The Elements of a Press Kit Needed to Help Promote Your Fiction!Elements of a press kit are the essential items needed in order to provide all of the useful information a marketing or media source needs to properly serve you, whether in the form of an announcement, press release, or a marketing campaign. Your press kit will grow as your book becomes more and more popular, and you should always add to it as you get more viable information. You should ensure all of your information contained within your press kit is up to date before distributing it to a media source. Your contact information is a very important part of that as it is how media sources contact you when they are interested in covering your story. 1. A cover letter describing you, your book, and your anticipation for your book - best seller, first novel, first of a series... This should include your goals as a fiction writer and your expectations in the fiction market place. 2. A full author biography. This is your life's story as applicable to your writing and your book. 3. Your Press Release. This is the official release you submitted to multiple news sources. 4. An up to date photograph of yourself. This should be a picture you wouldn't mind being on the interview write-up in the Sunday newspaper. 5. A copy of your author brochure. Your author brochure is just a marketing piece but is always good to include in your elements of a press kit to give the interviewer as much information as possible about you and your book. 6. Copies of book reviews for your book or other books you have. Don't hand them printed copies of emails. Type out the reviews neatly on an 8 1/2 x 11 inch sheet of paper in normal 12pt font. Do not use special fonts, just something easy to read. These should be actual quotes from people, not something you put together from people talking about your book. 7. Newspaper or other media excerpts. If you have had past articles or write-ups from other media sources, you should include these in your elements of a press kit. This helps a journalist avoid using a similar angle during their article. 8. Two copies of your business card. You should have a professional looking business card that represents you and your fiction novel. One copy is for them to keep and one can go on file at their office. 9. A copy of your Question and Answer Sheet. A question and answer sheet is a mock interview that you creatively write to help the interviewing process. The interviewer may use these questions to formulate their story about you or choose to ask more questions. 10. A copy of your fiction book (if published). This is the most costly part of your press kit but essential. This gives you an opportunity for the interviewer to read your book as well as provide you with a review when they release their article. All of the elements of a press kit are equally important, but the Question and Answer sheet is something that you must include to help the media understand why you wrote the book. This helps a lot with submitting your press kit to media sources. A Question and Answer sheet should include the following questions (this information was obtained from www.lulu.com): 1.. Why did you write this book? 2. How did you become interested in the topic? 3. What did you hope to accomplish by publishing your book? 4. Who is your intended readership? 5. When did you realize you wanted to be a writer? 6. How did you research your book? 7. What surprised you about the process of writing your book? 8. What do you like to do when you're not writing? 9. Are you working on another book? As you can see, these Questions and Answers will help with the interview process if your press kit is picked up by a media source. This avoids the need for an immediate interview that can have you traveling halfway around the country. The other elements of a press kit are just as important and work hand in hand with your marketing and sales efforts. Don't take any of the elements for granted as they can help with the interview depending on the journalist's angle or approach. So, who do you send the elements of a press kit to? Like I said before, your press kit should be contained in an 9" x 12" manilla envelop or folder that can be easily mailed or handed to a media representative. You can also create an electronic press kit to email to potential marketing and media interests or have a press kit posted on your author website. You should send your press kit out to anyone you can think of in your network that deals with any kind of marketing. Start off local and work your way national. You should also send the press kit to local newspapers, city or regional magazines, local radio and television stations. There are many sources of media and marketing you can use this approach with. Learn how to market a fiction book with your elements of a press kit.
|
|||||||||
