Hello everybody, long time no speak. Been a funny old six months with one thing and another, but it's time to get back to working on the Witchwood series. Which brings up the following question...
I have come across submission guidelines (for an editor) asking for "brief information about yourself (ie me)" in the covering letter. What information is this? How many books I've written? How old am I? What are my aims in being a writer?
I don't want to dribble on about myself with an autobiography, and equally I don't want to scupper my chances by saying too little. Ahny thoughts?
lol, I'm not really sure why I put a kiss there....
Urgh this part raised my ire in the way that the synopsis seems to do for others. I'm not very good at small talk, or bigging my self up. I've never been published, I didn't go to uni and I most certainly do not have relevant experience in secondary worlds ;)
Here's is my bio para:
"Five years ago, sitting in a spill of sunshine whilst taking a brief respite from the demands of my infant son, the first glimmer of this story bloomed in my mind. Since I have honed my writing skills in a writers circle, via my blog ofbloodyreflections.blogspot.co.uk, and enjoy keeping abreast of online communities. I can be found on Twitter @_AFox_. I am currently working on the second book."
It's brief, I opened with something a little more personal and descriptive then followed with points of info an agent may wish to know. From this they can gather:
I like the outside/nature (reflected in MS).
I am a mother, whose child is the same age as my MS
I have been writing for 5 years, and how I have developed in that time.
I have the basis of a marketing platform, am relatively tech savvy and keep on eye on the genre market.
There is an opportunity to see what sort of person I am.
I am career minded.
I've tried to uitilise the words as much as possible- lacking any significant points, like publications. Feel free to critique it! Helpful? I usualy put this at the bottom of the email, before the thanks & sign off. x
Writing bios is hard, but if it's part of a covering letter, I think brevity is best, and to keep it all relative. Anything that links to the project - qualifications, experience - is good (so if you're writing about schoolyard politics in France and used to be a French teacher, mention that), as are previous publications or awards (though not so much self-published stuff). But I wouldn't worry too much - one or two sentences is more than enough, giving a brief snapshot of your life - where you live, your work, etc.
I wouldn't worry about your aims as a writer - editors know you want to get published, build a career, etc. Of course you do - you're sending stuff in!
You can probably find some blog posts written by literary agents on this if you Google around, and I think the approach would be pretty much the same.
Hope that made sense!