Checklist category
Your Author Identity
Without you, there is no book. Set up who you are once: the name you publish under, your photo and bio, your website, your author pages, and the public records that connect them. Every book you publish links back to these, and retailers, libraries, and search engines can tell your books are yours.
The tasks in Your Author Identity
4 tasks, 14 steps
Choose and standardize your author name
2 stepsYou have settled the exact form of the name you publish under, down to the middle initial and the punctuation, and you use it the same way everywhere. Systems that cannot tell two spellings apart are why author records split.
CoreAny time, and before your first book is listed anywhereAuthorYou normally do this yourself.
Build your author presence
7 stepsYou have one photo, one set of bios, and one page you control that everything else can point at. When a podcast, a bookseller, or a librarian asks for your details, you send a link instead of hunting for files.
RecommendedAny time, and the earlier the betterAuthor and Website specialistYou normally do this yourself.Website or technical
Claim your author profiles
3 stepsThe author pages readers actually land on are under your control, with your photo, your bio, and every edition of every book linked to them. An unclaimed page shows whatever the platform's data happens to say.
RecommendedOnce a retailer has a live listing or preorder for your bookAuthorYou normally do this yourself.
Connect your public identity records
2 stepsThe public records that identify you as a person, rather than as a listing on one store, either exist and are correct or you have decided they are not worth pursuing yet. Search first: you may already have one.
RecommendedAny time, and before libraries start cataloging your bookAuthorMake a judgment about fit, cost, or strategy.
Common questions
Does a middle initial really matter?
Yes. Retailers, libraries, and identifier systems match on strings. A book credited to one spelling and a book credited to another can end up on two separate author pages, and merging them afterwards is much harder than being consistent now.
From Choose and standardize your author name.
Can I publish under a pen name?
You can. Decide it before your first listing goes live, use it consistently, and keep a private record of the legal name behind it for contracts, royalties, and copyright registration.
From Choose and standardize your author name.
What about contributors?
Co-authors, illustrators, translators, narrators, and editors each have a role that catalogs record separately. Settle the spelling and the role for every one of them at the same time you settle yours.
From Choose and standardize your author name.
Do I need a website to publish a book?
No. You can publish without one. A page you control is still the only place online where nobody else decides what your book record says, which is why this sits near the top rather than at the end.
From Build your author presence.
How many versions of my bio do I need?
Three is usually enough: one line, one short paragraph, and a longer one. Almost every form you fill in asks for one of those three lengths.
From Build your author presence.
Is structured data worth the trouble?
It helps search engines connect your book page, your author page, and your identifiers. It is genuinely technical, so it is a reasonable thing to hand to whoever builds your site.
From Build your author presence.
Why can I not claim my page yet?
Most of these profiles need a live product page first, which means an identifier and a listing or preorder. Until the listing exists there is nothing to attach the author page to, so the real step is getting the listing live.
From Claim your author profiles.
Can my publisher claim these for me?
No. These accounts belong to the author. Claim them under an email address you will still control in ten years, not a work address or a publisher's account.
From Claim your author profiles.
Do I have to be active on all of them?
No. Claiming a profile so it shows the right information is worth doing once. Posting on it regularly is a separate decision about your time.
From Claim your author profiles.
What is an ISNI, in plain English?
It is a number that identifies you as a public name, so that systems can tell you apart from other people who share your name. Publishers and registration agencies often request them on an author's behalf, so search before you apply.
From Connect your public identity records.
Should I create a Wikidata item for myself?
Search first. Create or expand an item only when it meets Wikidata's current notability rules and reliable public sources support the statements. If you are editing information about yourself, disclose the connection, keep the entry nonpromotional, and expect community review. An ISBN alone does not mean every author should have an item.
From Connect your public identity records.