The sad part was that the personality was gone.
GET HUMAN MYPUBLISHER PROFESSIONAL
Overnight, at the urging of the publisher, they changed their profile pictures to these glamour shots that looked like they were taken at a professional photo shoot. On Facebook, most of them seemed like reasonable, attractive, down to Earth individuals. Bottles just because he did that!Īfter my ordeal with the bald pic and the delay, the original publisher that requested an author pic from me started sending some “helpful examples.” I had connected with most of the writers of that publisher. That kind of thing is awesome, in fact, I should buy a book by Mr. Over at Burning Bulb Publishing, one author, Rich Bottles Jr., uses what appears to be a mugshot for his author pic. We’re writers! We’re not models! We don’t want to be models!Īuthor pictures aren’t generally seen as a place for intentional comedy. You’ll also see a lot of tweed jackets, and a few pipes. You’ll see a lot of awkward images of people who would rather be doing anything else. Some writers go overboardĪctually, if you want to have a laugh, randomly go to Amazon and search through author pictures. Then I asked, “Could I just submit a photo of a German Shepherd for my author pic? I think that would be funny.”Ī week later I went out with my wife and put on a slightly nicer shirt and my wife took the picture that I’ve used in all my promotional material ever since (yes, it’s my Medium profile pic). “Um, do I look bald to you?” I asked my wife.Īfter that I had to send a long email to my publisher explaining how I’d cut my hair too short and I’d have to wait a week for it to grow out before I could send them an author photo and I hoped that they would understand. I got home and looked at the photos and there was a problem. So we went outside at noon when the sun was directly overhead and I knelt down in the patio area of a local restaurant because they had nice landscaping, and we took pictures until a waiter told us we had to leave or they’d call the cops. “Because my publisher wants a picture for my book.” “Hey honey, can you come outside and take my picture?” I figured I better do a really good job, so I used the #2 hair spacer instead of the usual #3. So, I took my hair clippers (I’ve been cutting my own hair for decades) and set to work. I decided I needed a haircut to ensure I would look my best. The book was past its publication deadline and my publisher was hounding me. I remember the first time a publisher requested that I submit an author photo for a book cover. Woo-hoo! I have a really hard time with the concept of the author photo The only writing that endures is the good writing, unfortunately good writers are usually only recognized a hundred years or so after they are dead. The slight silver lining is that once the beauty fades from memory, so do those terrible books. The sad reality is that if you’re are a stunning human being who has written a terrible book, you’re likely to be paid more than an unattractive human being who has produced a work of genius… at least in the short term. Back in the old days, images of writers didn’t even exist! What joy! Writing was judged on the merits of the writing alone!īut today, we’re all overexposed to the point that the impact of superficial appearance is nearly impossible escape. The simple reality is that how you look has a major impact on your success in any field. Now, you’ll have to excuse me as I engage in twenty minutes of frustrated, hysterical, maniacal laughter.
After all, readers aren’t looking at you, they’re looking at your text! I know, I know, in theory, the way you look should have no impact on your potential for success as a writer. The short answer is… Yes! I mean, obviously! Go have a look at my profile picture to get an idea of the level of beauty we’re talking about here.
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