Author Bio update...
I placed the decision regarding my back-flap in the capable hands of my editor, and she went with the silly one, including a line about my picture book, and cutting the pale green door. In the end, it really didn't matter much to me
Important to remember that an author bio functions differently for a kiddie-book. They aren't buying for themselves, and they certainly don't care about where you went to grad school. We'll do a long one for the web site, with links to poetry and academic credits, etc.
But thank you foir your input!
In other news, we may cut the mullet today!!!
In still other news, work on a new book has begun in earnest.
Important to remember that an author bio functions differently for a kiddie-book. They aren't buying for themselves, and they certainly don't care about where you went to grad school. We'll do a long one for the web site, with links to poetry and academic credits, etc.
But thank you foir your input!
In other news, we may cut the mullet today!!!
In still other news, work on a new book has begun in earnest.
6 Comments:
Oh no, not the mullet! Would you first photograph it's potential to become a mohawk? From all sides? Please?
My advice? Forget about it. As ANY Manhattan book editor will tell you:
Bad/Hack/Star-struck Writers= Care a LOT about their author-bio/flap copy/author photo/cover design.
Good Writers= Could give a fuck about what the book looks like/don't obsess about it.
JK is a total idiot, in case you haven't gleaned. Some of the most important writers, from Whitman to Tim O'Brien cared very deeply for what their bios stated, and how their books looked. To think a writer doesn't care about what the book looks like is ignorant, and shows what a dolt whomever Johnskyn Kantilever is.
Yeah, with no animosity to Mr. Kantilever, I have to say I disagree. While I think that it's bad to get too fixated on the promotional aspects of your work, I've certainly known many wonderful writers who wanted to have some involvement in the covers of their books. And with a kiddie-book, or any illustrated project, the art is really integral (and in some ways collaborative). It informs the text, and if a writer can have some input in the images (and hence the cover) I think it's a wonderful thing. The picture book we've just wrapped up was a wonderfully collaborative project, with the text changing the art and the art changing the text. Very much a collaboration we all learned from.
Not to mention people like... um... William Blake? And anyone else involved in small-press publishing? And almost every poet I know has selected their cover art...
As for bios, I'll agree one shouldn't think about it too much. But not because it makes you a hack... just because it makes you crazy.
Gee, I might be wrong, but I think I'm right in some cases.
I'm not trying to be a know-it-all, I'm just thinking back to conversations I had with Morgan Entrekin (when I worked at Grove/Atlantic) and with some people I knew at FSG. They consistently said the "best" (again, whatever that means) writers tended to just send in the MS and couldn't be bothered with other details.
(Full disclosure: My first book is coming out later this year, so I am trying to act all cool like I don't care about the appearance of the book/my author bio, so I will appear to be a "good" writer. But honestly, secretly, yes, of course, it would be exciting to design all aspects of the book myself, and pester my editor all hours of the gay.)
Ahhhh, see?
Of course that makes sense, but I think you'd do better to follow your gut, and remember that there are ALL kinds of experiences.
I know a poet with no artistic control who ended up with a giant clown (A CLOWN) in purple and orange on the cover of his first book. I know a fiction writer whose literary fiction got morphed into looking like a "beach read" and had slutty women all over the first mock-up (that had nothing dto do with the story)but she argued her way into something that made sense.
Of COURSE the editors prefer writers to keep away. It makes their jobs easier when they go in to work with the publicists and graphic teams and artistic directors. And I think writers should be respectful of the fact that the editor and the publicist (and everyone else) have jobs to do. And you don't always get what you envisioned...
But there's a middle ground to find. Rude people who tend to push too hard need to keep away. Mild mannered types who try to avoid stepping on toes might want to speak up. In my case, I've been very lucky so far to have editors who want my input... who think I'm the best person to help guide the process.
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