One tip I give people who are writing chapter one of their first novel: If you find yourself imagining how your jacket photo will look — or, God forbid, if you dress up and pose in front of the mirror practicing your coolest authorial look — it’s a rock-solid sign that you’re getting ahead of yourself.
Now Jessica Schneider takes it a step further, posing for deadly awful author pics so that we don’t have to: Bad Published Writer Photos.
There’s a punchline at the end, too.
10 responses so far ↓
Elias Da Silva // April 28, 2008 at 4:34 pm
loved the author photos photos. funny stuff.
Jessica Schneider // April 28, 2008 at 6:22 pm
Thanks for the link. I remember when I first posted those I actually had someone from Harper Collins looking at them.
susan // April 28, 2008 at 10:13 pm
All right, call me shallow, but I actually do check out the author picture before selecting a book.
And what about the ever-popular picture of Author with Cat?
Snart // April 28, 2008 at 11:14 pm
Oh, but wait, what about the one with the author (typically female, though not always), with head perched on steepled fingers or with head held in cupped hand? As if the brain were too large for the neck to hold it up by itself.
I also like the guys in dark glasses and raincoat, a la Berlin, circa 1964.
spyscribbler // April 29, 2008 at 2:47 am
That’s hilarious! I only think about author photos when I’m in the bathroom, and usually the thought is, “I hope to God that by the time I get published I’ll have lost weight.”
spyscribbler // April 29, 2008 at 2:47 am
Meant to say — that site is HILARIOUS!
Meg // April 29, 2008 at 8:39 am
Jessica — your “poetaster” side profile is my favorite.
Jessica Schneider // April 29, 2008 at 4:07 pm
Thanks. Glad you enjoyed them. I’ll have to maybe think about making part 2 someday.
C.D. Reimer // April 29, 2008 at 4:10 pm
Forget the back of the book photo. I’m still stuck on trying to get a decent website photo up.
My ideal photo will be bent over an old typewriter with a cigarette dangling from my lip and a big glass of whiskey nearby. Never mind that I don’t smoke and drink, and my typewriter isn’t that old.
Snart // April 29, 2008 at 8:28 pm
C.D., don’t forget the fedora!
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