LOVE. LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE LOVE.

For an antidote, see my friend Leslie Brody’s author photograph from her new book, IRREPRESSIBLE, a biography of Jessica Mitford. She very charmingly peers over the top of something all writers should have on hand at all times: a book! Not a cliche in sight anywhere.

If you’re talking about photos with authors smoking, you MUST include this awesome photo of John Steinbeck: http://eastofmina.files.wordpress.com/2010/09/steinbeck.jpg

Thanks for the entertaining post. I’d be interested in seeing what photos have caught your eye as being exceptional and unique. Show us what is working for you. That could be just as entertaining.

Would also love to see some examples of more unexpected author photos. Thank you!

As a professional headshot photographer … I agree ( no hands in the image ) and if you do, always show the thinnest part and create contour at the wrist to create better lines. But, the point that I think is being made … if you have an need or requirement to use an image … make it GREAT ! We should all have a good headshot on file. Selecting the right person to shoot your headshot is the key … the understanding of lighting, angels, shapes of faces, complexions etc. are key to a GREAT headshot..not to mention how the image can communicate to the viewer more information. Remember … apx. 60% of folks need visuals to help them understand certain things. I do agree that the images shown …. perhaps could be a bet better.

Great comment ‘Empty’ – “Selecting the right person to shoot your headshot is the key…the understanding of lighting, angels, shapes of faces, complexions…”

I’d imagine finding a photographer who understands angels would be fairly difficult.

I am sorry for the few typos in the above comment – lesson learned.

I laughed a couple times, but mostly I think there’s no problem with these photographs being recognizable as author book jacket portraits. After all, your favorite book probably has one of these. So, when you’re out at the bookstore, judging books by their covers, they better have one too, right?

[...] Great, funny blog on author photos from MobyLives (why don’t I read MobyLives more often?), which is actually from Flavorwire. [...]

Best author photo ever:
http://farm1.static.flickr.com/32/52501079_efeb2b1fbf.jpg

SHATNER.

No hands, no props, no comfy sofa. Just a twinkly-eyed smirk of raw sexual magnetism. Sells books every time.

[...] on: speaking of cliché, here’s a funny and informative photo-post about author pictures in books. That… is funny. And [...]

So it seems the only appropriate poses would be the unnatural ones. Standing at attention or on our heads? Which now that I mention it I so call dibs on the idea of an inverted headshot

Ha! Me and my friends play this game at conferences when author photos pop up. Our favorite one ever was the smiling lady with a cat slapped up against the side of her face. Dogs are good too, and the double-fisted holding up spare chins? Also a winner.:)
Very enjoyable :)

In other words, authors should not have their pictures taken.

Oscar Wilde’s photo wins because of his pimp cane and fur coat.

[...] Flavorwire has spoken out against the five major offenses frequently made in author photos. For my next book I want to take an author photo that breaks all five where I’m smoking while putting my hands to my face while twisting my torso to rest my arm on the couch in my office and supporting my head upon  my fist. [...]

[...] recently posted Against Promotional Author Photographs to poke fun at cliche author poses, including 1) The Sophisticated Photograph (fist under chin), 2) [...]

Funny… But stupid. Pro photographers use standard poses because they work. The author has little to do with it. And anything ‘original’ is only going to make the author look bad, even foolish. So yay for the funny, boo for the poorly considered message.

I love this article, but I have to say the photo of James Baldwin on the last page should not in good conscience be included. It is so great! His hand and that ring highlight how interesting his face is. That ring!

Having spent a dozen years in the fashion/mag/photo world before entering the hallowed halls of lit, I know that most of these hackneyed poses come from the photographers. Authors (like most folks) are not comfortable or natural in front of the camera. They don’t move or sit for the lens with relaxed, casual ease so the photog has a standard grab bag of poses so the session doesn’t take all day–and fist/hand under chin is one of those.

Great post. As a publisher, I believe the author’s photo should aesthetically reflect the aesthetics of the book. My author’s photo for The Jiri Chronicles & Other Fictions was voted one of the best, evidently for the level of mischief it portrayed, akin to what’s between the covers. (http://www.madhattersreview.com/issue6/interview_diblasi.shtml)

What about the ever-present Author With Dog?

Larry Doyle’s author photo for Go Mutants! is absolutely great, even though it does incorporate The Sophisticated:
http://g-ecx.images-amazon.com/images/G/01/ciu/8e/75/5a304535b0a00ad8956ecd.L._V192738122_SL290_.jpg

[...] mentioned (and now I can’t remember who–sorry, @whoever) this hilarious Flavorwire post on ridiculous tropes in author photos. Basically, you’ve got your chin-propped-on-knuckles photos, your [...]

You forgot the most popular one: author in front of a bookcase.

Points well taken, but the shots of Proust, Thompson, Baldwin, Murakami, and Wilde are perfect for those specific authors IMO.

[...] Five cliches of author photos, most of which seem to involve a hand near the face (hey! Dionne Brand made the list!) [...]

[...] Terrible author photos [...]

Hunter S. Thompson and Oscar Wilde don’t deserve this injustice.

I think the Haruki Murakami hand-on-face one works, but that’s because it works with his facial expression and the feeling of his books.

My first thought for John Grisham: “Buy some socks!”

The office photograph is the least objectionable in theory, but all of the examples were comically bad. Esp. Dan Fost. Jeez, at least stage it so your office looks spacious.

Oh God. I’m #2, I now realize.

Dionne Brand: http://www.toronto.ca/culture/poet_laureate.htm

I’ve studied author photos with the hopes of creating good work, and the hand to the face is called the potato, since that’s what it looks like, especially with the back of the hand towards the camera.

The worst cliche for authors is standing in front of a bookcase, especially with all the distracting lines sticking through the author’s head.

Here’s a good one of Robert Stone, at the wheel of a sailboat.

http://www.albany.edu/writers-inst/graphics/stone9.jpg

It turns out it wasn’t his sailboat and the sailboat wasn’t even in the water. Such is the magic of photography.

Wait! You forgot the famous one of JRR Tolkien smoking his pipe!

i’m a head shot photographer, and any photo w/hands in it that i take are at the insistence of the author. i personally think they think it hides double chin/loose neck skin. what works best is doing a slide show on my laptop with something unexpected and funny about ten slides in, positioned so that the screen lets them look at the slide show and the camera at the same time. then the good shot is when the funny/unexpected slide hits them. it also works with people who have good control of their body to tell them to envision someone they love in my lens. not everybody can do this but those who can take excellent pix that way. and no mugging or cheek sucking!

I love this picture I don’t know about raw SEX but I’d say it’s raw Beauty and such a caring intellegent all round fabulous Picture. It’s like your Dad; he always gave you a real person picture a close up and personal like you care for all of us on a peronal level. Great Alafair your Ivory looking simply georgeous. Good Luck 212.

As an author, I’ve had to learn over the years to take control: if a photographer suggests a certain pose I know won’t work (or an outdoor shot!), I say no, politely, and suggest something else. I also insist on approval of the shot. It’s the same as doing an interview: you steer the questions the way you want them to go, and stay focused on what you’d like to discuss. Both take work and vigilance, but they’re essential.

Maybe they are all hiding their saggy necks!

I think you’re missing the point somewhat. Photogaphers take photos, not authors. I yet have to find one who does remotely what the subject wants…

Check out this author’s promo photos. He (or his photographer) have cleverly staged pics that reflect each novel’s subject matter. Putkowski’s latest novel is about health care reform and he’s posed by a hospital emergency room sign. Love it, pretty original I’d say. See this one and other shots here: http://www.danielputkowski.com/press.html

[...] Five cliches of author photos, most of which seem to involve a hand near the face (hey! Dionne Brand made the list!) [...]

The hand-on-chin pose is officially known as the “Rona Barrett.”

HI-Larry-US. I will only allow an author photo to be taken of me when I’m dead. Problem solved.

[...] and yet funny pictorial essay on “clichéd author photographs.” Um, wait a minute—no one figured out that the ‘hand under the chin’ isn’t meant to imply [...]

[...] O blog Classics Rock! se dedica exclusivamente a reunir músicas que mencionam ou foram inspiradas por livros, e o site Flavorwire critica os clichês em fotos de escritores. [...]

The authors with the hand under the chin are trying to hide sagging chin lines, wrinkled necks, etc. I know from experience.

[...] A lament of horrible author photos @ Flavorwire [...]

I think first and last are the same

part of me went “Awww” went Hunter appeared. that guy is the definition of rebel.

[...] I came across a nice blog post on the same subject by Paul Hiebert on flavorwire.com. He’s broken clichéd promotional [...]

[...] I came across a nice blog post on the same subject by Paul Hiebert on flavorwire.com. He’s broken clichéd promotional [...]

amuzing it..

[...] In case the viewers ever became uncertain about how to calibrate their emotional response to a scene, there were helpful lighting cues! For example, blue light = sadness!  Also, you could tell when a character was coming up with  a plan because he or she would make the “thoughtful author pose”  You know, this one. [...]

It would be nice to have some pictures of what insteas *is* a good author’s photo… or should we assume there’s no way an author can have a pic taken and not look fake?

What a great post. I love the humor, but now I’m afraid to have my picture taken. :)

[...] had a great piece on promotional author photographs–great authors avoid cliches, but their photos often fail to live up to their [...]

[...] novelist A. L. Kennedy muses on the perils of promoting her work. From treacherous interviews to dreadful photo shoots, the exposure can be paralyzing. “In fact,” Kennedy writes, “interviews have – [...]

[...] of clichés, here’s a funny and informative photo-post about author pictures in books. Next, a great post on the Guide [...]

It was the photo of Steve Jobs on MSNBC.com today (from a book cover) that led me here to this site. The hand-to-chin pose is the most cheesiest pose I know of, ok well, besides the thumbs up. As a bookseller I am acutely aware of the horrible photos authors have of themselves on their books. Sometimes it is a bad photo that might turn me off from reading a book. Case in point, Ann Rivers Siddons. Not only does she have the cheezy hand-to-chin pose but the huge red glasses are reminescent of Sally Jesse Raphael in the 80′s.

As a side note my husband just passed by to tell me I should try to be less judgemental. hahaha…

[...] they will give you advice on how to dress for your photo shoot, make-up, etc. I even came upon this piece from Flavorwire on the clichés of Author Photos. (For those keeping score, I was going for #3, [...]

[...] even have a spare one of me in one of those cliched “author poses” in this piece that Deb Erika linked to in her post earlier this [...]

[...] and yet funny pictorial essay on “clichéd author photographs.” Um, wait a minute—no one figured out that the ‘hand under the chin’ isn’t meant to imply [...]