Please be aware that we have strict protocols in place to protect your personal information and privacy. Your profile details, including your address, phone number, and email, are only accessible to you and the staff at Crystal Peake.
You can update your author profile information on the author homepage whenever you want. Any changes made will appear on the Book pages and, once published, on the website.
- Keep it short, sharp and relevant but don’t forget to include key points that your publicist can use when exchanging information with book reviewers and the press.
- If you want to stand out from the crowd, make sure to include any relevant qualifications, books you have written, and your level of expertise. Be sure to mention any notable publications that you regularly contribute to, as well.
- Important: In the Previous Books section please include 13-digit ISBNs (starting 978) as well as titles.
- Do include your website and any YouTube videos, blogs, Facebook, Twitter etc. in the relevant fields. All these will feed through to your author page on the website.
- Be sure to keep your information up to date, especially if you make any changes to your website or social media handles. It is essential that we have the correct links when promoting your work and directing others to your online presence. Having incorrect information can give a negative impression to potential reviewers and journalists and also takes away from a publicist’s time and effort as they need to constantly update your profile.
- Avoid being tedious with excessive details. You are essentially marketing yourself, so present your experiences and accomplishments in a way that showcases your credibility and captivates your target audience. Always keep your audience in mind when crafting your message.
- Write it in the third person, e.g. ‘Peter Field is a leading military historian…’
- Avoid writing about personal topics like family, pets, and holidays. However, do mention your location (e.g. London, England). This information is useful for shops to know, especially for chain stores who may order products based on their store locations.
- Come across as qualified, engaging, friendly, warm, passionate about your subject, original, sharp—all in all, an excellent communicator.
- If you have multiple titles being published with us, please note that we are unable to customise the author biography for each individual book. The information provided here will be used on our website, and our website does not have the capability to match different biographies or details with specific titles. In the event that a member of the media requests your biography, we are unable to have a conversation about which one they would like as it must apply to all of your titles.
Further notes
Street address: We need this to send you the free copies of your book as agreed in your contract, and any you might want to buy, and to bring your book to the attention of booksellers and media in your region.
Photo: Add it to your Profile. We don’t usually use photos in the book itself, but are often asked for one by magazines etc., and it appears on the website.
How to upload your photo:
- Save your picture on your home computer (an easy place to save it is on your desktop). Please make sure that the filename does not include special characters such as / ! ‘ etc.
- Go to your Author Profile and click on ‘Choose File’ next to your current photo.
- Select the photo from your harddrive.
- Click ‘Save Profile Picture’.
- Your photo will upload!
- Photos being uploaded should ideally be no more than 20KB in size. If it exceeds 1MB it may not upload to the website, or it may display a distorted image. If you have a photo on your PC, then you will also have a software program that can edit it. The easiest way to edit a photo is to resize, and again most photo software will ask you if you want to email the photo, or use it online, and will automatically resize to a manageable KB for all online/email use.
- Photos are important – in social media, it’s the first impression, and it counts.
- Use a white background, or a neutral one, and it should be just you in the picture.
- If your photo has been professionally taken, and the photographer needs a credit, can you ask him/her to embed the credit in the photo. Photos travel through to the website, get emailed to magazines, overseas publishers etc., and we do not have the facility to send a credit separately.
- You can change your photo at any time, as with any other copy in your Profile, and it will travel through to the website.
- It is not necessary for your picture to be taken by a professional, but we do reserve the right not to include it if it looks too amateurish.