Most publications today want an author's biography, called a bio, when they accept a writer's work. Readers love to learn a little bit about the person who wrote a story or poem they enjoyed reading. It is a way for the reader to feel close to the writer.

Creating an author's bio your readers will love reading can be as trying as writing your story. You want to entertain with your bio and tell a bit about yourself as well.

A bio is used to give the reader information about the author. A book publisher will want one to run on the back page of your novel. A magazine will want one to run with your story or poem. You should write a bio that is aimed at the item it will be published with so it is relevant.

Though most editors will have their own guidelines for writing an author's bio, you can use these general guidelines to write a standard bio, one you can alter to match any work you get published.

Length

Most bios run between 50 and 400 words, with the average length about 150 words. Double space your bio and try to it no one more than one page in length.

Tense

When you write your biography, do so in the third person. You should use present tense, unless a past tense is absolutely necessary.

Content

Depending on what manuscript the bio is for, include any qualifications, education, skills, or experience you may have helps makes you look professional. Do not include unimportant information.

Achievements

Most of your bio should be devoted to your writing achievements. Previous publications, writing awards, or degrees you have relating to your work's subject should be in the bio. If you have real life experience in your subject, be sure to also include it.

Promotions

If you are lucky enough to have been interviewed by a known publication, or have had a radio or television interview, mention that in your bio.

Tone

This should compliment your piece. If you have written a free and modern story, then make your bio the same way. Do not have a silly bio with a serious writing article.

Mood

Always present your information in a positive way. If you do not have a lot of work published, do not fret. Post what you have in an upbeat manner. Even if you have not been published before, you still have talents and qualifications - use them.

Do not make your bio seem too good to be true by over exaggerated information. Making yourself sound better than you are can, and will, backfire in the long run.

Do not lie. It will only make you look like an amateur, and could cost you future sales. Aim your bio at the editor who is publishing your work. List only publication credits that will impress them.

Even if you have no publishing credits, you can still write a bio. Just keep it brief. An example is: "Jane Doe is a writer living in Hometown, USA. She is currently at work on". Be sure to keep it upbeat.

Writing a bio to go with a published piece should not be harder than writing the item itself. Following some simple guidelines will make the process easier, and leave you with a bio you can be proud of.

Dawn Arkin is an author on http://www.Writing.Com/ which is a site for Poetry. Her portfolio can be found at http://www.Writing.Com/authors/darkin so stop by and read for a while. Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Dawn_Arkin

If you want to be a writer, or any other creative professional, perhaps the last thing you want to think about is money. Unfortunately, unless you have another income to fall back on (which would probably be a smart idea, at least for the first year), you will need to consider your payment. It is not as simple as doing the job and seeing a salary in your bank account at the end of each week. You need to know where the money is coming from and when - and make sure that you are getting enough to survive.

In my writing career, I have had editors - after indicating interest in my story ideas - change their minds once they saw the actual story. They consoled me that it wasn't my fault, but so what? I did all that work, without being paid! Recently, an editor assigned me to write 2500 words for a newspaper feature, then edited it down to 2000 words. Fine, except now she wants to pay for only those 2000 words, not for the full 2500 I had written.

Many writers might just grin and bear it, but compare that to another tradesman - your electrician, for example. What if he does $2500 worth of rewiring, as agreed, but then you decide that you didn't need all of it? Does that mean that he only gets paid for the essentials? No way! (At least, it shouldn't.) He should be paid for the work assigned and done. If you decide you didn't need all that rewiring... well, too bad! You still should pay him.

Also, if he is contracted to rewire a house, and you decide that you don't want to use that house after all, does that mean that you don't need to pay him? No, you have to pay him! He put in the hours and the labour, and should be rewarded for it!

As a writer, you should be treated the same way. Then again, there are some ways in which a writer's job differs from that of an electrician, plumber or any other tradesman. For starters, a writer's publisher - rather than the writer himself - usually decides on his payment. Most writers can't simply charge the same fee to everyone, whether a global magazine read by millions (which should expect the highest standard of writing - and pay higher fees) or a free website run by a local small business (which probably couldn't afford to pay so much - and as a result, shouldn't approach Michael Crichton to write for them). Sometimes payment is negotiable, but you should always find out the pay rate before you talk to an editor.

Most publishers will send you a contract. If they don't, make sure that you have their assignment details in writing. (Email is great for this, even if it doesn't include a signature.) As Sam Goldwyn allegedly said: "A verbal contract isn't worth the paper it's written on."

If they offer to pay you a certain amount for a certain number of words, and you send them exactly what they asked for, they should pay you what they offered. I'm not saying that this is the treatment I expect to receive; I'm saying that it's the treatment I SHOULD receive! Sadly, even when you are a struggling freelance writer and they are part of a multi-million dollar publishing company, some editors try to underpay their writers. It's not exactly a daily event, but it has happened to me enough times that I am always on my guard. I keep all the email correspondence, and send them a polite message if they try to change to a smaller amount.

Writing is a craft, an art, and something that I enjoy - but it's also my source of income. Like any tradesman, I want to be sure I have enough to make ends meet - and to do that, I should be paid what I'm worth.

Mark Juddery is a member of Sri Chinmoy Centre in Australia. He is a freelance journalist and has published a book: "1975 - Australia's Greatest Year" More Guidance on writing at http://www.writespirit.net/ Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Mark_Juddery

Cherie Burbach's recent essay on the "This I Believe" database is the 2nd most popular out of over 20,000 essays! In the essay she shared her thoughts on growing up with an alcoholic father to ultimately reach a place of peace and contentment in her life. She shares her story in the hopes of inspiring others. Her essay has been downloaded over 5,000 times in the last month alone. Check it out here : http://thisibelieve.org/dsp_Top25Essays.php as the second most popular entry. Or catch up with Cherie at her website: http://www.thedifferencenow.com

Congratulations Cherie!

"The Newtown Area Writers Meetup Group was founded on December 4th, 2006. We gather once a month—although soon it will be semi-monthly—to provide constructive criticism for each other’s fiction. Our members hail mostly from Fairfield and New Haven counties in Connecticut, USA. We have an active web site: writers.meetup.com/565 Feel free to visit and poke around. Although we use the web site as a platform for our group, members need to live close enough to be able to come to at least one meetup per month. However, we are open to guest speakers. We are affiliated with the New Haven Writers Meetup Group, which has about twice as many members. If an author or writing coach is interested in coming to give a talk, we’d be happy to arrange a venue with both groups. We are very grateful to Sandy and Sean for sponsoring our non-profit group."

Congratulations to Liz Abraham for putting the Newtown Area Writers Meetup Group together. Liz dedicates a lot of time and effort into this group and it's an awesome way for local writers to meet, critique and help each other succeed with their writing. Best of luck to all the members!

2007 BlueCat Screenplay Competition

For details on this competition, please go to: BlueCat

This deadline is only a few days away, but I wanted to include it. It's the Washington-Centerville Public Library's Annual Erma Bombeck Writing Competition. For details, please go to: Erma Bombeck Competition

Bobbie Christmas is the "Book Doctor" and Author of Write In Style, a triple-award-winning textbook for writers of fiction and nonfiction, available wherever books are sold.

Bobbie loves to receive questions from writers and offer her expert advice. If you have any questions you need answered, please e-mail her at: Bobbie@zebraeditor.com

For the latest Q&A with Bobbie, go to AskTheBookDoctor on the CS4W site.

If you have an announcement you would like to share with us, please e-mail me at sandy@coolstuff4writers.com

Happy Valentine's Day!

Peace,

Sandy

email: sandy@coolstuff4writers.com

phone: 732-364-3993

web: http://www.coolstuff4writers.com