Your Photo and Your Identity

Unicorn Writers’ Conference
 ~ Early Morning Edition ~

Notes about the Keynote

On Saturday, March 9, I attended the Unicorn Writers’ Conference. It was held at the beautiful  St. Clements Castle in Portland, Connecticut, where the snow glistened brightly in the early morning sun. It was the morning after an all day snowstorm that brought more than six inches of snow to many places in Connecticut. 

 The conference breakfast started at 7:30 am and it was a great time to grab some much needed fuel for the long day. It was also a terrific time to meet new and interesting authors, writers, agents and editors.

The keynote was presented by Matthew Pearl, the author of The Dante Club, The Poe Shadow, The Last Dickens and The Technologists and he gave a wonderful presentation on author identity. He gave amusing insights as to how he reacted when he saw people reading his book and how he was hesitant to tell people that he was the author. Matthew even sat next to a man on an airplane who was reading his book and Matthew never told him that he was the author. I reflected on that comment and I think that if I was in that situation, I would probably force myself to say something to that person. It could be a great way to promote your work!

Matthew also discussed how important it was to have a true author picture on the back or the inside of your book. He gave an anecdote about how he walked into a bookstore one day and offered to sign copies of his book. The man at the customer service desk looked at Matthew and said, “Do you have ID?” Matthew was puzzled and was about to reach into his pocket for his license, when he remembered his author photo. He held up the book, pointed to the photo and said, “See? That’s me!”

Having an updated and accurate photo on your book will prove to people that you are actually the author of that book. It’s especially helpful if you are using a pseudonym and your license or other form of picture identification does not match your author name!

It is never a good idea to promote yourself using an old or outdated photograph. People are expecting you to look like the picture you display and it could provide negative feedback for you if you if you’re presenting an image that’s not current. I know of one author who is using an old photo (quite possibly by 10 years!) in all forms of media (social media, press releases, new articles, conferences, etc). It looks like she’s trying to hide her current appearance and it makes one wonder why she is being dishonest. It instantly makes me distrust an author when they try to mislead their readers with deceptive information. If an author is untruthful about this, what else is the author hiding?

As for me, I have decided not to display my picture on my blog or on social media just yet. I am branding myself first with my name and then, when my book is ready to be released into the hands of the public, I will have a professional photo taken that displayed on my book and on my website. I do believe that an accurate author picture is important for media relations and it’s what readers look for when they pick up your book.

When I shop for books, I look at the front cover first (yes, I admit it; I judge a book by its cover), then I read the blurb on the back or on the dust jacket to see if it’s something I would like. Next, I check out the author’s photo and read about the author (I want to see what this person looks like, where the author lives and what may interest him/her). Finally, I read the first few pages of the book to see if it grabs my attention. I have to say that I get very disappointed if I do not see an author photo located in the book because I need to have that connection to the author.

How do you handle your author identity? Do you let people know that you wrote a book or that you’re in the process of writing something? Do you display an accurate picture of yourself? If not, why?

Until next time ~