Professional headshots always feel like such a hassle. I’m never fully satisfied with professionally done ones, yet I feel like I should be, because I love every other kind of professional photo shoots. But with my career headshots there’s always a stilted weirdness going on. And at-home always feel too micro-managed, I’m trying to control every aspect of them and then spiraling too far into funky territory. And I don’t want it to look like I’m trying too hard, or not hard enough. And it has to have the right feel for my specific niche within my specific field. Do I want to look like I vibe with Gen Z or should I embrace my elder millennial-ness, or do I need to pretend I’m more stoic to woo Gen X and the baby boomers?
The photo I was using was definitely outdated and it needed a refresh, yet I kept putting it off, even though smart phone cameras are absolutely mental, and the professional photographer that did the last shot I was happy with over six years ago, agreed to do another. I was giving I DON’T WANNA energy. All this to say, writers, I hope you are better at this than I am, I can’t imagine the kind of pressure you feel about your headshots that are actually going into physical books. And you definitely need a professional, as you’ll want multiple variations to put on different sites/books/interviews, so you have to find someone who will not make you feel stilted. Or maybe we all just get real angsty about it but pretend we don’t?
Something happened to push me to just get the headshot done, after three years of waffling about it. A fun update:
It’s been a long road to this, as my spouse and I decided for some reason to space out our two children by six years, the first when I just started agenting, the second right before I joined a new agency, but I am proud to say I’m at last a Senior Agent! My incredible clients are the reason I’m here, so I hope anyone reading this blog will go check out a few of the books that recently came out like Fate’s Bane, Saltcrop, The People’s Library, Daughter of the Cursed Kingdom, Japanese Gothic, or Auntie Q’s Golden Claws Nail Salon.
And finally, for that long-awaited submissions update. Speaking of evolving technology, I am currently trying to work out how I want to approach the AI-generated subs situation, so will remain closed until I can navigate that thoughtfully. I definitely only want human-generated stories, but I also want to pay attention to the nuances of the conversation about the big thing that is happening all around us. I’m also working through the final subs I have from the last round, I’m down to less than 20, and would like to read and respond to those before I reopen. Again, thank you for your incredible patience with that.
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