Jen Mathy: GIVE THEM YOUR BEST SHOT • Writing Tips

Jen Mathy
GIVE THEM YOUR BEST SHOT

The dreaded author photo. For many of us, it’s a hassle, a distraction, even a conceit. Writing your bio, taking an author photo…those acts lay bare your ambition, if to no one else but yourself.

Good. Put it out there. You are a writer.

As a writer, you want to publish. So when a cherished acceptance note arrives, you’ll need a headshot. Please don’t send in the one from your cousin’s wedding. It’s too dark, and you are partially obscured by Uncle John.

Take an author photo. You have—possibly in your hands at this very moment—a smartphone with a state-of-the-art camera. If not, you know someone who has one. Get them to take a relaxed, versatile photo of you, something a variety of publications can use. Below are practical ways to make sure your photo works for a long time.

Selfies don’t always work. If you have long arms or a selfie stick, and you can shoot it without bunching up your shoulders, go for it. Otherwise, ask a friend to take it.
Dress simply. Neckties look too formal and patterns rarely age well.
No vacation pictures. Have a neutral background in the middle distance, in portrait mode (if you have that option on your phone’s camera). Resist pressing your back against a blank wall like you’re posing for a mug shot. Likewise, avoid standing in front of a recognizable landmark. Both the Eiffel Tower and a Starbucks logo will draw the viewer’s eye away from you, the photo’s subject.
Look directly into the camera or off in the distance; I’d argue a direct look is the more contemporary choice.

Have a neutral facial expression. Yes, you can smolder like Raymond Carver or laugh like Maya Angelou. But a neutral expression works no matter your genre or subject matter. Shel Silverstein’s photo on the back of The Giving Tree famously misses the mark. In her LitHub essay “10 of the Creepiest Author Photos Ever Captured,” Emily Temple wrote:

This man wrote books for children. Children! In this photograph, it looks like he has eaten several already today.

Make sure it’s in focus. Save your copy of the photo in a high resolution, then size it according to each publication’s specs. Make sure your lens is clean. Also, if you pose 20 feet from the photographer, the shot may be fuzzy when the designer crops it.
Allow “white space” or negative space around your face. For the most versatility, submit a photo taken from the chest up, arms down, and you positioned near the center. Be careful not to crop it too closely. At Cleaver we crop to squares and, sometimes, circles. If there’s not enough space around your head, we may cut off your chin or forehead. If you lean on your hand in the photo, a close crop might suggest you are punching yourself in the face.
Label your photo with your name, preferably: last name_first name. As editors are putting together an issue, a bunch of headshots labeled “image” are tough to track.

When you sell your manuscript to a major publisher, consider springing for a professional photographer. Until then, your phone’s camera will take a great shot. Remember, no one expects you to look like a model. You are a writer. You need to look like you.

Jen Mathy, Cleaver‘s Social Media Manager, is a marketing communications consultant in social media, PR, and advertising. She was VP of advertising and brand management for Morgan Stanley, brand manager for Discover Card, and in university relations for Northwestern University. She has an MFA in Writing from Bennington College and manages social media for the program. Jen Mathy has written stories for The Chicago Tribune and WGN-TV, among others, and wrote the poetry and prose for An Expat Journey in Singapore, a book of photography about the island nation.