words. Clearly your words are the more important part of your book, but again, people are visual creatures, and they will judge your book (to some extent) by what you look like. The good news is that, within reason, it’s much easier to construct the image you want in a still photo. You can emphasize whatever traits or aspect of your appearance you want, and you can also min- imize any physical limitations that would be difficult to minimize in person; height, for example. You can signal seriousness or silliness, professionalism or preten- tion, positivity or pessimism; it’s really up to you. The important thing to remember is that you cannot have them all at once. A well-calculated author photo is one of the best ways to build a connection of trust between you and the right reader. 2. WHO AM I TRYING TO SIGNAL IT TO? It’s not just what you are signaling, it’s also who you want to signal it to that determines your author photo. Why is that? Because so much of signaling is about telling a specific group of people that you are one of them, or that you speak their in-group language. For example, if you are trying to signal to corporations that you are a competent and reliable professional that they should trust and listen to, then you must understand that they see the conventional Western business suit as a key signal not just of competence, but membership in their tribe. Suits tell them that you are one of them. Whereas, if you want to signal trust to the tech and startup commu- hOW TO TAkE ThE righT AUThOr PhOTO · 269