MEDIA KITS for Authors (and why you need one!)
I believe in making my book marketing/promotion efforts as simple and as efficient as possible. I want to eliminate wasted effort and present myself in a professional manner. Media Kits (or Press Kit) are one of the tools that help with this.
When I was hosting a book blog, you'd be surprised (or maybe not) how often I received information from authors that was incomplete or incorrect. Or the information was not provided in the format requested. I was continuously following up with authors - tiresome for both me and the author!
What is a Media Kit?
A Media Kit is basically a collection of information about you and your book. It is provided to promotional sites, such as blogs, who have agreed to feature/promo your book release. It is also used to accompany guest post material when websites agree to feature you or to accompany review requests.
Benefits of a Media Kit
- Completeness of information - if you prepare a Media Kit (particularly if you follow a template) you can be sure to include all the relevant information
- Consistency - because you are sending out the same Media Kit to everyone, they all get the same information
- Reduced effort - once prepared, the Media Kit is ready whenever you need it. No need to seek information every time a blogger asks for your book's details
- Improved blogger relationships - if you make it easy for the blogger, they'll be more likely to host you again
Types of Media Kits
- Document - In its simplest form, a Media Kit can consist of a Word Document or a Google Docs document. All the information is included in the document in relevant sections. Images may be embedded or hyperlinked (or referenced in the document and included separately).
- Online webpage - Some authors create a web page (sometimes password protected) where interested bloggers can find all the relevant information and download whatever images etc. they want to use in their post
- Sharefile - Media Kits can be made available via Google Docs or cloud sharing services such as Dropbox
Media Kit Information
- Book Title
- Book Cover image
- Cover Artist name
- Blurb/Synopsis
- Book ISBN
- Publication Date
- Book Formats
- Buy Links
- Author Bio
- Author Social Media Links
- Author profile pic or logo
- Author/book award information
- Author backlist
- Marketing Images - banners, promo images etc.
- Review Extracts
At a minimum ensure you include title, cover, blurb, buy links, author bio, and author links. But if you have the other information then include it. You only need to compile it once, so the effort is minimal but it's then available if the hosting site would like to use it.
Other Considerations
- Provide information in the format requested by the hosting site. For example, this may mean emailing all images separately (not embedded) or submitting to a certain email address or even completing an online form.
- Make sure you own the rights to all images (book covers and promo graphics).
- Quality check/proofread your Media Kit, including checking all links work, BEFORE sending to the hosting site. You want to appear professional but also prevent rework for you and the host.
- Hosting your Media Kit online (or via Google Docs) is advantageous in reducing the size of your emails and gives you one master document to update. If you do need to update a Word document and resend to a hosting site, ensure the Media Kit document title is changed to reflect the new version.
I hope you find this information useful for your next book release.
Happy writing and promoting,
Nicki x
