I wanted to pass along an article that Anne Ward, Creative Core Media, penned for one of our previous newsletters. You will be meeting Anne as she is part of the team behind the development of Healthy Profits. Learn from the expert about building a great bio!
Anne Ward
Because we’re co-publishing Healthy Profits, it’s important to us that each and every author receives the greatest amount of publicity possible from the book. One of our goals is to put the book into the hands of corporate decision makers. When those readers see your chapter, we want them to be looking for your name and bio to learn more about you.
Here are some tips for building a great bio when you want someone to take action – become a client, contract with you for a project, hire you to speak, or partner with you on a venture.
There are three elements you’ll want to put into your bio.
Here are the Three Cs:
· Curiosity
· Credibility
· Craving
Curiosity
First, make your reader curious so that they want to keep reading about you. The beauty of writing a small chapter for the book is that it’s the perfect opportunity to build curiosity! And you’ll want to keep that theme going in the bio that follows your chapter. This is where you tell the reader what you do and why you do it.
Example: Long before he received his medical degree, Dr. Hamilton had a passion to know what made the difference for people with “terminal” illnesses who went on to live long, disease-free lives.
Credibility
Now that the reader is curious and wants to know more about you, tell them who you are in terms that make them want to really sit up and take notice — this is a person who knows what she’s talking about! Think about your accomplishments, not just your official credentials. What have you been the first to do? How many people have you helped? What have you started?
Example: Dr. Lauren Kohn is a board-certified neurologist and co-founder of The Memory Clinic in New York. Her discovery of the connection between heavy metal toxicity and the hypothalamus led to new protocols in treating memory loss.
Craving More
This is where you tell your reader how you do what you do. This section is designed to appeal directly to your ideal client. If your perfect client cares about time, emphasize your punctuality and deadline-friendliness. If a caring nature is important to them, give them evidence that makes them want to call you.
Example: Tim believes that teaching must involve all eight of our innate areas of intelligence. He’s had former students tell him years after taking a class that “they will never forget what they learned” from him.
What I’ve found is that using the Three Cs well in an author bio leads to the fourth C: Commitment.
But we’ll save that for another article.” - Anne Ward, Marketing Director, CreativeCore Media