Sunday, November 22, 2015

Author Photos: what am I trying to say?


Last month, a friend sent me an interesting article entitled How To Take A Great Author Photo. It shows various examples of what makes a good or bad publicity pic, including some Before and After shots of the same people in different poses. And if it doesn’t exactly tell you how to take a photo, that’s a minor quibble.

The reason I’ve been looking at this again recently is that it’s time for a new author pic for myself. Never something I look forward to – after all, I spent 25 years on the other side of the camera partly to avoid appearing in pictures myself.

But sometimes you can’t get round it, so you have to run straight at it, yelling a war cry.

At the moment, if someone asks me to send an author pic, I tend to send out a couple, labelled Serious and Not-So Serious.
My serious pose

My slightly less than serious pose
And years ago I took this pic, which is still getting airplay.

This says 'I don't write cosy crime ...'
The thing is, there are always clichés in such shots. For business people or politicians it’s either the one of them on the phone looking very serious. As in, ‘I’m so important I don’t even have time to interrupt my vitally important call for you to take my picture’ or of them with pen in hand signing some vitally important document instead.
A politician, on the phone
For authors there are clichés too. The ‘at work’ pic is one. At their desk, fingers still hovering over the keys while the photographer pops in and snaps a quick ‘candid’.

Ayn Rand at her typewriter, and looking slightly scary. It's the eyes...

The ‘chin in hand’ is another, to make the author look suitably thoughtful, or maybe to hide the occasional extra chin.

John Updike utilising the 'chin in hand' pose for added intelligence reasons rather than hiding any secondary chins.
(Absolutely no comments being made about my fellow MiE bloggers here, by the way!)

And, I confess, I’ve been guilty of that myself. Here’s my first author pic, for example:



Of course, if the author wants to come across as a bad boy, they just grab a cigarette.

Hunter S Thompson, with obligatory cigarette

And finally there’s the ‘relaxing on the sofa’ kind of shot, to show the author is an ordinary person just like the rest of us.
John Grisham, in relaxed pose.

Very rarely does an author break the mould, although Paul D Brazill does this nicely with his author shot.
Paul D Brazill, at the bar, naturally, and hanging on for dear life.

I like this. Paul writes PI noir and you can tell that just by one glance at this picture.

On the other hand, some authors are not quite sure what they’re trying to get across. Take Clive Barker, for example. We have just about everything here, ranging from the dreadful mullet hairstyle:

Clive Barker - who talked him into that hair?

To the Clark Gable wannabe shot:
Clive Barker in retro pose

To the downright weird:
Director David Cronenberg with Clive Barker and ... friends?

You can see the progression of some authors by their author pix. Take Nora Roberts/JD Robb. For her romance novels Nora Roberts she uses something very stylish:

But for her sci-fi cop series, which she writes as JD Robb, she’s gone for a harder look:


And both are a far cry from when I first came across her about fifteen years ago:

I quite like this shot of Norwegian author Jo Nesbø:



Although he's since started using something a bit more conventional:



In my case, what am I trying to get across about me and my writing? I write fairly tough action thrillers with a female main protagonist. Even the standalones – one out, others on the way – still feature a strong female central character whose first instinct will always be to sort out her own problems rather than running for help.

So, should I be sticking with the guns and motorcycles as props for my own pictures, or going for something just a little more feminine? I can, after all, dress like a grownup when the need arises.

Or should I try to go with a mix of the two? Something that says, I’m female, but don’t mess with me? A kind of Frock and Glock look?

Any advice or suggestions welcome!

This week’s Word of the Week is boustrophedon, meaning an ancient form of writing that had lines alternately written left to right and then right to left. It comes from the Greek and literally means ‘turning as an ox when ploughing’. From bous meaning ox and strephein meaning to turn.





26 comments:

  1. You could do all. At a bar with one hand on a whisky, the other on a typewriter, in black and white with a pink 'frock' in that one colour highlight. And underneath your copy of Heat magazine ( for the yooth of today!) a Glock peeping out. And Aviator glasses on top of your head. And a mullet. Sitting next to you on another barstool could be a maggot with a human face - for the Crononberg Film deal. All you need is a Cuban cigar burning in an ashtray and ( if you can manage it - one foot up on the bar, showing a fine turn of ankle- in a stiletto). Sorted!

    ReplyDelete
  2. You could do all. At a bar with one hand on a whisky, the other on a typewriter, in black and white with a pink 'frock' in that one colour highlight. And underneath your copy of Heat magazine ( for the yooth of today!) a Glock peeping out. And Aviator glasses on top of your head. And a mullet. Sitting next to you on another barstool could be a maggot with a human face - for the Crononberg Film deal. All you need is a Cuban cigar burning in an ashtray and ( if you can manage it - one foot up on the bar, showing a fine turn of ankle- in a stiletto). Sorted!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Wow, Caro, that's brilliant! If only I were that athletic - or flexible.

      Just one thing you left out. In the background should be a motorbike!

      Delete
  3. Thanks for the mention. The photo was taken by Kasia Martell a few years before I started writing and I always thought it fit nicely.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I've been admiring that shot for years. Captivating yet unpretentious.

      Delete
    2. Thanks, Paul. It is a great one, isn't it? I have to agree with Rex.

      Delete
  4. Oh god [sic]. I've veered away from any type of photo due to selfie-phobia but felt the need to give in after being constantly told that the heroine on book cover shot wouldn't do. When second book comes out can't keep using pic of first etc. So I choose one that is okayish in miniature but on Twitter profile makes me look like a bobblehead - too my face up in your face - so now I wish I'd never bothered. I'm keeping it for a bit in a nonchalant I don't care kind of way but I really need to get one sorted. I sympathise. I need one that says author/badass/approachable/serious/not serious, too.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Eden. And I just downloaded THE BREAKS. Looking forward to reading it, but at the moment it keeps refusing to show up whenever I sync my Kindle app. Grr.

      I don't like having my pic taken at the best of times, so the idea of actively posing for something is filling me with a certain amount of dread. May have to get a bit silly with it...

      Delete
  5. or you could do all that sitting on a motorbike!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. There are limits to my multitasking abilities, but I'll give it a whirl, Caro!

      Delete
  6. FWIW: I like Zoe with a gun... It should have a caption, "Excuse me, how many stars were you putting on that review? Six? Good..."

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, thanks, Seeley. A friend has told me it's a bit on the butch side, but I still rather like that one as well. I'll have to try to maintain the threatening image with whatever I go for next, though, definitely!

      Delete
  7. Zoe, I REALLY want to see a frock-and-glock picture of you!!! I really, really do. That said, the current one captures you for me--pose and the expression, and the combination of the two!
    Funny you should mention this. I am thinking I need a new photo, too. I was lucky with my first fiction photo, because my life-long friend Judi Benvenuti is a brilliant photographer. I say that she takes pictures of souls, not of faces. I told her I wanted to look bright and amusing, and in my opinion, she nailed it for me. I must say though, that I got some waggish feedback on the pic on this page. A member of my extended family, on seeing it on the book jacket said, "Wow. It's so pretty. It doesn't look like you." She left me speechless, which as my friends know is no mean trick.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, Annamaria. I may have to give the Frock and Glock one a try. Your photo is great, because that lovely little half smile goes right up into your eyes, and that's a hard trick to pull off when you're posing for a photo. Judi did indeed do you proud, and I love your expression of taking souls not faces. Extended families somehow think they have a free pass when it comes to being rude in the name of 'truthfulness'. Send her to see me ...

      Delete
  8. In order to safely write this comment I think I best do it in boustrophedon. So here goes....

    If you want an attention grabbing photo that captures the readers attention without much regard to one's choice of frock or accoutrement, I suggest you adopt the approach represented on
    yllautriv fo sllaw eht no detnuom sradnelac
    .tenalp eht no pohs riaper ekib yreve

    Though I must admit, I don't think that approach would work for EvKa.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. ou are an EVIL man, bro. But FUNNY!!!

      Delete
    2. Hmm, so you think that's going to save you from my wrath, huh, Jeff?

      There are limits to the kind of attention I want to grab!

      Delete
    3. He's not evil, Annamaria, but he is a Very Naughty Boy ...

      Delete
  9. Don't listen to these other fools, Zoë, you KNOW how the picture should look: full-length gown, you have Jeff in a head-lock, which pulls your gown up slightly on that side, just enough to reveal your ankle-holster, as you look, sharp-eyed (heh-heh) at Jeff's head with the toothy smile of a preying mantis on your lips...

    By the way, I must say that, at least in my browser, it was masterful the way you talked about the chin-in-hand pose JUST as Michael's picture came into view on the side-bar. :-)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. LOL, EvKa. Now, you know I'd never wear an ankle holster - they pull your back out of line. And I've never noticed how toothy a smile a preying mantis has. Are they the ones where the females eat the males after sex?

      I did notice where the chin-in-hand pic came, but only after I'd posted, unfortunately, so I had to go back and add the comment into the caption of the John Updike pic!

      Delete
  10. Yes, I noticed that too! But I don't dare mess with Zoë!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sorry, Michael! It really wasn't intentional. You know I love you dearly.

      Delete
  11. Thought about a Retro look - at a typewriter with a cat and you in kitten heels?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I do have an old typewriter, but I don't have any heels made from real kitten. And I don't think I could persuade the cat to wear them, either :))

      Delete
  12. I'm definitely thinking of a new pose. Watch this space.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Most of your poses somehow involve a wineglass, Stan. Don't think we haven't noticed...

      Delete