for Real and Same Kind of Different As Me. The author or coauthor of ten books, Lynn has sold 12 million copies since 2006. She worked for eleven years as a writer and editor at the national news biweekly WORLD magazine and is a U.S. Navy veteran. HIGH STATUS BUT UNDERSELLS: MICHAEL LEWIS Contrast this to Michael Lewis, who is a very well-known author, but still leaves quite a bit out of his bio that would help many read- ers understand who he is and why they should care (even Michael Lewis is not famous enough to assume people know him). Michael Lewis, the author of Boomerang, Liar’s Poker, The New New Thing, Moneyball, The Blind Side, Panic, Home Game, and The Big Short, among other works, lives in Berkeley, California, with his wife, Tabitha Soren, and their three children. BAD BIO: AMANDA RIPLEY Many authors have different bios on different books (because they leave the bio writing to their publisher, which is a huge mistake). You can see the difference in the author Amanda Ripley. Her bad bio is strangely both boring and overselling: Amanda Ripley is a literary journalist whose stories on human behavior and public policy have appeared in Time, The Atlantic, and Slate, and helped Time win two National Magazine Awards. To discuss her work, she has appeared on ABC, NBC, CNN, FOX News, and NPR. Ripley’s first book, The Unthinkable, was published in fifteen countries and turned into a PBS documentary. GOOD BIO: AMANDA RIPLEY Contrast that to this good bio, where she comes off as much more of an authority—mainly because her other books are mentioned, as were her awards. hOW TO WriTE yOUr AUThOr BiO (AND Why iT MATTErS) · 259