Why does an artist BIO always seem to be written in third-person?
And how can I set out to write a great BIO for myself?
Nobody Knows You Like I Do
The purpose of a BIO is more than just listing the facts about where you came from, when you were born, and what you’ve done up ’til now. It’s a bigger-picture opportunity to get a stranger to become interested in you, and better yet to fall in love with everything about you. It’s a chance for them to identify with you on some common level, and yet be interested in learning more about the things that make you different from them.
So, who’s the best person to write your BIO? A third-person who knows you best. Someone who loves what you do and recognizes that you have something special to offer. Someone who can easily brag about your successes and re-frame your shortcomings. Perhaps your best friend or regular collaborator. If this were an episode of “How I Met Your Mother”, it would be Barney, as Ted’s wingman, writing Ted’s BIO as if to say (again), “Have you met Ted?”
If you don’t have a best friend handy who can write your BIO, put on your “best friend” hat and think outside of yourself, for how that best friend would “sell” you to the public. No lies, no exaggerations, just consider the ways in which your experience, your outlook, your perspective, can be clearly shared in a way that will resonate with some and peak the interest of others. And it’s 100% okay to write about yourself in the third person, as if you were writing the media article that you wish would be written about you.
Never forget, you are special – there is nobody out there quite like you. You have dedicated yourself to your goals, you have some successes to show for it, and you have values and principles that define what you will do next.
So let your best friend do the talking, and don’t interrupt.
(Photo Credit: Ebuka Onyewuchi, pexels.com)
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