I’ve worked for almost four decades as a newspaper reporter, editor, freelance writer, publisher and blogger. And I know this is true:
Fact 1:
If a writer needs a few paragraphs of bio material for a story she’s writing about you, she can grab your Media Kit, highlight exactly what she needs, save it to her clipboard and insert it into her story.
Fact 2:
Journalists almost never check facts in your bio, unless they’re working on an investigative story. Does that mean you can stretch the truth? Never. It just means they rely on you tell the truth and give them enough facts so they can report on you and your book without doing a extra research.
Fact 3:
Weekly newspapers and small dailies that can’t afford to send their own photographer to your event will look in your Media Kit and see if there’s a photo they can use to accompany their story. If they find what I call an environmental photo, like the one above of author Edward Vilga and his dog, Belle, they think they’ve struck gold! They won’t hesitate to use it. And they’ll usually credit the photographer. (In this case, it’s Jonathan Pozniak.)
Fact 4:
If they’re writing about your book, but not reviewing it, they usually won’t read it because they don’t have time. They’ll look through the Media Kit for a page of testimonials or “blurbs” to get a feel for how well it was received.
Fact 5:
If journalists can’t find an easy way to contact you, they might forget about covering you. When I was up against a tight deadline in my reporter days, I had no time to thumb through the phone book looking for “Robert Smith” and learning there were 13 of them in the town I covered. It’s so much easier to just call someone else who’s readily available and easy to reach.
Make It Easy for People to Promote You
What else do journalists, bloggers, freelancers, broadcasters and others need to give you and your book publicity? Find out on Thursday, March 19, 2015, for a webinar on The Indie Author’s Guide to Creating a Killer Media Kit from 4 to 5 p.m. Eastern Time. Book publishing expert Joel Friedlander will join me for a fast-paced trip through the ideal Author Media Kit.
We’ll explain how to use and how not to use it. And we’ll introduce you to a tool I’ve created that will shave entire weeks off the tedious task of creating your own Author Media Kit from scratch.
One lucky person who joins us for the free call will win a half hour of consulting with me, a $150 value. Register even if you’re only thinking about writing a book. Once you get started, and the closer you are to launching it, the busier you’ll be with a million other marketing tasks. That isn’t the time to figure out how to build a Media Kit.
Learn it now. Register here.