don't judge an author by her photo - Alisa M. Libby

My Gosh, photos! I love having my photo taken! Especially an author photo for the back flap of my book, a photo that will require makeup and posing in some authorly way.

You're not buying it, are you? Me neither. But my biggest problem with my first author photo wasn't simply the photo itself, but my denial of how important it was to me. I had a book coming out and had achieved this huge thing I had dreaming of my whole life - but the thought of having my photo taken brought all of those teen insecurities back to me in full force. Not to mention the fact that this book was entirely about beauty and the main character's quest for physical perfection. And my little face would be slapped onto the back cover. Lordy lemons.

So I pretended I didn't want a photo. Or I pretended I didn't care what it looked like. All lies. How do you take a good author photo, anyhow? Aside from makeup, which I still don't know how to apply, how do you strike the right pose? It has to look cute and smart but show that you don't take yourself too seriously. Don't look smug. Don't look too impressed with yourself. Don't look too dramatic or broody (unless that's you're thing). And don't do that weird thing where your eyebrows scrunch up like you're worried. Now, smile! (Photo above was taken at Simmons by Justin Knight; photo at right taken by my friend and fellow author Lauren Strasnick outside her apartment in LA).

Now, author photos don't freak me out nearly as much as they did at first. Maybe because I've already sifted through a lot of BAD photos of myself. I still want to look smart and cute and not smug, but I know that I can always have a new photo taken. Or maybe use something old? Photo at left was taken by my Mom. Don't laugh! Princesses need to stay warm, too.