By Kenji Crosland
Knowing how to write a bio is an essential marketing skill. In order to learn how to write a bio effectively, you must learn the proper format. Your bio is not a condensation of all the events in your life and it's not an extension of your resume. Your bio is the truth about you made fascinating. It's a short glimpse into your life that gives people just enough detail about you to make them want to know more.
A good bio should answer these four questions:
- What's your mission?
- Where did you come from?
- What have you done?
- What are you doing now?
What's your mission?
Anyone can provide a description of what they do to make a living, but it's the rare few that can describe the driving force in their life and work. In order to know how to write a bio effectively, you must know how to provide your reader with a sense of your mission.
When you write a bio, your job should not just be your job. It should be your calling. Avoid bland, cookie cutter statements like: "I write gritty mystery novels." Try to bring your goals and your aspirations into the picture. The statement: "I write gritty mystery novels," could easily be rephrased as: "My goal as a writer is to infuse the mystery genre with a little more grit." Not only does this statement show what your job is, but it also gives the reader a sense of your talents and ambitions.
It's not enough to tell people you're a pediatrician with a practice in Topeka. Anyone can learn that much from the Yellow Pages. Indeed, people will often already know
this information before they even read your bio. Tell people instead of how you've dedicated yourself to improving the health of children throughout your career. Not only does this give people an indication of what you do, but also of who you are. It shows that you have a mission, a purpose that keeps you going and inspires your work.
When you begin by describing your goals people will want to know why you have the goals you do. Essentially, they'll want to know the answer to the following question:
Where did you come from?
You didn't pop out of the head of Zeus as a software architect or a restaurant owner. There were formative moments your life that made you who you are. In order to know how to write a bio effectively, you must learn to capture the best of them in vivid detail.
Think back. What led you to decide to take the path you're currently taking? What was it that made you want to become a pediatrician, blogger, or emu farmer in the first place? If one of the reasons you became a pediatrician was to improve the health of children worldwide, describe the experiences that led you to choose this goal. Perhaps you had visited a third-world country where you saw children with inadequate access to basic health-care. Or, perhaps your reason was more personal, like the extreme gratitude you felt when a doctor saved the life of a family member. Be sure to describe a pivotal moment in your life that led you to your current path.
Of course, sometimes there never was a pivotal moment. It's quite possible that ever since you could remember you wanted to be what you are now. Describe then some scene that shows us how you were committed to your passion from the beginning. If you're a born chef, tell us of the first batch of bouillabaisse that you had made when you were ten-years-old. If you're a born programmer, tell us of the computer role playing game you designed in high school. Describe your talent and your passion with real-life examples that deliver the essence of who you are and where you came from. Once you've sufficiently explained where you've come from, people will be more interested in knowing the answer to the third question:
What have you done?
When telling people what you've done, avoid making a laundry list of your achievements. Doing so would make your bio no different than a resume. Your bio is supposed to be about you, not your accomplishments. People don't care if you have an MBA, CPA or are a certified sandal technician. These titles are meaningless when they don't know the efforts you've made to achieve them. Don't just list your accomplishments, but describe them in the form of actions. You're free to mention that you won the Young Entrepreneur of the Year Award, but remember that the award itself has little meaning. Give specific information about the actions you took to achieve that award.
When describing your accomplishments, feel free to brag a little, but don't get carried away. If you find yourself listing a whole bunch of accomplishments, it's probably a good idea to write your bio in third person. This way it sounds like someone else is talking about you and you're not tooting your own horn.
A good majority of bios are written in the third person. The first person, however, does have its
advantages. The first person can make you seem more approachable, almost as if you're talking to the reader directly. It can be a good choice for your personal website, LinkedIn Profile, or MySpace page. If you prefer first person, you probably shouldn't spend too much time describing your accomplishments. Instead, spend the bulk of your time answering the following question:
What are you doing now?
One of the main purposes of writing a bio is to get people interested in what you're doing right now. Make sure you give one or two examples of projects you're currently working on. Mention the "big picture" projects that you'll be working on for more than a year. If you're writing a novel, provide a short description of it. If you're developing the next big web application, give your readers a sense of what it will accomplish (without giving away too many top-secret details). It's good to associate your current projects with your mission, as it reinforces the idea to the reader that right now, at this moment, you're taking real steps to accomplish it. After you've described your current projects, see if you can't include...
A Quirk
The key to knowing how to write a bio is knowing how to be memorable. One particularly useful method is to mention a personal quirk. Perhaps you drink 10 lattes a day, or you own a cave where you grow (legal) mushrooms. Perhaps you're an expert beer judge, or maybe you work part-time at a superhero supply shop. The best quirks are those that are true but people would find hard to believe about you. A quirk is a good way to add an extra dimension to your personality. It's an odd, random detail that's unique to you and few others. Limit the number of quirks you mention (one or two at the most), but make them good.
The most difficult type of writing
The personal nature of a bio can make it one of the most difficult things to write. The trick is to step outside of yourself and answer the four questions above as honestly as you can. This will often require some introspection, and you may need to spend some time clarifying and defining your goals and purpose. Writing your bio does not begin with writing. It begins with living. In the end, your bio can only be as interesting as you are. One thing I've found, however, is that if you've defined your goals and purpose and strive to achieve them, being interesting comes naturally.
Kenji Crosland is a creative writing major who, scared of becoming a starving artist, became a corporate headhunter in Tokyo. Since then he's regained his sanity, quit his job, and currently blogs about creating an ideal career at unreadyandwilling.com. Follow him on Twitter: @KenjiCrosland.
This post is part of the Guest Post Giveaway at the blog Unready and Willing. If you think articles about writing or personal development (or personal development for writers) sounds like a good fit for your blog, please take a look at the Guest Post Giveaway page and see if any of the articles spark your interest.