- Author media kits are an important tool
in your book marketing toolbox.
Sometimes they're called a press kit,
but it's typically an electronic document
that gets emailed or downloaded from your website
and can be printed as well,
and it has information about you and your book
and the topics you can be interviewed about.
You'll use them to get attention
during your book launch and well beyond.
But, what should go in a media kit
and how do you create one?
If that's what you're wondering,
then you're in the right place!
This video is for you!
(upbeat funky music)
Hey there, I'm Julie the Book Broad.
I'm an Amazon overall number one best-selling author,
and the founder of a fabulous company called Book Launchers.
Our superpower is caring more about you and your book
than anybody else, as we help you write,
publish and sell a non-fiction book,
that will boost your brand and make you money.
One of the things we do at Book Launchers
to help prepare our authors for their book launch
is create a media kit.
This is one of the many things
that I think we absolutely rock at!
Check out a few of these beauties right here.
Now our first generation media kits
didn't look this good.
It was an evolution,
but you don't need to evolve to greatness.
You could start right here if you follow my tips!
Number one, know the essential content.
Every media kit we do is a little different,
as we tailor it to the author's strengths,
goals and the project.
Some things are gonna be different for each media kit.
But every single media kit has the following:
information about your book, with pictures,
your metadata, like this,
right here on Tony LeBlanc's book, "Doorpreneur."
This has ISBN, format it's available in,
pricing, page numbers and publication date.
Underneath, we put the book description
with the selling copy.
Number two, contact information for you,
including where to connect with you
on social media and your website.
To be specific, I'm talking about email address,
phone number, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, Twitter,
wherever you are.
Number three, a short author bio with your picture.
Need tips on getting a great author photo?
I'll link to that video at the end.
When I say short, I mean let's do it
in less than 100 words, if you can.
And this is the key details
that are relevant to your book
and the area of expertise you're showcasing.
I spent 16 years of my life in real estate
and real estate investing.
When my new book on self-publishing comes out,
that fact is not gonna be in my bio,
neither will my MBA in Real Estate in Finance.
My bio will have details about my author awards,
my number one overall Amazon best-selling book,
and running Book Launchers,
because those details are relevant
to my self-publishing book.
Number four, interview topics or interview questions.
If you're looking for media attention,
you need to give them some ideas of what is a good fit,
and what you should be asked.
And ideally, hit questions or topics
that will be of interest to larger audiences.
For example, my real estate book.
We didn't create interview topics
that were specific to real estate investors,
because when I'm on the morning news,
that topic speaks to less than 10%
of the population watching.
We created questions to be specific
to the real estate market conditions.
Things to watch out for as a buyer,
and even tips for maximizing the value of a property.
Those are much more universal
than specific real estate investing tips.
Check out Leslie Quinsay's questions for her media kit.
Ready to hand over the family business?
Start with these three steps to get organized.
Family matters, how to have the wealth talk
with the next generation,
and why you need a roadmap
to navigate succession planning,
and five mistakes most families make
when it comes to estate planning.
Now these are different
than what you would put on a speaker's one sheet
or a podcaster's one sheet,
because those kind of topics
are going to be very niche focused.
On your media kit, it needs to be things
that will appeal to a wider audience.
Number five, include testimonials or endorsements,
if you have them.
Number six, a book excerpt or an article
that is a summary or a sales piece, of sorts, of your book.
Number seven, a link where the pictures of your book cover
and your author photos can be downloaded easily.
We say download here on these media kits,
but if you know you're gonna be
printing them out a lot,
then you should put an actual URL.
So that's what to include,
and we have videos to help you
craft a book description, the author bio,
and one of these days soon,
I'll talk further about interview topics and book excerpts,
so make sure you've subscribed to the channel
and subscribed to our launch letter
over at BookLaunchers.com,
so you catch those important videos too.
But now that you've got the content,
you need to get this designed!
We've perfected the art and the system here
as part of our client's book publishing and pre-launch work.
But what I would recommend
is finding a template that you like,
and then go to Upwork or Guru or even Fiverr,
and find someone with great graphics design experience
doing brochures and pamphlets,
and hire them to take all of the above elements
and put them into your desired design
and make your own media kit.
You should have your brand or book colors available
for them when you do this.
Now, a few other tips just to help you out with this.
First, make sure the file isn't enormous
(laughs)
when it's done, because you're gonna be emailing it out,
so try to get your designer to compress it
to one megabyte or less.
Number two, this is not a press release.
That's a different tool.
You can kind of think of the media kit
as your multiheaded screwdriver,
and the press release is the hammer,
or something like that.
I think that analogy works.
See, the press release has a very specific purpose.
It has a specific hook and angle
in the hopes of appealing to media
in a very specific way.
Whereas the media kit is more of an all-purpose tool.
It's a general informational piece
that you need for your kit.
Number three, when it's done,
don't mass mail it out.
It should have a place to live on your website
and it will be used after you have a press release
or a pitch that gets a nibble of interest.
Then that's when you follow it up with the media kit,
or sometimes include it with the press release.
Number four, get it proofread before you start using it!
Number five, if you hire someone on Fiverr.com,
there's an option to get the source file for an extra fee.
I highly recommend you do that,
and then when you hire on other sites
like Upwork and Guru,
ask for that source file,
'cause you're probably gonna wanna
change this in the future.
Number six, finally take a look
at what you've put together.
Does what you drafted showcase who you are
and make you and your book look different
than others in your field?
It really should.
And when it does that,
it's gonna answer so many questions
media and others will have about you.
Your author media kit is pretty important.
It makes it easier for media to feel comfortable
that you're an expert,
because a lot of the work they have to do
in researching you is done for them in this package.
It also shows you're a professional.
And while we focused on it's purpose for media,
it really is an informational brochure
that helps anyone interested in you or your book
learn more about you.
Do you have an author media kit
or do you have an author media kit tip?
Go ahead and share that in the comments below,
and when you comment the day a video is released,
you'll be entered to win some sweet #NoBoringBookSwag.
This oh-so-soft journal to write
all your amazing ideas in. (laughs)
I have two videos you really must watch next!
The one on book descriptions.
(whispers) Right here.
And the other one on author bio.
But before you do that,
smash that thumbs up button!
Go ahead, it feels so good for you and for me!
And subscribe to the channel
so we can become YouTube besties.
(upbeat music)