When confronted with someone who wants to quickly know about your book, it’s important to be able to describe it, capturing the essence of the story, but without being bogged down in detail, because you never know when you’ll meet someone who can help you sell your story. Enter the elevator pitch.

When a reader picks up a book, invariably they’ll want to know a little about who wrote it and whether they’re a good writer, this is where your author bio comes in to play. Your bio gives your book credibility, as well as promotes you as an author. Here are some tips on what to include to get the best out of your bio.

Most authors see the blurb on a back of their books as an afterthought, just a quick summary of their story to fill some space on an otherwise blank back cover. Blurbs are adverts, meant to get people buying your work. There are certain things you can do when writing a blurb that will encourage readers to buy your book. Here’s some dos and don’ts.