Author Pages - What Do They Need To Make Them Effective?

YA writers and bloggers unite each week to share their thoughts on what it's like going indie in today's publishing world.

Today the YA Indie Carnival Sponsors are talking about their author pages.

In no way do I feel like an expert in this area. I am still learning how to make my bio sound appealing. Here are a few tips I've picked up along the way though...

- Short and sweet works well. Don't waffle on. Keep your sentences well structured and succinct.

- Include information that a reader wants to know. When you check out an author, what type of information are you looking for? Personally, I like to know where they're from, how long they've been writing for, if they've studied the craft at all. Things like that.

- Include something personal. I didn't use to do this, but I started noticing that a lot of my favourite authors were including a personal quote or something quirky about themselves and I really liked it.

- Include contact details. I use my website address, others include Twitter handles or Facebook pages. You need something that will take readers to a place where they can find out even more about you.

- Keep your information consistent and updated. I'm not saying you have to write the same bio for every place you have an author page, but you really don't want to contradict yourself. You also want to ensure that your information is not outdated. It's staying on top of little things like this, that make you come across as a professional.

I have kept my Amazon Author Page a little more formal. I still have a personal quote, but I felt that the page should be more business-like. My website page is a more personable. I don't know if that's the way you're supposed to do it, but I like that my website shares a little more of who I am.

What are your author pages like?
Do you need to update them?
What impression are you giving your readers when they check you out?


If you'd like to hear what the other YA Indie Carnival members have on their author pages, then you can check out their sites below.

You can also check out the YA Author Club for the latest updates and news on what we're all up to.

1.	Laura A. H. Elliott	2.	Bryna Butler, author Midnight Guardian series
3.	T. R. Graves, Author of The Warrior Series	4.	Suzy Turner, author of The Raven Saga
5.	Rachel Coles, author of Into The Ruins, geek mom blog	6.	K. C. Blake, author of Vampires Rule and Crushed
7.	Gwenn Wright, author of Filter	8.	Liz Long | Just another writer on the loose.
9.	Ella James	10.	Maureen Murrish
11.	YA Sci Fi Author's Ramblings	12.	A Little Bit of R&R
13.	Melissa Pearl	14.	Terah Edun - YA Fantasy
15.	Heather Sutherlin - YA Fantasy