Author Photos

How to look grumpy

Here’s a Rest Day Ruminations post. Thank you to my lovely paying subscribers who make some posts open to all, as with this one. Please consider joining them if you’d like to support my work!

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A key part of an “author brand” is the author photo. It goes on the author’s website, their social media, their books.

As I said in From Idea To Item (which has a big chapter on promotion and marketing), it should be fairly current. I know authors using photos from decades ago. Maybe it’s a cunning plan, so they won’t get recognised when they go to conferences, or buy a loaf of bread at the bakers.

Anyway, I try to update mine sometimes. Firstly, a retrospective of some of my past photos!

Karl From The Past

I haven’t got copies of every author photo I’ve ever used, but have records for many of them. Here they are, in chronological order. The date is when I started using it as an author photo, not when it was taken.

This one was from January 2018. A cold day. I look like a mystic monk. Or a constipated one. But I liked this pic.

The variant I made for October that year.

January 2019. Mostly used for social media. I don’t take myself too seriously. Obviously this isn’t a pure photo, as such. I don’t wear space helmets much.

July 2021. A sunny day. No idea why I wanted to look like a dodgy popstar or secret agent. The high contrast and sunlight makes me look like a complete egg-head.

Colour version

And in watercolour!

March 2023. I like wearing a hat and looking as if I’m from a Manchester indie band. Tip: for this kind of photo, make sure your nostrils are clean.

Another photo taken on that same day in March 2023. Leaning on the wall of my local art gallery. How cultured!

November 2023. I look like a political leader. I savour the colours, too. However, this was AI generated, from before I knew better. (More thoughts here.) Hence it is time to retire this photo.

There were a load of other AI pics that I never used as author pics, generated in September 2023:

One of two sci-fi focussed pics.

The other.

Parisian intellectual Karl.

Splatter man.

Super hero.

Alien world explorer.

Street art Karl.

Fuck knows.

Some New Photos

I took some photos last night, so they are current. Deleted lots. Got it down to six.

I want to go back to the greyscale look. These are quick modifications in my graphics package: for a final version I will spend a lot more time doing fancy layers to get the right silveriness. So it’s mostly the posings and framings that I am choosing between.

Reply or comment if you have a favourite, or use the poll at the end. Numbers have been added to the photos for convenience.

The first three have a sky background for interest and framing. Also a kind of urban feel. Makes me think of my beloved It Will Be Quick stories. Am I crying?

Similar, but more whimsically smirky.

Darker. And I have just seen a crow. Or the future. Or a new hat in a shop window.

These three are on a walk. Wall for perspective, trees for my love of nature. I have a sparkle in my eye.

For once, I look at YOU! Yes, you, dear reader. I can see you reading my book. Laughing at funny bits. Crying at sad bits. Shitting yourself at the scary bits. Then writing a wonderful five star review, for which I thank you.

Striding along, a man with a purpose.

Many thanks!