Create an Engaging About the Author Page

Introduction

In this lesson, you’ll learn how to create an engaging About the Author page that resonates with your audience, strengthens your author brand, and encourages readers to explore more of your work. By crafting multiple bio lengths—short, medium, and long—and incorporating engaging visuals, personal anecdotes, and clear calls to action, you’ll transform a simple profile into a powerful, trust-building resource. Optimised for search engines and reader interest, this approach ensures your audience feels connected and curious to learn more about you and your books.

Why your About the Author Page Matters

An engaging About the Author page is essential for any author website. It gives readers insight into the person behind the stories, helping to build a connection and foster loyalty. A well-crafted author bio can encourage readers to pick up your books, join your mailing list, and follow your journey as a writer.

The About the Author page is one of the most visited parts of an author’s website. It humanises you, making you more relatable to your audience, and allows readers to understand why you write. Your personality, experiences, and passion for storytelling can shine through, inviting readers to be a part of your world. Ultimately, this page isn’t just about listing your achievements—it’s about telling your story to create a lasting bond with your audience.

What Makes Up a Good About the Author Page

A strong About the Author page strikes a balance between personal storytelling and professional credentials. Readers love to know what makes you tick—what motivates your writing, what interests you, and what you’re working on next. You can include key elements such as:

• A good quality author photograph: Include a high-standard photo that reflects your brand or the genre you write in. It doesn’t have to be professionally taken, but it should be of good quality.
• Your background: How you became a writer and what inspired you to write.
• Your professional journey: Mention significant achievements, awards, and notable works.
• Your personal side: Add a little personal flavour, such as your hobbies, quirks, or things that inspire you.
• A call to action: This might be an invitation to join your mailing list, follow you on social media, or check out your latest book.

It’s also essential to write in a style that reflects the tone of your books. If your writing is humorous, be humorous. If it’s dark and thrilling, convey that atmosphere. Readers want a glimpse of the author behind the stories they enjoy.

Authors are awful at bios

There are two things a lot of authors are terrible at

1. Writing blurbs for their books
2. Writing bios for their websites

When writing book blurbs authors have a lot to say about something they are so proud of but it’s difficult to condense all that’s great about their novel into a couple of lines.

It’s the opposite when writing author bios. Ask an author to tell you about themselves and most of us clam up. After all it’s about the books not us right? 

And that’s true 99% of the time but the bio on your about the author web page is an exception where you, as the author, get to stake your claim on the background that gave birth you your work. After all your books are your imagination made real and that all had to come from somewhere. 

It may confound us as to the reasons why but there are readers out there who want know the story behind the stories.

But telling that background story can feel daunting.

Using ChatGPT to Help Write Your Author Bio

This is where ChatGPT can be a powerful tool. Here’s how you can use it to craft an engaging bio.

Start with a simple prompt like this one.

My name is Dirk Volcano. I am the author of the Dylan Danger Series of Thrillers and the Village Detective Cosy Mystery series. Would you help me write an author bio for my website by asking me all the questions you need, one at a time, and using the answers to write a short 160 character bio, a 3 paragraph version, and a full page version?

This is going to start an ongoing conversation with ChatGPT that will help you flesh out the content for your author biography.

Why are there three Different Lengths of Author Bio

It’s important to have different versions of your bio for different uses. We are going to use all three on the website but they have other uses as well.

1. A Short Bio (160 characters or less): This is great for social media profiles and meta descriptions on your website.
2. A Medium-Length Bio (3 to four paragraphs): Ideal for the hero section of your About the Author page, this version gives readers a solid overview of who you are without overwhelming them. This version is great for your book bio and author profiles on other platforms.
3. A Full-Length Bio (one page): This is for those who want more in-depth information about you, such as journalists, bloggers, or dedicated fan.

You can see all three of the bios I generated over on DIrk Volcano’s About Page

Build the About the Author Page

• From the WordPress admin dashboard go to pages > all pages
• Edit  the About Page
• I’m going to add Dirk’s photo as the featured image
• Edit the page with Breakdance

About the Author Hero Section

• Add a section
• Style it with Wide Hero Section Preset
• Add a H1 Heading
• Change the Text to
  • About Dirk Volcano
• Add a text element
• Paste in the 160 Character short bio
• Style the text with italics
• Add 3 rem of spacing below the text element

Add the Author Columns Element

• Add a columns element
• I’ll call it About Author Columns
• I’ll label the first column Medium Bio Column
• I’ll label the second column Author Image Column
• Set Author Columns to Stack its child columns vertically at Tablet Portrait

When the columns are stacked I want the Author Image to be below the page title and short bio so I’ll change the column order on smaller screens

• Columns reverse order at Tablet Portrait
• Add 6 rem of Column Gap

Medium Bio Column

• Update the layout of the first column to vertical, left aligned with a 3 rem gap
• Change the size on the Medium Bio Column to 60%
• Add a text element inside the first column
• Paste in the Medium Bio Text
• Add a Button
• Change the Button text to Contact Dirk
• Link the button to the contact page
• Style the Button as Primary

Author Image Column

• Set the column layout to vertical, centre aligned.
• Add an image element
• Set the image element to featured image
• Style the image with a 8 pixel radius
• Add a text element
• Map the text element to the featured image caption
• Style the text element with the Image Credit Preset

Long Bio Section

Why a long Bio section? Why not? Some visitors will get what they need from the short and medium bio’s but others, especially Wikipedia lovers like me will devour the long bio section.

• Add a new section
• Style the section with the Slim Section Preset
• Add a H2 Heading
• Change the heading text to More About Dirk
• Add a text element
• Paste in the long bio text
• Add a button
• Change the Button Text to Get Dirk’s Newsletter
• Link to the sign up page
• Style the button as secondary

Latest Releases Section

We are going to use the final section to pitch Dirk’s latest releases again. As I mentioned before this could just as easily be changed to promote a series starter, a single new release or an area to drive visitors to a dedicated campaign on Kickstarter, Backerkit or Patreon.

• Add a new section
• Style the section with the Wide Section Preset
• Add a H3 Heading
• Change the text to to latest releases
• Add a post loop builder
• Select the Other Books Max Global Block
• Set the Custom query to show 3 books in descending order.
• Style the Post Loop builder with the Book Grid Preset.
• Click Save
• Exit to front end.

Summary

You’ve discovered how to build an About the Author page that uses a combination of personal storytelling, tailored bio lengths, and compelling design elements. By guiding readers through a short introduction, a more detailed background, and even an in-depth biography, you offer various levels of engagement that foster trust and curiosity. This versatile page ultimately drives deeper reader connections, encourages sign-ups, promotes your latest releases, and strengthens your overall author platform.