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How long should a professional bio be?
Keep three versions: about 50 words, 100 to 150 words, and up to 300 words. Event organisers, websites and publishers ask for different lengths, and having all three ready saves rewriting.
Work it out
Line spacing
pages, single-spaced, Arial 12 pt, about 500 words a page
- Handwritten pages
- 1.2
- Reading time
- 1 min 16 sec
- Speaking time
- 2 min–2 min 18 sec
- Typing time
- 7 min 30 sec
- Paragraphs
- 2–3
- Sentences
- 15–20
- Characters with spaces
- about 1,800
Write it in the word counter with a limit of 150 words.
Open the word counterProfessional bio in pages and minutes
| Length | Single-spaced | Double-spaced | Reading time | Speaking time |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 50 words | 0.1 | 0.2 | 13 sec | 20 sec–23 sec |
| 300 words | 0.6 | 1.2 | 1 min 16 sec | 2 min–2 min 18 sec |
Estimates for US Letter or A4 with 1-inch (2.54 cm) margins and ordinary paragraphs; reading at 238 words a minute, speaking at 130 to 150.
Three lengths
| Version | Words | Used for |
|---|---|---|
| Short | about 50 | Conference programs, bylines, social profiles |
| Medium | 100–150 | Speaker pages, team pages, book jackets |
| Long | 200–300 | Your own website, press kits, introductions read aloud |
What goes in, in order
- Name and what you do now.
- One or two achievements that matter to this audience.
- Background or credentials, briefly.
- A human detail, if the setting allows it.
Write in the third person for anything someone else will publish or read aloud. Check the character limit if it is going into a profile: see character limits.
Questions and answers
How long is a short bio?
About 50 words, two or three sentences.
How long does it take to read a 100-word bio aloud?
About 40 to 50 seconds.