Many literary magazines ask you to include a bio (typically third-person, typically brief) when you submit your work. While some publications judge blindly (like Marmalade Lit; meaning, we read and make a decision about your piece without consulting your bio), some do take your bio into account—although generally speaking, magazines nearly always prioritize the quality of your work over any previous publication credits or awards you may have received. Either way, if your piece is chosen for publication, your bio typically gets published along with it—and you should feel confident that it represents yourself as a writer.

A strong bio typically shares your name, maybe your state or country, and any previous publication credits or recognition for your writing you may have. If you don’t have any yet—or even if you do—it can be nice to include something you tend to explore in your writing or writers that have shaped you are also fair game. It’s also pleasant but not necessary to include some sort of fun fact about yourself at the end. Take the fictitious example below:

“Jane Doe is a poet from California. Her work has been recognized by the Scholastic Art & Writing Awards and is published in Marmalade Lit. Jane’s poetry often explores the complex intersection between identity, family, and memory. When she isn’t writing, she can be found reading the latest issues of indie literary magazines or playing fetch with her dog.”

So, what shouldn’t you put in your bio? There are three big things I’ve encountered that I would warn writers against:

1. Don’t write an analysis or explanation of the piece(s) you submitted! When a magazine is asking for a bio, they want to hear about you as a writer and person, not about your work. The meaning and interpretation of your poems or prose pieces or whatever they may be should be left up to the editors—and anyway, editors oftentimes won’t even look at your bio until they’ve read through your submission.

2. Don’t spend a majority of your bio talking about your accomplishments in baseball or piano or competitive baking: if your piece is selected for publication, your bio should primarily reflect yourself as a writer. That doesn’t mean you can’t mention these things—but they should probably come in brief at the end.

3. Don’t write completely casually. By this, I don’t mean you need to write your bio like it’s an academic paper, but avoid acronyms, emojis, and otherwise strongly informal language. 

Finally, please remember that your bio should nearly always be in third-person. As an editor, I’ve seen first-person bios far too many times!

Happy writing, and best of luck with your submissions.