Your Press Page Doesn't Need Fame: The Two-Bio Rule for UK Creatives

There is a particular email that lands in most creative inboxes sooner or later. It usually comes from a podcast producer, a regional journalist or someone organising a panel at a library or arts centre. The wording varies, but the request is nearly always the same: 'Could you send a short bio and a headshot?'

If you are not a household name, it is tempting to treat that as a minor admin task. It is not. It is a tiny test of how easy you are to introduce. A small press page on your own site can pass that test before anyone has to ask.

This is not about pretending you are a national treasure. It is about giving people the raw material they need to describe you accurately, quickly and without a chain of follow-up emails. Think of it as a service page, not a monument.

The request behind the request

When someone asks for 'a bit about you and a photo', they are usually working to a deadline. They need words they can paste into a programme, an image they can use without worrying about resolution, and one line that explains why you are worth listening to. They are not asking for your life story. They are asking you to make their job easier.

A press page does that. It also protects you from the alternative: a bio cobbled together from an old LinkedIn summary, a photo cropped from a group shot, and a description that makes you sound like a completely different person.

Start with two bios, not one

The most useful press page I can imagine has two bios. Not five. Not a sprawling 'about' essay with subclauses. Two.

The first is a 50-word bio. This is the one that gets read aloud at the start of a podcast or printed under your name in a programme. It should be plain, third person and free of throat-clearing. Something like: 'Andrew Bradley is a UK writer and creative working on personal-brand sites, opinion pieces and small practical projects. He writes about making credible work in public without overstating it.' That is not glamorous, but it is usable.

The second is a 150-word bio. This is for the event organiser who needs a little more context, or the journalist who wants to know what you actually do beyond one project. It can mention a throughline, a couple of named projects and where you are based. It should still be factual. Avoid 'passionate', 'innovative' and 'award-winning' unless those words are genuinely earned and verifiable.

Write both in the third person. It feels odd at first, but it saves the person on the other end from rewriting your first-person introduction into their house style.

The headshot is a tool, not a portrait

A usable headshot is not necessarily a glamorous one. It is recent, clear, and framed so that someone can crop it without cutting off half your face. A plain background helps. So does decent light. You do not need a studio session for this.

Offer two sizes: a web-friendly image and a larger version suitable for print. Give each file a sensible name, such as andrew-bradley-headshot-2026.jpg, rather than IMG_4821. Add a short alt text description and, if a photographer took it, a credit line. That small courtesy matters.

Do not hide the image behind a link to your Instagram. Some newsroom systems will not touch social media images, and some organisers will simply give up. Put the file on the page.

Project one-liners do the heavy lifting

A short list of project one-liners is often more useful than a long biography. Pick three to five pieces of work and describe each in a sentence. Include the title, the type of project, who it was for or with, and a link if there is one.

For example: 'The Polite Decline — a short guide to saying no clearly on a creative site, published in 2026.' That is enough for a producer to introduce you and enough for a journalist to decide whether to click.

Keep the descriptions factual. This is not the place for a press release. It is the place for a clean summary that someone else can lift without having to edit out three adjectives.

Give them a clear contact route

One email address, clearly displayed, beats a contact form that goes to a mailbox you check once a fortnight. Add a line about how quickly you usually reply. If you are available for certain things — talks, workshops, comment — say so in one sentence. If you are not, say that too.

A press page is not a negotiation. It is a signpost. Make the route obvious and the expectations honest.

Keep it honest and current

A press page ages badly if you let it. Bios drift. Projects end. Headshots become five years old. Add a 'last reviewed' date and actually review it every few months. Remove dead links. Correct the claims you made when you were trying to sound more established than you were.

Inflated claims are not just embarrassing. They create work for other people, who then have to correct a programme or a caption. British understatement is a feature here, not a bug. 'Works on' is usually more credible than 'leads'.

A short checklist

• A 50-word bio in the third person
• A 150-word bio with a throughline and a couple of named projects
• A recent headshot in web and print sizes
• Three to five project one-liners with links
• A direct contact email and a reply-time note
• One sentence on what you are available for
• A last-reviewed date

Keep the downloads lightweight

If you offer a downloadable media kit, keep it small. A single zip file under 5MB is plenty: two bios in plain text or a simple document, two headshot sizes and a short project list. Do not upload a 40MB folder of raw images. Most people will open it on a laptop between meetings, and some will be on a phone.

Name the files clearly and test the download yourself. A press page that promises a kit and then delivers a broken link is worse than no press page at all.

A small page that earns its place

You do not need to be famous to have a press page. You need to be someone people occasionally have to introduce. A two-bio press page, a usable photo, a few clean project lines and a clear contact route will do most of the work. It is a small kindness to the person writing the programme, and a small act of self-respect for your own site.