The other day I realized that my author photo, the one I send to readings and the like, and also the one that I was planning to use for the back cover of Fire in the Heart, was circa 2003.
Hmm.
I guess we’d all like to think we don’t change over time, but I was probably due for a new picture. Fortunately, I know a good photographer. We trekked to a frozen lake and got some photos. As uncomfortable as I am having my photo taken, the author photo is something all publishers ask for.
Is it that important? No. Nobody is going to reject a book because of your photo. Still, if you get a good one, it will be used for other things–book launches, workshops, articles. So you may as well pay someone (or if you are lucky, rope in a relative) to take a good quality photo. It’s one of those things that is worth the money and the awkwardness.
There was no way I was going to take a picture of me sitting at my desk. Ugh–I do enough of that. It had to be outdoors. Despite shivering in the fifteen degree weather, they turned out OK!
Photo taken by Talia Jean Galvin, Talia Jean Photography