Author Photos and Book Marketing graphic

Your Author Photos

When marketing a book, most authors include an author photo. If you have a website, you’ve probably got an author photo there, and one on the back of your book.

But other less formal photos of you also should be part of your marketing.

The Back Of The Book Photo

If you’re like me, your official author photo is a head shot. Below is the one I use on my author website. (I use a different one on the About page of this site, but it’s also from a professional studio.)

Lisa M. Lilly Author

Your photo might be retouched a bit if you went to a professional studio or, these days, if you’ve figured out how to do that on your phone.

Odds are, it’s also one of your favorite photos of yourself.

All of that is great.

In fact, I feel like it’s key to use an author photo that conveys that you’re someone with a writing career, who takes care with your appearance.

That suggests you also take care with your writing and makes strangers feel more comfortable buying your work.

What’s Stopping You?

Many writers, though, hesitate to post other photos of themselves with their books on social media or on their sites.

It can feel a lot like bragging. And, if you were raised like I was, that’s something you might feel strange about.

Or you might be self-conscious about not looking your best in a candid shot or one that you take yourself. It’s not as easy to get the best angle.

Getting an ideal background can also be tricky.

Other Author Photos

But your photos don’t need to be perfect. The photo below is not.

The background strikes me as kind of blah. You can’t see my whole book cover. The light catches flyaway hair near my part.

Lisa Holding The Fractured Man

And yet when I posted this photo with a note about “Look what came in the mail!” I sold a dozen paperback copies of The Fractured Man that same afternoon.

That may not seem like a lot, but most of my sales are ebook or audiobook editions. Typically I release the paperback for price comparison purposes and so I have something to sell at live events.

Otherwise, I sell one or two every month or so. I’ve never had a dozen ordered at once.

In fact, when I specifically created a post with the professional 3-D book cover for the second book in the same series and a note about the paperback being available, I sold just one paperback that day compared to dozens of ebook editions.

The Charmng Man 3D cover

What this shows is (1) people respond not just to your book but to you and (2) a more candid shot is a lot more fun and engaging.

It shows who you are.

So use your professional author photo and professional book covers on your sales pages.

But on social media, let go of your concerns about the perfect shot and post as you would about anything else in your life that excites you.

That’s all for now. Until next Friday–

L.M. Lilly

 

 

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