) Just A Little Taste (Jan. 2014) I Dare You! (Nov. 2014) All You Can Handle (June 2015) Any Way You Want It (Feb. 2016) Any Time You Need Me (June 2016) Standalones In Her Wildest Dreams (Jan. 2012) The Rebound Guy (July 2012) Delectable Desire (Apr. 2013) Runaway Attraction (Nov. 2013) A Mistletoe Affari (Nov. 2014) Passion’s Song (Feb. 2016) Mr. Right Next Door (Sept. 2016) Anthologies A Change of Heart (The Holiday Inn Anthology – Sept. 2008) No Ordinary Gift (Holiday Brides Anthology – Oct. 2009) Holiday Spice (Holiday Temptation Anthology – Sept. 2016) Christmas Kisses (Reissue–Contains Tuscan Nights and Second-Chance Christmas previously published by Harlequin Kimani

Why we love it: Farrah packs a lot of information into that first paragraph, elegantly describing the awards she’s received and has been nominated for. We also love how she makes it easy for readers to find her on whichever social media platform they prefer and to discover which book to start with for each series.

5. Angie Fox

New York Times bestselling author Angie Fox writes sweet, fun, action-packed mysteries. Her characters are clever and fearless, but in real life, Angie is afraid of basements, bees, and going up stairs when it is dark behind her. Let’s face it. Angie wouldn’t last five minutes in one of her books. Angie is best known for her Southern Ghost Hunter mysteries and for her Accidental Demon Slayer books. Visit her at www.angiefox.com

Why we love it: We love how Angie distinguishes herself from her characters, making herself relatable to readers. She also mentions her bestseller status and best-known works in a humble way.

6. Tiffany D. Jackson

Tiffany D. Jackson is the critically acclaimed author of Allegedly , Monday’s Not Coming , and Let Me Hear a Rhyme . A Walter Dean Myers Honor Book and Coretta Scott King–John Steptoe New Talent Award winner, she received her bachelor of arts in film from Howard University, earned her master of arts in media studies from the New School, and has over a decade in TV and film experience. The Brooklyn native still resides in the borough she loves. You can visit her at www.writeinbk.com .

Why we love it: This is an excellent example of a short, concise bio — a perfect snippet for journalists, bloggers, or event coordinators who need to grab Tiffany’s bio for their article or programming.

7. Kwame Alexander

Kwame Alexander is the New York Times Bestselling author of 32 books, including The Undefeated ; How to Read a Book ; Solo ; Swing ; Rebound , which was shortlisted for prestigious Carnegie Medal; and his Newbery medal-winning middle grade novel, The Crossover . He’s also the founding editor of Versify, an imprint that aims to Change the World One Word at a Time. Visit him at KwameAlexander.com

Why we love it: We adore how Kwame calls out his aim to “change the world one word at a time” along with a handful of his best-known books. Short and sweet!

8. Glynnis Campbell

For deals, steals, and new releases from Glynnis, click FOLLOW on this BookBub page! Glynnis Campbell is a USA Today bestselling author of over two dozen swashbuckling action-adventure historical romances, mostly set in Scotland, and a charter member of The Jewels of Historical Romance — 12 internationally beloved authors. She’s the wife of a rock star and the mother of two young adults, but she’s also been a ballerina, a typographer, a film composer, a piano player, a singer in an all-girl rock band, and a voice in those violent video games you won’t let your kids play. Doing her best writing on cruise ships, in Scottish castles, on her husband’s tour bus, and at home in her sunny southern California garden, Glynnis loves to play medieval matchmaker… transporting readers to a place where the bold heroes have endearing flaws, the women are stronger than they look, the land is lush and untamed, and chivalry is alive and well! Want a FREE BOOK? Sign up for her newsletter at https://www.glynnis.net Tag along on her latest adventures here: Website: https://www.glynnis.net Facebook: bit.ly/GCReadersClan Goodreads: bit.ly/GlynnisGoodreads Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/GlynnisCampbell Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/GlynnisCampbell Pinterest: https://www.pinterest.com/GlynnisCampbell BOOK LIST: The Warrior Maids of Rivenloch: THE SHIPWRECK A YULETIDE KISS LADY DANGER CAPTIVE HEART KNIGHT’S PRIZE The Warrior Daughters of Rivenloch: THE STORMING A RIVENLOCH CHRISTMAS BRIDE OF FIRE BRIDE OF ICE BRIDE OF MIST The Knights of de Ware: THE HANDFASTING MY CHAMPION MY WARRIOR MY HERO Medieval Outlaws: THE REIVER DANGER’S KISS PASSION’S EXILE DESIRE’S RANSOM Scottish Lasses: THE OUTCAST MacFARLAND’S LASS MacADAM’S LASS MacKENZIE’S LASS California Legends: THE STOWAWAY NATIVE GOLD NATIVE WOLF NATIVE HAWK

Why we love it: Like other authors, Glynnis leads with her bestseller status, but not before making sure readers know to follow her on BookBub! We like how her personality shines through in her all-caps calls to action and that she includes the characteristics of her books in a fun way so readers will know what to expect from her work.

9. Laurelin Paige

Laurelin Paige is the NY Times , Wall Street Journal , and USA Today bestselling author of the Fixed Trilogy . She’s a sucker for a good romance and gets giddy anytime there’s kissing, much to the embarrassment of her three daughters. Her husband doesn’t seem to complain, however. When she isn’t reading or writing sexy stories, she’s probably singing, watching edgy black comedy on Netflix or dreaming of Michael Fassbender. She’s also a proud member of Mensa International though she doesn’t do anything with the organization except use it as material for her bio. You can connect with Laurelin on Facebook at facebook.com/LaurelinPaige or on twitter @laurelinpaige. You can also visit her website, laurelinpaige.com , to sign up for emails about new releases. Subscribers also receive a free book from a different bestselling author every month.

Why we love it: We love Laurelin’s bio because she lets her fun personality shine through! She also includes information about a monthly giveaway she runs through her mailing list, which is enticing and unique.

10. Mia Sosa

Mia Sosa is a USA Today bestselling author of contemporary romance and romantic comedies. Her books have received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly , Kirkus Reviews , Booklist , and Library Journal , and have been praised by Cosmopolitan , The Washington Post , Buzzfeed , Entertainment Weekly , and more. Book Riot included her debut, Unbuttoning the CEO , in its list of 100 Must-Read Romantic Comedies, and Booklist recently called her “the new go-to author for fans of sassy and sexy contemporary romances.” A former First Amendment and media lawyer, Mia practiced for more than a decade before trading her suits for loungewear (okay, okay, they’re sweatpants). Now she strives to write fun and flirty stories about imperfect characters finding their perfect match. Mia lives in Maryland with her husband, their two daughters, and an adorable dog that rules them all. For more information about Mia and her books, visit www.miasosa.com .

Why we love it: This is such a well-constructed bio, with a paragraph for each (1) listing accolades and praise from trade reviews, (2) including a blurb about Mia’s overall author brand, (3) describing her previous work experience and how she became an author, and (4) sharing personal information and directing readers to where they could learn more.

11. Aiden Thomas

Aiden Thomas is a trans, Latinx, New York Times Bestselling Author with an MFA in Creative Writing from Mills College. Originally from Oakland, California, they now make their home in Portland, OR. Aiden is notorious for not being able to guess the endings of books and movies, and organizes their bookshelves by color. Their books include Cemetery Boys and Lost in the Never Woods .

Why we love it: A well-known advocate of diverse books, Aiden leads with their identity markers to connect right away with readers of similar identities. The rest of their concise bio fits information about their bestseller status, education, location, personality, and popular titles into just a few short sentences!

12. Wayne Stinnett

Wayne Stinnett is an American novelist and Veteran of the United States Marine Corps. Between those careers, he’s worked as a deckhand, commercial fisherman, divemaster, taxi driver, construction manager, and over the road truck driver, among many other things. He now lives on a sea island, in the South Carolina Lowcountry, with his wife and youngest daughter. They also have three grown children, five grand children, three dogs and a whole flock of parakeets. Stinnett grew up in Melbourne, Florida and has also lived in the Florida Keys, the Bahamas, and Cozumel, Mexico. His next dream is to one day visit and dive Cuba.

Why we love it: What better way to introduce an author of novels about travel, seafaring, and military adventures than to share his first-hand experiences! By weaving in relevant professional background and a glimpse of his home life by the sea, Wayne demonstrates deep knowledge of his subjects to his readers, as well as connecting with them on a personal level by describing his family and goals for the future.

13. June Hur

June Hur was born in South Korea and raised in Canada, except for the time when she moved back to Korea and attended high school there. She studied History and Literature at the University of Toronto. She began writing her debut novel after obsessing over books about Joseon Korea. When she’s not writing, she can be found wandering through nature or journaling at a coffee shop. June is the bestselling author of The Silence of Bones , The Forest of Stolen Girls , and The Red Palace , and currently lives in Toronto with her husband and daughter.

Why we love it: We love how June includes her background and what inspired her writing. Sharing a story’s origins is a wonderful way to meaningfully connect with readers.

14. Claire Delacroix

Bestselling author Claire Delacroix published her first medieval romance in 1993. Since then, she has published over seventy romance novels and numerous novellas, including time travel romances, contemporary romances and paranormal romances. The Beauty , part of her successful Bride Quest series, was her first book to land on the New York Times list of bestselling books. Claire has written under the name Claire Cross and continues to write as Deborah Cooke as well as Claire Delacroix. Claire makes her home in Canada with her family, a large undisciplined garden and a growing number of incomplete knitting projects. Sign up for Claire’s monthly medieval romance newsletter at: https://view.flodesk.com/pages/622ca9849b7136a9e313df83 Visit Claire’s website to find out more about her books at http://delacroix.net

Why we love it: While Claire has an extensive backlist, she succinctly describes her publishing success and subgenres. She also includes all of her pen names so readers can easily find her, no matter which name they’re looking for.

15. Vanessa Riley

Vanessa Riley writes Historical Fiction and Historical Romance (Georgian, Regency, & Victorian) featuring hidden histories, dazzling multi-culture communities, and strong sisterhoods. She promises to pull heart strings, offer a few laughs, and share tidbits of tantalizing history. This Southern, Irish, Trini (West Indies) girl holds a doctorate in mechanical engineering and a MS in industrial engineering and engineering management from Stanford University. She also earned a BS and MS in mechanical engineering from Penn State University. Yet, her love of history and lattes have overwhelmed her passion for math, leading to the publication of over 20+ titles. She loves writing on her southern porch with proper caffeine.

Why we love it: Vanessa launches into her bio by sharing the specific time periods she writes in, as well as the diverse characters and emotions her readers can look forward to, appealing directly to her ideal audience . She then shares a bit of personal info, leaving readers with an image of her in her element: writing on a porch while sipping tea.

16. April White

April White has been a film producer, private investigator, bouncer, teacher and screenwriter. She has climbed in the Himalayas, survived a shipwreck, and lived on a gold mine in the Yukon. She and her husband share their home in Southern California with two extraordinary boys and a lifetime collection of books. Her first novel, Marking Time , is the 2016 winner of the Library Journal Indie E-Book Award for YA Literature, and her contemporary romantic suspense, Code of Conduct , was a Next Generation Indie Award and RONE Award Finalist. All five books in the Immortal Descendants series are on the Amazon Top 100 lists in Time Travel Romance and Historical Fantasy. More information and her blog can be found at www.aprilwhitebooks.com .

Why we love it: April’s bio is short and sweet, but is packed with interesting information. She was a private investigator and survived a shipwreck? How can you not want to learn more about this author? She also elegantly includes her books’ status and subgenre in the last paragraph, along with a call-to-action for readers to learn more.

17. Julia Quinn

#1 New York Times bestselling author Julia Quinn loves to dispel the myth that smart women don’t read (or write) romance, and if you watch reruns of the game show The Weakest Link you might just catch her winning the $79,000 jackpot. She displayed a decided lack of knowledge about baseball, country music, and plush toys, but she is proud to say that she aced all things British and literary, answered all of her history and geography questions correctly, and knew that there was a Da Vinci long before there was a code. On December 25, 2020, Netflix premiered Bridgerton , based on her popular series of novels about the Bridgerton family. Find her on the web at www.juliaquinn.com .

Why we love it: Julia takes a unique approach, making her bio more voicey and focused on her interests. Yet she keeps it up to date, including her latest news in the last sentence (above the call-to-action).

18. Rick Mofina

USA Today bestselling author Rick Mofina is a former journalist who has interviewed murderers on death row, flown over L.A. with the LAPD and patrolled with the Royal Canadian Mounted Police near the Arctic. He’s also reported from the Caribbean, Africa and Kuwait’s border with Iraq. His books have been published in nearly 30 countries, including an illegal translation produced in Iran. His work has been praised by James Patterson, Dean Koontz, Michael Connelly, Lee Child, Tess Gerritsen, Jeffery Deaver, Sandra Brown, James Rollins, Brad Thor, Nick Stone, David Morrell, Allison Brennan, Heather Graham, Linwood Barclay, Peter Robinson, Håkan Nesser and Kay Hooper. The Crime Writers of Canada, The International Thriller Writers and The Private Eye Writers of America have listed his titles among the best in crime fiction. As a two-time winner of Canada’s Arthur Ellis Award, a four-time Thriller Award finalist and a two-time Shamus Award finalist, the Library Journal calls him, “One of the best thriller writers in the business.” Join Rick Mofina’s newsletter from his website and receive a free eBook! You can also find Rick Mofina’s new exclusive serialized thriller, The Dying Light , by subscribing to Radish Fiction com For more information please visit www.rickmofina.com https://www.facebook.com/rickmofina or follow Rick on Twitter @Rick Mofina

Why we love it: Including Rick’s first-hand experiences as a journalist lends him credibility in his genres of Crime Fiction and Thrillers. He also includes a list of well-known authors who have praised his work, and these endorsements may encourage those authors’ fans to give Rick a try. The free ebook offer effectively sweetens the deal!

19. J.T. Ellison

J.T. Ellison is the New York Times and USA Today bestselling author of more than 25 novels, and the EMMY® award winning co-host of the literary TV show A Word on Words . She also writes urban fantasy under the pen name Joss Walker. With millions of books in print, her work has won critical acclaim, prestigious awards, been optioned for television, and has been published in 28 countries. J.T. lives in Nashville with her husband and twin kittens, where she is hard at work on her next novel.

Why we love it: This is a great example of a concise bio suitable for use in any blog or publication. J.T. keeps to just the essential ingredients of a professional author bio: accolades, genres, experience, and a bit of what she’s up to today for a personal touch.

20. James S.A. Corey

James S.A. Corey is the pen name for a collaboration between Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck. James is Daniel’s middle name, Corey is Ty’s middle name, and S.A. are Daniel’s daughter’s initials. James’ current project is a series of science fiction novels called The Expanse Series. They are also the authors of Honor Among Thieves: Star Wars (Empire and Rebellion).

Why we love it: We love co-author bios that reveal how the duo came up with their pseudonym as a fun fact for readers! We also like that the reminder of this bio simply points readers straight to their buzziest works.

Want to share this post? Here are ready-made tweets:

Click to tweet: If you’re writing your author bio, these examples are so helpful! #writetip #pubtip http://bit.ly/1OSBcDO

Click to tweet: Make sure to keep your author bio updated! Here are some great bio examples, PLUS a printable checklist of what to include and where to keep it up to date. #amwriting http://bit.ly/1OSBcDO

This post was originally published on October 15 2015 and has been updated with new examples and a PDF checklist!

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Blog • Book Marketing , Perfecting your Craft

Last updated on Feb 24, 2022

How to Write a Killer Author Bio (With Template)

An author bio is a brief passage, usually about a paragraph , that introduces an author and sums up their work, their authorly credentials, and anything else their readers might need to know about them. 

While author bios may seem like an afterthought, or something to fill up the backmatter of your book , it’s actually an unassuming but valuable piece of copy. Done well, an author bio can give you credibility and introduce your readers to your other works. It can also be used in other promotional or publishing materials, as former Penguin Random House marketer Rachel Cone-Gorham explains:

“An author bio is something that will let readers get a sense of who you are, and is an important part for pitching media and book proposals.” 

For this reason, it’s important to get your bio right. Here is a 4-step process for writing your author bio:

1. Start with the facts readers need to know

2. open up with relevant biographical details, 3. wow them with your credentials, 4. finish it off with a personal touch.

Start your bio with an opening byline that quickly summarizes your profile, plus your most recent release. In a world full of skimmers, some readers may not get past the first couple of lines of your bio, so it’s important to frontload the essentials. 

For instance, a byline might read:

“Jane Doe is a Professor of Anthropology at UCLA and author of Insights Into Our Past: Tracing the Legacy of Intergenerational Trauma in 19th Century America .”

“Jane Doe is a poet, writer, and author of the new novel We Were Already There .”

If your work has won any prestigious awards or earned bestseller status, make sure to mention that here, too.

The great part about writing a one-liner as your opener is that it can double as a short bio for guest articles, social media, etc. — all of which can be a valuable part of your book publicity plan . 

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Example: An attention grabbing intro

Novelist and short story writer Brandon Taylor's whole bio is great, but check out his heavy hitting first sentence that instantly tells you everything you really need to know:

If you’re stuck for words, you can use his bio, and other great “ About the Author ” examples for inspiration. 

RESOURCE: Your free author bio template

FREE RESOURCE

Grab our Author Bio Template

Use this to write an awesome “about me” in less than 5 minutes.

Your author bio is, naturally, a chance for you to introduce yourself, but it’s also an opportunity for you to introduce readers to your body of work, and share a little about your writing history. If you have other titles that you’ve released previously, now’s the time to mention them.

You may also want to include any personal connections to your work, and signpost why they’re relevant. For instance:

With over a decade of writing obituaries for the local paper, Jane has a uniquely wry voice that shines through in her newest collection of essays, which explore the importance we place on legacy.

A professionally trained electrician, Jane has spent the last decade reading and writing romance novels giving her characters a palpable spark! Her latest work is the sequel to her debut novel, In the Arms of a Stranger .

Have an author bio already, but want a second opinion on it? Take our quick quiz to see if it checks off all of the boxes.

Let us grade your author bio

Find out if your author bio is a 10/10. Takes one minute.

Top Tip: Write in the third person

Despite the fact that an author often writes or approves their own bio, it should be written in the third person — ‘they’ rather than ‘I’. Not only is this the industry standard, it also makes it easier to toot your own horn, which you should definitely be doing here.

Example: An author’s lived experience

One great example of a bio that shares biographical details is author Niyati Tamaskar , whose memoir Unafraid draws on her own experiences of cancer and the cultural baggage surrounding it. You can learn more about Niyati and her publishing story here .

Niyati Tamaskar is a mother, engineer, entrepreneur, public speaker, and author. She speaks on issues of cultural bias, the stigma of cancer, and more. Her speaking and media appearances include her signature TEDx talk, a cover and feature spread in Columbus magazine on her journey and message of destigmatizing cancer, and a video created by Breastcancer.org on “How Niyati Tamaskar Overcame Cultural Cancer Stigma to Become an Advocate”—aimed at highlighting the minority experience while facing cancer.

An important job of an “About the Author” section is to boost your credentials, says editor Rachel: “You want to show your qualifications and credibility so that a reader will feel validated in choosing your book to read.”

That being said, it’s not a good idea to start listing every softball trophy you won in middle school. Only stick to credentials that directly relate to the content of your book. According to Rachel, “Qualifications can include writing courses, college degrees, awards, bestseller lists, and accolades or, for fiction authors, even a lifetime of interest.” Here are a few of her examples:

Jane has an MFA in creative writing from Vermont College, and was the recipient of the Vermont College creative writing award.

Jane is a historian at Vermont College and has spent over a decade researching World War 2.

Jane has traveled extensively around Eastern Europe, learning about the history of the region and walking the paths of her characters.

For non-fiction authors, your credentials are incredibly relevant as readers are far more likely to trust an authority on a subject, while fiction authors can focus more on why they write in a specific genre.

Book marketing consultant Rob Eagar suggests that another way to boost your credibility is to “to weave in any endorsements you may have received from well-known outlets… Readers pay more attention to authors with a proven track record.”

For example:

[Famous author] says Jane Doe is a unique new voice in the thriller genre.

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Example: Amanda Ripley’s expert qualifications

One author using their credentials to their best advantage is non-fiction author Amanda Ripley. Check out her “About the Author”: 

Top tip: Keep it short

A good author bio is efficient beyond just the first line, as book launch specialist Joel Pitney suggests:

“People don't want to read long bios! Keep it under 300 words. Only include relevant materials and be as succinct as possible. If you've won a lot of awards, for example, only include the most impressive ones. Same goes if you’ve published a couple of books; only include your most successful three.”

Author bios are not a place for you to delve into a lengthy explanation of your history. However, you also don’t want your bio to be devoid of any personality. Adding a bit of color to your bio helps readers imagine who you are. Plus, if they can relate to you, it might be an extra push for them to buy your book. 

That’s why Joel Pitney suggests: “If there's room, and it's relevant, you can add some color, like where you live or something interesting that might not obviously relate to your writing career, but that makes you a more interesting person.”

This can be done subtly, like by referring to your location in your byline: 

“New-York based psychologist, Jane Doe…”

Or you can include a brief illustration of your lifestyle, says Rachel: “Jane lives and works out of her home at the base of Mount Washington in New Hampshire, and spends her summers hiking and camping with her two children and husband.”

Finally, marketing consultant Rob suggests closing out with a quippy-one liner that illustrates what kind of writer you are. “If your writing is known for its humor, let it show in your bio.” For example:

Jane hopes to write her next novel soon, if she can stop reading other people's novels instead.

Example: Natalie Barelli’s chatty tone

Check out fiction writer Natalie Barelli’s bio for an example of personalization done right: 

Natalie Barelli can usually be found reading a book, and that book will more likely than not be a psychological thriller. Writing a novel was always on her bucket list, and eventually, with Until I Met Her, it became a reality. After He Killed Me is the second and final book in her Emma Fern Series. When not absorbed in the latest gripping page-turner, Natalie loves cooking, knits very badly, enjoys riding her Vespa around town, and otherwise spends far too much time at the computer. She lives in Australia, with her husband and extended family.

An author bio is unique to the writer, so everyone’s will look different — but by following our 4-step process and using the author bio template, you’ll include everything you need to maximize your chances of winning over readers.

And if you’re looking for more inspiration on how to build your online presence, check out more examples of the “ About the Author ” section or our course on how to build an author mailing list:

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8 responses

Diane says:

07/06/2018 – 09:10

Excellent post! I really liked the way explained each point with examples. Author can write a big book but broke into sweat when it comes to write a bio about themselves. Sometimes they also need paper writing help. It have to be short and interesting, not boring. In that case your article will help them to write a killer one.

Nancy Man says:

20/06/2018 – 00:10

This was super helpful -- thanks! Sticking to these four elements worked great for me. I've finally got a bio that I'm not rolling my eyes at. :)

Antigone Blackwell says:

08/12/2018 – 19:01

If someone is reading this article, it is highly unlikely that they can boast being bestselling authors or share that they are on the third book of a highly successful series. More examples with start up authors would be great.

India Government Schemes says:

12/03/2019 – 11:42

This is awesome, but i am seeing in this days mostly hide there Bio in Blogs, But they don't know In The Blog Author Bio is also a Ranking Factor in the Google Search Ranking.

Joe Robinson says:

08/05/2019 – 12:28

Very helpful article that has helped me write my author bio for my upcoming book "Move Your Marriage to Greatness" a Marriage Replenishment Work designed to help couple achieve extraordinary accomplishments that are uncommon in many marriages today. I appreciate you making this article available.

Jitender Sharma says:

10/09/2019 – 05:00

Thanks for your post

Mike aantonio says:

14/11/2019 – 10:06

After reading the bio. samples mentioned above. Is it really necessary to introduce the author as a third party. Can't we directly say " Hi I am a blogger from so and so ......."

↪️ Martin Cavannagh replied:

15/11/2019 – 09:15

You can do... but it's not standard practice.

Comments are currently closed.

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How to Write a Biography

Last Updated: May 28, 2024 Fact Checked

This article was co-authored by Stephanie Wong Ken, MFA . Stephanie Wong Ken is a writer based in Canada. Stephanie's writing has appeared in Joyland, Catapult, Pithead Chapel, Cosmonaut's Avenue, and other publications. She holds an MFA in Fiction and Creative Writing from Portland State University. This article has been fact-checked, ensuring the accuracy of any cited facts and confirming the authority of its sources. This article has been viewed 1,863,831 times.

Writing a biography can be a fun challenge, where you are sharing the story of someone’s life with readers. You may need to write a biography for a class or decide to write one as a personal project. Once you have identified the subject of the biography, do your research so you know as much about them as possible. Then, dive into the writing of the biography and revising it until it is at its finest.

Researching Your Subject

• If the subject does not give you permission to write the biography, you may want to choose a different subject. If you decide to publish the biography without the subject’s permission, you may be susceptible to legal action by the subject.
• If the subject is no longer alive, you obviously do not need to ask permission to write about them.

• You may create research questions to help focus your research of the subject, such as, What do I find interesting about the subject? Why is this subject important to readers? What can I say that is new about the subject? What would I like to learn more about?

• For in person interviews, record them with a tape recorder or a voice recorder on your computer or phone.
• You may need to interview the subject and others several times to get the material you need.

• You may also want to visit areas where the subject made a major decision or breakthrough in their life. Being physically in the area can give you a sense of how the subject might have felt and help you write their experiences more effectively.

• When researching the time period ask yourself: What were the social norms of that time? What was going on economically and politically? How did the social and political climate affect the subject?

• You may also include historical events or moments that affected the subject on the timeline. For example, maybe there was a conflict or civil war that happened during the person’s life that affected their life.

Writing the Biography

• You may end up focusing on particular areas of the person’s life. If you do this, work through a particular period in the person’s life chronologically.

• For example, you may have a thesis statement about focusing on how the person impacted the civil rights movement in America in the 1970s. You can then make sure all your content relates back to this thesis.

• Flashbacks should feel as detailed and real as present day scenes. Use your research notes and interviews with the subject to get a good sense of their past for the flashbacks.
• For example, you may jump from the person’s death in the present to a flashback to their favorite childhood memory.

• For example, you may focus on the person’s accomplishments in the civil rights movement. You may write a whole section about their contributions and participation in major civil rights marches in their hometown.

• For example, you may notice that the person’s life is patterned with moments of adversity, where the person worked hard and fought against larger forces. You can then use the theme of overcoming adversity in the biography.

• For example, you may note how you see parallels in the person’s life during the civil rights movement with your own interests in social justice. You may also commend the person for their hard work and positive impact on society.

Polishing the Biography

• Revise the biography based on feedback from others. Do not be afraid to cut or edit down the biography to suit the needs of your readers.

• Having a biography riddled with spelling, grammar, and punctuation errors can turn off your readers and result in a poor grade if you are handing in the text for a class.

• If the biography is for a class, use MLA , APA , or Chicago Style citations based on the preferences of your instructor.

Biography Help

Community Q&A

• Be careful when publishing private or embarrassing information, especially if the person is not a celebrity. You may violate their "Right of Privacy" or equivalent. Thanks Helpful 31 Not Helpful 5
• Have the sources to back up your statements about the subject's life. Untruthful written statements can lead to litigation. If it is your opinion, be clear that it is such and not fact (although you can support your opinion with facts). Thanks Helpful 16 Not Helpful 15

You Might Also Like

• ↑ https://grammar.yourdictionary.com/writing/how-to-write-a-biography.html
• ↑ https://au.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/how-to-write-a-bio
• ↑ https://www.writersdigest.com/writing-articles/3-tips-for-writing-successful-flashbacks
• ↑ https://www.grammarly.com/blog/how-to-write-bio/
• ↑ https://writingcenter.unc.edu/tips-and-tools/editing-and-proofreading/
• ↑ https://www.plagiarism.org/article/how-do-i-cite-sources

About This Article

Before you write a biography, gather as much information about the subject that you can from sources like newspaper articles, interviews, photos, existing biographies, and anything else you can find. Write the story of that person’s life, including as much supporting detail as you can, including information about the place and time where the person lived. Focus on major events and milestones in their life, including historical events, marriage, children, and events which would shape their path later in life. For tips from our reviewer on proofreading the biography and citing your sources, keep reading! Did this summary help you? Yes No

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