The importance of author photos – oh hey, I’ve got a new one!

People say you shouldn’t judge a book by it’s cover… but we do. We certainly shouldn’t judge people by their appearance, but again, we do. Now before you think this is me coming off super shallow and vain, here’s how I think it applies re: author photos.

When I see an author photo I can tell at first glance if that person takes what they’re doing (writing) seriously.

Meaning, is it a grainy phone picture? Is it a quick snapshot at a con cropped down? Is it an overly pretentious “LOOK HOW SIRIUS BIZNUS I AM” staged shot? Or is it clearly professionally done, but still natural looking?

An author photo, like a book cover, can be off-putting to readers if not done correctly.


I’ve known this for years, and yet have never had the time/knew the right photographer/a good location… and quite honestly it was hard for me to convince myself that I should fork out loads of $$$ for a picture. Even if it IS my professional image. Plus I will admit that I’m afraid I’d come out looking like this (because we all know my hair can do this on its own… no hairspray required).

Or overly pretentious looking & full of myself.

I mean, I want to look like me.

The two I’ve used over the years aren’t bad (and hey, they look like me), but they’re clearly just cropped snapshots.

Well, the stars have all aligned…

My 34th birthday was last Sunday & I’d already scheduled my quarterly hair appointment to get a wash/cut the friday prior.

And then I was walking by the Capitol the other morning when my a friend of mine (who is an professional photographer on the Hill) was out taking pictures at the Capitol and called out “Hey, come get a headshot done.” I waved and laughed and kept walking to my office but it made me think…

My friend Phi Nguyen is a professional photographer. He’s been taking photos/headshots of Congressmen, Senators, and Presidents for the past 30 years…

I walk past the Library of Congress on a daily basis…

So I shot him a quick text and next thing I knew, we were scheduled to meet last Monday morning in front of the Library of Congress (and for any NSA types or whoever reading this, we did it BEFORE working hours and I paid him for his work – this was definitely NOT on the government’s dime or time). 😀

Date set, I then text a girlfriend of mine in a panic. HOW SHOULD I DO MY HAIR? CLOTHES? MAKEUP?

She calmed me down and suggested I go with whatever my hairstylist does, wear something simple in green or blue for my olive skin tone/dark hair/hazel eyes, get my eyesbrows waxed, and do my makeup “natural.”

Uhhh… problem. I’m terrible with makeup!

So I spent more time than I should have looking up how to do eye makeup for hazel eyes on olive skin… and just felt more confused than before, until another great serendipitous thing happened. I was at a church function & mentioned how excited I was that my girls & I were going to have makeovers on Saturday (for a “girls date”), because I was getting a headshot done on Monday & I hoped I could learn some makeup tips for it.

Jjayna (the gal I was talking to) gave me a funny look & said “You know I do make up for headshots, professionally, right?” I blinked… “Really?”

Yes, really.

Not only did she come and do my make up that morning but stay through the entire shoot & constantly retouched my makeup & my hair for me.

I am just so happy about how this all came together. A photographer I trust, a wonderful location, it was right around my birthday so I don’t feel too guilty paying a bit to pamper myself with haircuts, makeovers, and eyebrow waxing, AND someone I trust enough not to make me look like a clown. 🙂

Well, all my prep hopefully paid off because the pics are DONE! While I look far more tired and worn than I’d like (no amount of makeup will fix that) and my hair decided to completely frizz up (all my straightening for naught, ah well), the morning sunshine was forgiving and the breeze was nice. Oh, and Jjayna & Phi were wonderful. Thanks guys!

On the whole the experience was not pleasant. I mean I enjoyed the getting primped and ready for it part (the haircut, the makeup by Jjayna, picking out clothes with Betsy, that stuff), but the actual standing there and posing is not fun.

“Look this way, tily your chin up, move your head that way, put your hand like that, lean this way, don’t forget to breath, now smile, no no look natural.”

For a flippin HOUR.

It’s not at all like taking pics in costume either where you can just kinda channel a character – this is SIRIUS BIZNUS because it’s my PROFESSIONAL AUTHOR photo.

So I was trying to be like “just smile! laugh inside! What makes me laugh? AHHH there’s the camera right in my face! DON’T PANIC! My mouth hurts from smiling! GAH! HAIR IN FACE FROM WIND. DON’T BLINK.”

And on and on. After about 10 minutes I was like “OK, we’re done right? We have enough right?”

Phi and Jjayna laughed at me.

In the end I had about 100 photos to choose from (I’m NOT exaggerating), and narrowed it down it my favorite 10. After much deliberation (and lots and lots of waffling back and forth), I finally settled on one. Part of it was I realized I needed just to buckle down and pick one & that since I have 10 photos I’m quite happy with, if I decide in the end I DON’T like this one, I can always use another.

TADA!

I chose this one for many reasons – the primary one being that aside from that fact that I was pretty much immediately drawn to it, I also like the angle, what the wind is doing to my hair, the background, and it was one of the last pics I took so I was far more relaxed. Oh, and it’s one of Ron’s two favs.

I opted for the open mouth smile (though I hate my teeth) because while it probably looks less “authory” I think it does look more like “me” and, when the closed mouth one gets cropped down very small it looks weird (I did try it out).

So there you go, my new Author headshot that I hope looks professional & still like me. If not, well, I’ve got another birthday coming next year. 😉

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Missed it? Here’s the guest post by bestselling Star Wars author Aaron Allston.

Oh, and Man of Steel was terrible – here’s why…

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And after reading all that, please don’t forget that I’ve got a kickstarter going for Time Traveled Tales, with stories by Aaron Allston, Michael A. Stackpole, Timothy Zahn, Bryan young, many others, and yours truly! http://tinyurl.com/m7w5ox6

Lastly, need a copy of one of my books? As it happens you can buy them here.