Influencer Marketing: Media Kit for Indie Authors and Poets

A media kit is an information packet that informs everyone – not just members of the media – about an author, their books and brand. This is the Alliance of Independent Authors guide to setting up a media kit for booksellers, librarians, event organizers, agents, rights buyers, and other literary influencers.

Authors! Does your media kit get the job done? If the answer is no, you’re not alone. Upon conducting an honest review of their media kits, most authors find that their promotional package is not actually promoting them very well at all.

Authors struggle to answer two critical questions about our media kits:

1. What in the world do I put in it?
2. How do I use it to get sales?

If you’ve struggled to answer either of those questions, here's our indispensible guide to putting together an author media kit that will work for anyone who needs to know more about you.

What Do I Put In the Media Kit?

Unlike most of your marketing materials, your media kit is not geared to potential readers, but to potential influencers, interviewers, and book retailers. You need to tell them why this book matters.

Will it bring readers to a blogger in an interview or review? Will people flock to a store to pick up a copy or meet the author? Hmmm… not so likely. It's more realistic to consider it more like a business presentation for potential investors than a push for new readers. Or a supercharged business card that explains who you are, what your books do, and what separates you from others in your field.

A digital version (preferably a PDF) is perfect for sending on the web. A printed version is still necessary, however, for local bookstores and live meetings and events.

Include:

• Book Info. If you're promoting a recent title, have a page of information about the book. Info should include the basic info needed for a person to find the publication in a bookstore or on Amazon.com, like the full title, your name, publisher, date published, and ISBN. If possible, include a picture of the cover to add visual interest, even if it's just a black and white photocopy. Book information pages could also include reviews and endorsements, press releases, and ordering information. Always include contact information on every page.
• Other Publicity Information. If you're promoting your general writing services rather than a specific book or books, then you could include testimonials from satisfied clients, a list of past clients, media appearances, a list of your pieces and where they were published, perhaps even a few samples.
• Images. Typically, you provide an author pic and your most recent book cover in all formats–front cover and wraparound from the print edition. It's hard to determine the effectiveness of flyers and bookmarks but they can't do any harm, if they are attractive and compelling. All images must be high-resolution and downloadable with instructions on  welcoming downloads.
• Book Trailers: If you can afford a good book trailer, it's undoubtedly an aid. If you can't, and you're not a skilled videography, be aware that a shoddily produced trailer is worse than none at all.
• Author Bio — read on!

Author Media Kit: Your Author Bio(s)

Ideally you'll provide three author bios: one sentence, one paragraph, one page.

To put these important documents together, walk the line between modesty and honesty, trying to answer the following questions:

• Where were you born?
• When did you start writing?
• What was your early inspiration?
• Do you have educational or professional experience in writing (outside of publishing your book)?
• What other books have you written (if any)?
• How has your life affected your writing voice?

Don't forget to include contact information.

And always writer your author bios in the third person.

Author Q&A

Prepare a list of commonly asked questions about your book (but know that you’ll probably still be asked a lot of the same questions in interviews!). Use this tool as a means for sharing additional info about yourself and your book that’s not already in your summary, excerpts or bio. Here are a few sample questions to get started:

• Where did you get the idea for this book?
• What traits and other tidbits do you share with your main character?
• Did any of your inspiration for this book originate in your real life experiences?
• What made you decide to self-publish?
• Are there any specific authors whose writing styles or subject matter inspired your book?
• Do you have another project in the works? If so, what is it?
• When you self publish, do you do it all yourself?  (Be generous with credit, it comes back to you.)

Author Media Release

In this post we discuss media releases in detail. For now, remember that a release for a media kit should focus on the unveiling of new work. 

• What’s your book about?
• What’s your writing background?
• Why should someone want to read your book in particular?
• Who will like your book? If you are a new writer, it could be a good idea to name a few well known writers who write in the same genre, ie “If you like courtroom dramas like John Grisham, Linda Fairstein and Steve Martino you will probably enjoy my book.”
• Where can a person find a copy of your book?
• What do you have to say about your book/writing experience? (Always include quotes!)
• Where can a reader find more information about you, the author?
• You can post two or three reviews you have, especially if they are from reputable sources.

Author Media Kit: Why is your Book Relevant?

This is the MOST IMPORTANT question you need to answer in your media kit. The fact is, there are millions of books out there — what makes yours different (i.e. better)? What specifically makes it relate to your particular kind of literary influencers?

Here are some questions to ask yourself when writing about the relevancy of your book:

• Does your book take place in a specific region that would make people take an interest?
• Do you cover a topic/subject matter that a lot of people can easily relate to?
• Does your book shed light on a different perspective of a common issue?
• Do you have specific experience/expertise on a topic discussed in your book?
• Is there a certain aspect of your author experience that makes the book interesting?
• Do you, the author, have a unique background different from most authors?

If you sit down and answer each of the above questions, you should have no problems compiling the essential components of your media kit. Keep answers short and to the point.

Once you perfect one media kit…move on to the next one!

With each new book your release, you should create a new media kit with specific details on your new title. Pretty soon, you’ll have a fleet of publicists waiting in the wings to swoop in when you need them and promote your books.

Chris Well Video presentation about Media Kits for Authors:

What about you? What's in your media kit? Done anything especially useful in getting attention. Let us know in the comments below.