In today’s post, we talk about creating a media kit for your book launch. A media kit is a set of tools that you use for your launch. It makes the launch more efficient and easier to manage.
1. Build Your Author Platform
2. Create an Author Blog/Website, Your Online Home, 5 Essential Pages
3. Create a Media Kit for Your Book
4. Book Marketing Workbook/Checklist
How to Create a Media Kit for Your Book
CONCEPT: A media kit is a library of images, descriptions, links, quotes, videos, etc. about you and your book. It is a set of tools. You use these tools to promote your book and yourself.
THE WHY: I recommend authors create a media kit because it gives you a library of promotional content you can pull from. Your own efforts, the press, event management, and anyone else who needs to, can use these tools to promote you and your book.
When you launch your book, have interviews, or do day-to-day postings, you are ready to go. You are not running around trying to find key info on your book. It is pain in the neck to keep looking for your Amazon book link every time you want to make a Twitter or Facebook post. If you are being interviewed, you can send the interviewer to a web page and they can download what they need. It is a huge timesaver. It makes you look professional.
Keep all the elements in a folder on your computer and create a page on your author’s website. These graphics and text files can easily be hosted online. Have them ready for anyone who might be interviewing you for a podcast or story and needs a book cover shot.
Author Bio
Create several bios of different lengths.
• Have a very short, one sentence or so bio you can use at the end of a blog post. Include your book title and the book URL.
• 50-100-word bio and a 250-500-word bio. Include website and book URLs.
• If you are a public speaker, then include a video or two of you speaking.
Author Photos
Spend a little money and have a professional author headshot created. Be sure to have some images with and without you holding your book up next to your head. Have several sizes produced. I like 2”, 4”, and 6” images. Your images should be 72dpi for web and 300dpi for print use. If you are giving images to a newspaper or magazine, use the 300dpi ones. Some you can do yourself with your smartphone.
Contact Details
• Phone, e-mail, website address, social media addresses, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, etc. Also, include your Amazon Author Central URL.
Your Book Info and Description
• Create several book descriptions. A short 10-word sentence for posting on social media or at the end of a post. A longer description at 50-100 words, and a 250-500- word description. We can create these using MS Word or a Google Doc.
• Include info about the book, its specs, ISBN number, size, and the number of pages.
• Where to buy your book, include print and e-book with links.
• Sample book reviews, look at your Amazon book reviews.
• Have a sample chapter in text and PDF that can be emailed out or downloaded from your site. Be sure to include the book URL links to Amazon.
Book Photo Graphics and Photos
I like a variety of book images sizes; 2”, 4” and 6” images in JPG, RGB format. 72dpi for web and 300dpi resolution for print. Be sure to ask your book cover designer for these images. Make this part of the original book cover design project. If you can only get one resolution, then go for the 72dpi so you can market online. If you have other relevant graphics inside your book, I would create a library of those as well.
You can quickly dress up your book cover images by giving them a 3D look. Below are several online resources.
• Boxshot has free and paid covers, http://boxshot.com/3d-pack/
• DIY Book Covers.com is a free site for making 3D book covers. They also do hardcover books, books on tablets, smartphones, and combinations of devices.
• For some really cool 3D cover and environment shots check out MockUpShots.com. It is a one-time paid service. They have lots of great 3D cover options and books set in mockup backgrounds. https://www.mockupshots.com/
Book Trailer Video
Create a book trailer video. Host it on YouTube and spread it everywhere. You can use your smartphone to create a simple one. These can be very short. There are many ways to create a book trailer video from just you talking about the book. A series of slides, short interviews, or bullet points. Search on Google or YouTube for examples. Below is the video I made for my book.
Interview Questions
Create sample interview questions about your book. These can be very helpful for the interviewer. They now have a direction to go in when talking to you. Cover the who, what, where, how, and why of your book.
Sales and Promotion Info
Create some sample swipe text that can be used for posting on social media sites. You can use these yourself or for your launch team or for someone who wants to help your promotion. Be sure to include the book title and URL.
Press Release
If you have created a press release, you can include it in the package.
Resources
3D book cover shot tools
• Boxshot has free and paid covers, http://boxshot.com/3d-pack/
• DIY Book Covers.com is a free site for making 3D book covers. They also do hardcover books, books on tablets, smartphones, and combinations of devices. https://diybookcovers.com/
• For some really cool 3D cover and environment shots check out MockUp Shots.com. It is a one-time paid service. They have lots of great 3D cover options and books set in mockup backgrounds. https://www.mockupshots.com/
Online photo editing and design tools.
• Pixlr.com https://pixlr.com/editor/
• FotoFlexer.com http://fotoflexer.com/
• Canva.com https://www.canva.com/, perfect for making a quick graphic
Tools for grabbing your image from the screen.
• Grab, Mac screen grab utility in the Application > Utility Folder
• Snagit, PC tool available online, there are many others also
1/4. Build Your Author Platform
2/4. Create an Author Blog/Website, Your Online Home, 5 Essential Pages
3/4. Create a Media Kit for Your Book
4/4. Book Marketing Workbook/Checklist
More to Come…
Excerpt from How to Sell Your Book, How I Made $322,650 and Sold 34,605 Books on Amazon, The Inside Secrets, by J. Bruce Jones. Bruce is the author of over 50 books on music, geography, children’s, coloring, and publishing. His latest book is available at Amazon and as a Downloadable PDF with bonus videos.
Available at Amazon: Paperback or eBook
Available as a Downloadable PDF with bonus videos
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