Too many authors fail to realize the importance of their author photography. I say this due to the many missing author photographs on Amazon—it should be a given to provide a photograph with the bio information. I also see terrible branding on how profile photos are used on Twitter and Facebook. If you are an author, you should have a photograph of yourself--not a movie character, not your pet, not your kids.
Readers and the media will be making a snap judgment when they glance at your photo. Is this a professional writer? They will decide in three seconds. An author's photo should be a simple close-up. The author's clothing and the background should be unobtrusive, as the center of attention should be the author's face. To smile or not smile really depends upon which pose is more flattering.
You may have your author photograph professionally taken, but make sure that you don't restrict yourself the studio's solid color backdrop. Usually journalists prefer the more informal action shot that suggests that it was actually taken during an interview—an author posed in a favorite chair, giving a tour of his or her garden, drinking coffee at a restaurant, or walking down a city street. Again, it should be a close-up of the author's face that dominates, not the background.
There is no reason that you can't take the photographs yourself—digital cameras make it super easy to see your results and tweak how you pose until you are happy. Big tip, turn your camera sideways, so that your photograph will be portrait-style, rather than horizontal. This produces the most professional looking photograph, as most amateur photographers take their photos horizontally.
Cropping can also do wonders to transform a so-so photograph into one that looks professionally taken—most software packages included with a camera will provide simple cropping tools or you can invest in some JPG/photo editing software (hit Google for recommendations, it's not necessary to buy the top-of-the-line Adobe products for a basic cropping project).
Keep size and scale in mind. A photograph at its original size may look great, but when reduced to thumbnail size (as in Twitter profile images) may end up making the subject unidentifiable. Not every photograph will work for every situation. Consider also whether the author photo should be in black & white or in color (again, most software includes color editing).
Be sure to have your photos in both high resolution (300 dpi and higher) for print use such as magazines and newspapers and low resolution (75 to 150 dpi) for the Web. Always take your photographs at the highest resolution possible. You can then reduce the resolution, later, using jpg/photo editing software (be aware that you can not increase a photo's resolution, only reduce it).
A cell phone pic may also be used, but if you decide to go that direction and take it yourself, please pick up an inexpensive selfie-stick. This tool avoids the very unattractive extreme close-up. Unless you have freakishly long arms, you will not be able to hold the cell phone far away enough to produce an attractive image. Your best option, if using a cell phone and you don't have a selfie-stick, would be to ask someone else to take a photo of you.
Lastly, it's a good idea to have a selection of photos kept on file, so that you have one that you always use (to keep your branding consistent) for books, website, bookseller sites, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and some others (at least three with the author in different outfits/settings) which you'll be able to supply for interviews. When you are interviewed, it should be standard procedure to send a book cover image and an author photo, afterwards, as your follow-up materials.
Readers and the media will be making a snap judgment when they glance at your photo. Is this a professional writer? They will decide in three seconds. An author's photo should be a simple close-up. The author's clothing and the background should be unobtrusive, as the center of attention should be the author's face. To smile or not smile really depends upon which pose is more flattering.
You may have your author photograph professionally taken, but make sure that you don't restrict yourself the studio's solid color backdrop. Usually journalists prefer the more informal action shot that suggests that it was actually taken during an interview—an author posed in a favorite chair, giving a tour of his or her garden, drinking coffee at a restaurant, or walking down a city street. Again, it should be a close-up of the author's face that dominates, not the background.
There is no reason that you can't take the photographs yourself—digital cameras make it super easy to see your results and tweak how you pose until you are happy. Big tip, turn your camera sideways, so that your photograph will be portrait-style, rather than horizontal. This produces the most professional looking photograph, as most amateur photographers take their photos horizontally.
Cropping can also do wonders to transform a so-so photograph into one that looks professionally taken—most software packages included with a camera will provide simple cropping tools or you can invest in some JPG/photo editing software (hit Google for recommendations, it's not necessary to buy the top-of-the-line Adobe products for a basic cropping project).
Keep size and scale in mind. A photograph at its original size may look great, but when reduced to thumbnail size (as in Twitter profile images) may end up making the subject unidentifiable. Not every photograph will work for every situation. Consider also whether the author photo should be in black & white or in color (again, most software includes color editing).
Be sure to have your photos in both high resolution (300 dpi and higher) for print use such as magazines and newspapers and low resolution (75 to 150 dpi) for the Web. Always take your photographs at the highest resolution possible. You can then reduce the resolution, later, using jpg/photo editing software (be aware that you can not increase a photo's resolution, only reduce it).
A cell phone pic may also be used, but if you decide to go that direction and take it yourself, please pick up an inexpensive selfie-stick. This tool avoids the very unattractive extreme close-up. Unless you have freakishly long arms, you will not be able to hold the cell phone far away enough to produce an attractive image. Your best option, if using a cell phone and you don't have a selfie-stick, would be to ask someone else to take a photo of you.
Lastly, it's a good idea to have a selection of photos kept on file, so that you have one that you always use (to keep your branding consistent) for books, website, bookseller sites, Twitter, Facebook, etc. and some others (at least three with the author in different outfits/settings) which you'll be able to supply for interviews. When you are interviewed, it should be standard procedure to send a book cover image and an author photo, afterwards, as your follow-up materials.
