How to Build a Press Kit

Posted on by Saundra

One of the most basic tools in your PR and marketing portfolio is your press kit. A press kit provides basic biographical information and information about your work, in an easily accessible kit for reviewers and journalists. It makes it easy for people to write about you- always a plus- and it saves work for you, because you can avoid collecting and providing the same information repeatedly- definitely a plus.

There are 5 basic elements in a press kit:

1) Your biography
2) Contact information
3) Your photo
4) A synopsis of your most current work
5) Representative art for your most current work

Biography

Your press kit biography is a chance to present and brand yourself as a particular kind of author. Ideally, you should include a short, medium, and long biography in your press kit- each serves a different purpose.

Short should be no more than 50 words, about what you’d put on a magazine byline. Medium can be about 150 words- ideal for reprinting on websites- use the bio that would be on your jacket flap as an example.

Long can be as long as you like, but one page single-spaced should be more than enough. No one will be reprinting this bio, but this is where you get to brand and present yourself. Include your professional successes, especially ones that you want to emphasize (bestseller status, awards, grants, fellows, MFAs, etc., etc., etc..)

But also include the personal information that makes you interesting- and that you don’t mind being asked about. Consider this document the base of every single profile and human interest story written about you. Hi, I’m Saundra Mitchell- I write books, but I also make paper! I’m a screenwriter, I’ve been a phone psychic, and I do radio shows about urban legends!

Present it in a voice that cultivates the image you want to portray of yourself. I’m a funny writer, I’m a literary writer, I’m an edgy writer- whatever. Take Meg Cabot’s writing vlogs for example– her voice is informative, but she doesn’t take herself at all seriously.

Once you have all three of your biographies written, compile them into a single document. At the top of the document, include your name, your e-mail address, and your URL. Don’t include your mailing address or your phone number, because you’re putting this on your website for any n00b to download.

Then, include your bios under these headers: SHORT BIO (WORD COUNT) MID BIO (WORD COUNT) and then just BIOGRAPHY (no word count required.) Don’t use special formatting (bold, italics, bullets, etc.,) and single-space.

You will want to provide this document (along with any others in the kit) in both Word .doc format, and plain TXT. It’s the standard showing of fealty to Bill Gates, because most people use Microsoft products whether they want to, but also a nod to the fact that some people like to use vi editor in UNIX.

One you have everything in your document, save it as a .doc . I don’t think there’s a single word processing program out there that doesn’t give you the ability to save cross-format into .doc (see abovementioned fealty to Gates,) but if you’ve managed to stumble across the only one that does, then have a friend convert it, and skip to the TXT instructions.

The reason we had no special formatting is because now you need to SAVE AS. Click on SAVE AS instead of SAVE. When you get the dialogue box that lets you put in a filename, keep the same filename (that way you don’t get confused later,) but select ASCII TXT (.txt) from the pulldown menu beneath it to save as text.

It will tell you that you are going to lose special formatting, but you can click okay with impunity because you don’t have any special formatting, right? Right!

Contact Information

No point in making a press kit if the press can’t find you! This is a simple document that should include:

Your name, your e-mail address, your URL: again, anyone can download this, and you don’t want whackadoos with your home address. If you have a PO Box for fan mail, go ahead and include that.

Then, include:

Your agent’s name, your agent’s company (if any,) and your agent’s e-mail address. Most people don’t need this information, but certain professional people will- namely, people interested in getting rights clearances for your work, people who want to acquire subsidiary rights, people who want blurbs, etc., etc..

Those folks would generally rather talk to your representation than to you, because all you can do is giggle wildly on the phone and go, “Seriously? You want to know if there are comic book rights left on my contract? WHEEEEEE!”

Don’t lie. You know it’s true.

Anyway, save this as a Word .doc and as ASCII TXT as well.

Your Photograph

Sorry guys. The media likes pictures, so you should include one in your press kit. It doesn’t have to be your official author photo, but if you’re like me, that’s the only photo you dare show the public.

Whichever photo you choose, you’ll want to include a high resolution (at least 1200X1200) version of the photo, suitable for being reprinted in newspapers and magazines.

Then, you’ll want to include a medium resolution version (around 300X400 or thereabouts) that people can use on their website. That’s large enough to let them add any frames or borders they might use for site consistency, or to resize as they need.

Finally, you need a thumbnail version (no bigger than 100X200, and a little smaller would be better.) This is suitable for use on forums, or in very short reviews or blurbs about your work.

Windows and Mac both have native image tools that will allow you to resize a large image file, or you can use online utilities like Shrink Pictures. I believe Flickr and Picasa will also resize for free.

Once you have all three photos, you’ll want to compress them so it doesn’t take 5 hours to download your press kit. Windows and Mac can both do this natively; just right click on your file name and choose compress/zip. You can also drag a file on top of a zip archive, and it will add that file to the archive.

Zip all three files into a single file called portraits.zip, so you can keep track of the file later.

——-
Those are the three elements which comprise your base press kit. Your bio, contact info, and photo only change when you want them to, so you can carry them over for each press kit you make. Each? Buh? Yes, you’ll want to keep your press kit current with your career. And that’s why we move on to:

Synopsis of Your Current Work

It’s exactly that- a document that has your name, your e-mail address, and your URL on the header, and then the synopsis of your book. You can write a long or short one- I use one that’s slightly shorter than what would be on the jacket flap. That way, if people just want to print a blurb about the book, they can use it wholesale.

Again, this too should be saved in .doc and TXT format.

Cover Art

Like your author photo, you’ll want to provide your cover art in three resolutions, for the same reasons. Again, you want a large one (at least 1200X12000), a medium one (around 350X400) and a thumbnail (100X200 or smaller.) These are approximate resolutions- each file has its own dimensions, but as long as the first number is around the suggested size, the second number will adjust itself accordingly.

Again, zip these together into a single file, named something like coverart.zip

Compiling Your Press Kit

You will want to compile your press kit into two versions- high bandwidth and low bandwidth.

High Bandwidth: Include all of your files in this one. You should have your biography in .doc and TXT, your contact info in .doc and TXT, your synopsis in .doc and TXT, and two zip files: authorportrait.zip and coverart.zip

Collect all these files and zip them into a single file, called yourname-presskithb.zip . This is suitable for folks on DSL or better to download, which should be most journalists and reviewers.

Low Bandwidth: In this version, include only the document files, leave out the two image files. Even when the images are compressed into zip files of their own, they’re still pretty large, so we’re omitting them.

Zip these files together into a file named yourname-presskitlb.zip . This version of your press kit will download even if somebody’s still on a 7600 baud dial-up Internet connection (or if they don’t need your pictures, just your text. I won’t judge.)

Distributing Your Press Kit

You (or your webmaster) can upload both files to your server, and then create links directly to them. When someone clicks on a .zip link, they will download automatically. You can dump the press kit into a storage site like DropBox if you don’t have your own hosting.

You can also e-mail these press kits, although I would suggest asking if they need a photo before trying to send the high-bandwidth version out.

And that’s how you create your own press kit. Costs you nothing but time, but it’s a great tool to make available to journalists and reviewers. It makes their job easier, which makes you an appealing subject for consideration! Have fun, and happy compiling!

 

(Last updated July 11, 2018)

Waiting (A Meditation for Authors)

Posted on by Saundra

Query letters are out. Or your book is on submission. Or your editor is sitting on option. Something MIGHT happen, so you stop doing and start waiting. You burn up your creativity with scenarios. They’re reading it right now. They hate it right now. They’re going to make an offer. They’re spilling coffee on the pages. It’s going to sell! It’s never going to sell; your career is over, never going to start, and this is worth a million dollars and will be a bestseller.

You waste time online, you waste time offline. You master Angry Birds because there’s no point in working on anything new while you’re WAITING. You master Bejeweled. Luxor. Farmville. You’d start playing World of Warcraft, but you don’t want to get all involved in something while you’re waiting– when something finally happens, you’ll have to abandon it. Likewise, no point in writing, no point in– hey, let’s stalk editors on Twitter.

Let’s google. Let’s read conference notes and interviews and SCBWI profiles. She would LOVE this book; nope, he’s going to hate it. What are they saying on Twitter right now? They’re reading a manuscript, is it YOURS? It could be yours. Let’s read between the lines, now they’re talking about Starbucks, BEA, American Idol, that new book you have but you haven’t read…

It’s been a while. You should probably do something. Research, critiques, Angry Birds, read the trades, read the trends, get in an argument about self publishing. Get in an argument about self publishing with JA Konrath, because come on, if you’re going to go, go big. Tweet @neilhimself to see if he’ll respond. If @msleamichele will respond. What about @aplusk? Come ON, Ashton Kutcher replies to EVERYBODY.

Somebody will respond. You will read 5 reviews, 15 books, 32 blog posts about query letter rules, 157 tweets about trends and the back of the toothpaste tube approximately 300 times. And eventually you’ll admit you’re not doing, you’re waiting. And waiting is not an active verb. You’ll feel sheepish, and itchy, and come to a realization.

It’s time to get back to doing. Whatever happens will happen; it will happen if you’re building houses of cards, or writing your next book. Nothing you do in the meantime changes what happens to that submission, so it’s probably time to start working on the next submission. Because once you have an answer, yes, no, you will have to start all over again.

May as well get a jump on the next waiting now.

Dear Debut Authors: Eventually, You’ll Care Less (And That’s a Good Thing!)

Posted on by Saundra

Dear Debut Authors,

Your debut is almost here, and you’re no doubt freaking out. Will you make foreign sales? Audiobook sales? Will you sell at all? Why isn’t your cover up on Indiebound? Why is the wrong cover up on Amazon? What if nobody wants to interview/guest blog/blog tour you? Why did that person on Goodreads just give you two stars for a book that’s not even off your hard drive yet?! What if none of the other authors like you? What if the booksellers hate you? How do you do a launch party!? Do you need a launch party!?

What if you don’t have anything and that author there has EVERYTHING? Will your book be in the catalog? The catalog for Bologna? What are they saying at Bologna? London? Frankfurt? Why haven’t you sold another book yet? What if this first book in your series tanks, oh god, you have two more books to come after it! What if Kirkus hates it? What if Kirkus ignores it? What do the B&N rankings mean? What about the Amazon rankings? OH MY GOD WHAT DOES THIS BOOKSCAN MEAN!?

I’m here to tell you a thing I wouldn’t have believed in October 2008, right before my debut novel came out. And that thing is: I know you’re going nuts right now but eventually, you’ll care less. I know it seems impossible when there’s so much to learn and so much at stake.

But one day, you’ll care less. You’ll forget a foreign rights festival was coming up. You’ll willingly ban yourself from Goodreads. You’ll stop charting every single lead title in your year by B&N ranking and Amazon ranking in an attempt to figure out how many books you have to sell to get to 42 on one and 523 on the other.

And this is a good thing. Right now, you’re at the place where you have to do all the things, and learn all the things, and freak out about all the things so you can eventually relax and just write your books.

The marketing push your house gives you is going to be the biggest push available; the things you can do for yourself aren’t nearly so encompassing as it may seem at this moment. And the thing that matters, that truly, truly matters, is writing a great book.

But, maybe it will help you better enjoy your debut– your one and only debut– to have some answers. So…

Will you make foreign sales? Maybe. The less regional your book is, the more likely it is to sell elsewhere.

Audiobook sales? Maybe. I’ve never gotten one***; they seem to go for lead titles and perennial favorites rather than midlist debuts.

Will you sell at all? Yes, you will. There has never been a book in the history of books that sold ZERO copies.

Why isn’t your cover up on Indiebound? Sometimes they don’t get sent through. You can ask Indiebound to add it. Just create an account there, then go here to add your cover. (That second link won’t work until you have an account!)

Why is the wrong cover up on Amazon? Amazon has spiders that crawl the Internet and pull information automatically. Your book cover is one of those things. If your publisher has an alternate cover on their webspace or FTP site, Amazon will pull it and post it. Feel free to mention it to your agent or editor, but don’t worry. As soon as the correct cover goes live online, Amazon will replace it.

What if nobody wants to interview/guest blog/blog tour you? Somebody will, I promise. Bloggers are incredibly nice; they don’t bite. I swear.

Why did that person on Goodreads just give you two stars for a book that’s not even off your hard drive yet?!Sometimes, people accidentally add stars when they mean to just add you to a TBR list. Sometimes people want to vote down books they think are competition for their favorites. Sometimes, people just suck. This is one of those things that is literally out of your control. Accept the struggle and stop struggling against it!

What if none of the other authors like you? We will. Writing YA & MG is like joining a big club. We already like you; we’re thrilled that you sold your book. We can’t wait to meet you.

What if the booksellers hate you? Without you, no books. I promise, at least some booksellers will like you. (As long as you’re not a jerk!)

How do you do a launch party!? Contact your local Indie bookseller and ask if they will host you. What do you need? Well, it’s a party! Bookmarks, maybe some door prizes, balloons, and refreshments of some sort. Cupcakes are super popular– get the frosting in the same colors as your book’s cover! Announce it online, send a notice to your local paper, and make sure all your friends and family know!

Do you need a launch party!? No, but if you like parties, they can be fun. Even if you don’t like parties, they can be fun.

What if you don’t have anything and that author there has EVERYTHING? Then that’s the way it is. If it makes you feel better, the people with everything are often pretty sheepish about it, and also kind of lonely because people keep their distance. Don’t keep your distance. They’re scared, too!

Will your book be in the catalog? Yes.

The catalog for Bologna? Si!

What are they saying at Bologna? Stuff in Italian. Foreign sales happen all year long, so don’t get wound up over one book fair. Especially since most deals don’t even close at the fairs.

London? Frankfurt? See above, only replace Italian with English and German.

Why haven’t you sold another book yet? I’m not going to lie. Sometimes it takes a long time. Sometimes it takes a medium amount of time. As long as you remember that you’re not getting your NEXT deal, you’re getting A deal, that will help keep it in perspective. Every new book is a new experience. And if it takes a while, that’s okay.

What if this first book in your series tanks, oh god, you have two more books to come after it! Sometimes a series gets cancelled, it’s true. But you don’t get thrown out on your butt and told never to darken publishing’s door again. Sometimes the publisher will buy out your contract. Sometimes you and your editor will come up with a different book to fulfill your contract. Either way, there will be some disappointment and some opportunities, and quit worrying about the first book tanking anyway. It’s not even out yet!

What if Kirkus hates it? Chances are, they will. Consider it a badge of honor. Or make a video about it.

What if Kirkus ignores it? They may. But somebody else will pick it up. You’ll get trade reviews, eventually.

What do the B&N rankings mean? How well your book is selling both in the physical B&N stores and B&N online (compared to other books selling at B&N.) Less than 5000 is good. Less than 75,000 is not bad. But it’s still a relative number.*

What about the Amazon rankings? How well your book is selling compared to other books selling at the exact same time on Amazon’s website. This is ALSO a relative number; it doesn’t tell you much either.*

OH MY GOD WHAT DOES THIS BOOKSCAN MEAN!? Nothing. It only counts sales from reporting stores. It doesn’t capture sales from many Internet booksellers, from Wal-Mart, from libraries or schools. My bookscan number has always been 25% of my total actual sales. So even though Amazon lets you look at it, don’t worry about it too much. The sales numbers from your house, that you get on your royalty statements, are the ones that really matter.

I hope this helps. And if you’re ever freaking out, and just need somebody to talk you off a ledge? Drop me a line. Or ask on Twitter. Other authors are standing by to help you through this stressful time. No matter how completely insane it gets (worst the month before and the three months after your debut,) I promise you, it doesn’t last forever.

And better still– eventually you’ll care less. You’ll get back to doing what’s amazing and magical and wonderful about this job– writing your books. It really is a good thing.

Good luck,

Saundra

* Tell me one secret about the rankings so they matter! On the Sunday after your debut, if you debuted on Tuesday– if your book is in double digits on B&N and in triple digits on Amazon, then you may have sold enough books to hit the NYT Bestseller list.

** Tell me more about the NYT list! No. Let Jackson Pearce tell you instead.

*** I wrote this post in 2015; pleased to say that I have made a whole two audiobook sales (out of the 20 books I’ve sold!)

The “I Have a Life!” Marketing Plan

Posted on by Saundra

Okay, so most people don’t enjoy publicity and marketing. They also like to eat and bathe and, you know, do other stuff besides fill out postcards and design schwag.

And I know that sometimes having advice out in the ether can make some people feel bad because they can’t, or don’t want to, or aren’t able to take it. The last thing I ever want is to make another author feel small, for serious.

So, for triple-strength obsessives like myself, I still have the Bossy Self-Marketing Timeline. But today I’m going to share a short, tiny, easy, WTF is wrong with you Saundra, I HAVE A LIFE YOU KNOW marketing plan. For those who want to do some marketing, but not get a secondary business degree and/or learn to love insomnia.

Here it is, in all its glorious two parts:

STEP ONE: TWENTY FOUR POSTCARDS

After the catalog comes out, please get some postcards. Your cover should be on the front, your title, ISBN, release season and URL on the back- and I hear you already saying, “I don’t ever pay attention to postcards, I just throw them away.” And I throw them away too… unless someone wrote something on them.

You’re going to send 12 postcards to the independent booksellers in your region, and you’re going to send 12 to the public libraries in your region. On the bookseller postcards, please write “I’m a local author, and I hope you’ll consider my new (category) novel for (name of store.) It comes out (on this date.)”

On the library postcards, please write, “I’m a local author living in (your city) and I hope you’ll consider my new (category) novel for your collection.” Then, you can add, if it is true, “I’m available for library visits!”

I promise, the hand-written message makes a difference. I have booked no fewer than 40 events from postcard contact alone.

Twenty-four postcards. One a day, takes less time than one tweet, you’re done in a month. Even if that month is February.

STEP TWO: ARCs & AUTHOR COPIES

Your publisher may write a press release for you. If so, kindly ask your publicist for a copy. If they don’t have one, write a one-page fact sheet about your book. Include your name, the title, any other titles in the series, the ISBN, the publisher, the release date, your publicist’s contact information, your contact information, a summary, your biography and a brief rundown of any blurbs, honors or awards.

Now write a brief business letter that says, “My name is (MY NAME) and my new (CATEGORY) novel (TITLE) will be published by (HOUSE) on (DATE.) I’ve enclosed a signed copy; I hope you’ll enjoy it and consider ordering it for (NAME OF STORE.) Sincerely, (MY NAME).”

How many ARCs and author copies do you have? Print that many press releases, fold them, and put them inside the books. Now personalize and print that many cover letters, and sign them. Put them neatly in a package, and mail them to:

  • Your local independent bookseller
  • Booksellers you’ve met online or at trade shows.
  • Booksellers who host book festivals.
  • Booksellers who have supported you in the past.
  • Booksellers who nominated books like yours for the IndieNext List.

STEP THREE: BASK IN BEING DONE WITH @(#* MARKETING

No seriously, that’s the whole plan. If I had to limit my marketing, out of all the advice I’ve given, and all of the things I’ve tried, these two steps are the ones I feel give the most return for the effort (and, conveniently, are fairly inexpensive as well.)

But the most important thing to remember is that the book is what matters. Enjoying your life, and your career, that’s what matters.

So if you hate marketing and never, ever want to do it– don’t do it! There are enough hard things that we have to deal with as writers; you absolutely do NOT have to add extra guilt and obligation on top of it. But if you want to do something, just not, like, all the things, then perhaps this is the marketing plan for you.

Because dude, seriously, you have a life!