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
One of the most common questions I see from new authors is what to do once they have published their book on Amazon. All their work went into writing and getting the book published. It is on Amazon, and now what? How do we get people to buy it? This workbook/checklist gives you some steps for today.
Book Marketing Workbook/Checklist
Steps to Do Before Your Book Release
Edit your book and have a final copy proofread, twice if possible. Nothing will create a critical review on Amazon more than poor grammar and spelling.
____ Edited your book
____ Proofread your book
____ One of my best tips is to take a PDF of your book to your local office supply store and have a proof copy printed out. Use the self-serve copy machines. Take it over to the graphics area and have them add a plastic cover to the front and back and then add a spiral binding. You will see issues in paper that you will never see on the computer.
Book Title ______________________________________________________
Book Subtitle ___________________________________________________
Research your title and subtitle. Do your readers know what the book is about? Don’t fall in love with your title, it might be wrong.
___ Run the “Don’t Make Me Think” test on your title.
___ Run the Google, YouTube and Amazon search test on your book title.
___ Create a good descriptive table of contents, these are your book’s major benefits. These can be used for part of your Amazon description and the back cover bullet points.
Book Description, You can have up to 4,000 characters in the Amazon book description. I also include the Table of Contents in my descriptions. TOCs are great for keyword searching on Amazon. I add it to the bottom of the description.
Several key bullet points about your book. Mix these into the description:
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Book Description
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___ If you have a website, add the URL on the book’s title page, near the bottom. If you are making a Kindle e-book, make it a live HTTP link. You can also add your Amazon Author Central address if you have one.
Your Amazon Author Central Website URL ___________________________
___ Front Cover: Have a good, clear cover designed. Make sure the cover is readable at thumbnail size. This is the size we usually see when we search for books on Amazon. Elements should include a title, subtitle, and author name. You can also include a short quote or benefits. And of course, good cover art.
___ Back Cover: If releasing a paperback book, have an effective back cover. E-books don’t have back covers. Elements include a title, description, and several benefits. Your benefits come from your Table of Contents. A couple of quotes, an author picture and bio. Also include contact info, website, and room for a ISBN number.
___ If possible publish both a print and e-book. Once you have done one, the other is easy to create.
___ Paperback. ___ E-Book
___ Start building your author platform. Your platform is all the people you know and connect to. Includes, friends, family, organizations, email list, and social media.
___ Set up your social media accounts. There are six popular ones,
___ Facebook ___ YouTube ___ Pinterest
___ LinkedIn ___ Instagram ___ Twitter.
Be where your audience is.
___ Using social media, start releasing content around your subject. Use the content in your book as early as you can. Pick 1-3 social media sites to focus on. Start building some awareness and buzz for the book.
___ If you have a blog/website, start posting about your book writing journey. You are building awareness and getting indexed by Google.
Your Website URL __________________________________________
___ Try and line up some video interviews, podcasts and blog posts for launch day.
___ Purchase a copy of your book so you have something to hold up for the launch. Great for photos, interviews, or just showing friends and family.
Building a Media Kit for Your Book
A media kit will give you a library of basic elements that you can use when you launch your book. Have them ready to go for the launch.
___ Build a basic media kit. You will use this for promotion, social media, and interviews. You can store this on your computer. You can also post it on your website for other people who might need it.
___ Create several jpg cover images for your book. These are for marketing and posting. 2”, 4”, and 6”, at 72dpi and 300dpi will work. Ask your cover designer to give you these. Make it part of the cover project contract.
___ Have someone take pictures of you holding your book. Have the book near your head, this can be as simple as a selfie.
___ Prepare several 50-150-word author bios and book descriptions. Include details. Have this ready for promotion, interviews, and blog posts.
___ Have the Amazon book link ready so it is easy to find and use in posts when you launch.
___ Have several book launch social media posts pre-written, included the book links.
Sample Post
Learn how to successfully market your book with J. Bruce Jones’ new book, How to Sell Your Book, How I Made $322,650 and Sold 34,605 Books on Amazon, The Inside Secrets. Available today on Amazon in paperback and Kindle e-book. Click here to buy Add the Amazon link
___ Pre-write several blog posts, with images ready for posting on launch day. Announce the book is coming and then the book is here.
___ Develop several interview questions for anyone who might be interviewing you. The basic who, what, why.
Book Trailer Video
___ Create a book trailer video, can be as simple as your holding your book and talking about it using your smartphone. Give a call to action to buy at the end.
Your book trailer video should cover these points
1. What you have – who you are and your new book.
2. What it will do for the reader – the benefits, list them out. You can pick several from the table of contents.
3. What you want people to do next – the call to action, go buy the book. Please leave a review, it helps the author.
Sample of a Simple 1:00 Minute Book Trailer Video Script
Using your smartphone and a tripod or a steady hand you can create your own book trailer videos. Keep them short and to the point. Be sure you have good lighting. The mic in your smartphone will work fine if you keep the phone pretty close. Turn off any background noise. The video can be you talking on camera. Remember to show our book. You can also create a video slide show. When finished, upload your video to YouTube and spread it around on your social media platforms.
1. What you have – who you are and your new book.
Hi, my name is Bruce Jones and I am proud to announce the release of my new book, How to Sell Your Book, How I Made $322,605 and Sold 34,605 Books on Amazon, The Inside Secrets.
2. What it will do for the reader – the story, or the benefits, list them out. You can pick several from the table of contents.
In this book you will learn about how to use your book’s content to market and sell your book online. How to create and spread noise and awareness about your book so readers can find it. And third, selling your book, making it easy to buy. The book is filled with practical tips, steps, and examples you can use today to market and sell your book.
3. What you want people to do next – the call to action, go buy the book. Available at Amazon. Please leave a review, it helps the author.
My book is available on Amazon in paperback and e-book and at
BruceJonesDesign.com in PDF. Links are around this video, above or below. Oh and when you buy the book, I would love a review, it helps authors sell their books. Thank you very much, be sure to check it out.
Media Kit Worksheet
Author Bio (create a short and long bio)
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Author Pen Name (if any) _______________________________________
____ Author Headshot Photos, with and without the book cover
Contact Details, Phone, Email, Website URL
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Additional Contributors
Illustrator Name __________________________________________________
Photographer Name, add more as you need ________________________________
Your Social Media Connections
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Amazon Author Central URL ______________________________________
Book Title______________________________________________________
Book Subtitle____________________________________________________
Book Series Name, Amazon loves and promotes series
Edition Volume #_________________________________________________
Book Language ____ English ____ Spanish Other
Genre ________________________________________________________
Publisher ______________________________________________________
Publication Date _________________________________________________
Launch Date ___________________________________________________
Print ___ Black & White ___ Color
Trim Size ____________
Number of Pages ________
Book Price ________
Formats ___ Paperback ___ Hardcover ___ E-Book ___ PDF ___ Audio
ISBN for Print. Amazon Kindle e-books do not have ISBNs. But other publishers do. Choose either the free one supplied by Amazon or purchase one from Bowker.com,
https://www.myidentifiers.com/
Publishing Rights, your copyright
Book URL Links
Print __________________________________________________________
E-book _________________________________________________________
PDF ___________________________________________________________
Book Description
You can have up to 4,000 characters in the Amazon book description. I also include the Table of Contents in my descriptions. TOCs are great for keyword searching on Amazon. I add it to the bottom of the description. Create both a short and long book description.
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Book Cover Graphics
____ Thumbnails Images
____ 3D Book Cover Images
____ Book Cover in Environment Images
____ Book Cover Image w/Tablet or Kindle
____ Book Trailer Video, YouTube URL Link
Book Categories, Choose two categories for your book.
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Keywords, 7 keywords or phrases that describe your book.
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____ Sample Chapter PDF (include the Table of Contents in the PDF)
Sample Interview Questions, To get you started
Question 1. ______________________________________________________
Question 2. ______________________________________________________
Question 3. ______________________________________________________
____ Swipe Text for Sales and Promotion
____ Press Release
Sample Media Kit Images
Pull together several book images that you can use for posting on social media on launch day. I used MockUpShots.com to create the 3D and the two images at the bottom. I used my iPhone to take pictures with my head and the book.
Releasing Your Book, Launch Day
___ Pre-announce that you have a book coming out on your social media platforms. If you have an email lists, then pre-announce on there as well. Be sure you can hit the release date. Do this for the month or so before release. You are building awareness for the book.
___ Announce a release date for your book on your social media platforms. Picking a date helps give you focus. Your release date does not have to be the date your publish your book. It can be later so you have time to set your marketing up.
Your Books Release Date __________________________________________
___ Announce the actual book release on your social media platforms. Include live URL links to the Amazon sales page. Your book should already be live on Amazon when you do this.
___ Post that your book is live on Amazon. Use your media kit elements for your posts. Talk about how excited you are.
___ Ask buyers to give you a book review. Let buys know how important a review is to help authors sell their books.
___ Reach out to everyone on your platform, let them know your book is live.
List some friends or key people that should know about your book
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___Update all your bios on your social media and websites. Use your current book information; include links to Amazon for your book if possible.
Your New Social Media Bio
Author Name, the author of XYZ Book, is the…
___ Sign up and fill out your Amazon Author Central Account.
https://author.amazon.com/home
___ Link your book in your Author Central Page. Add images. Connect your blog.
Elements to include for your Author Central Page
• Author Name
• Author Bio, social media and website URL
• Author Photos, head shot and others
• Claim all of your books. Search in Author Central and connect them
• Author Blog, you can post the feed
• Author Videos, add an interview video, book trailer video
• Add Editorial Reviews
• Set up your international Author Pages
Steps to Do After Releasing Your Book
___ Look at your Amazon book rankings in the Product Details and see where you got to. If you have driven enough traffic you might even get a #1 Amazon Category Best Seller ranking.
___ Use the Amazon sales page social media links to post about your book.
___ Ask readers who have purchased your book to give you a review on Amazon.
___ Continue to post about your book on social media. Post about what a great day this has been. Talk about your book, talk about parts of the book. Create and post several videos of you with your book.
___ Continue to ask buyers to give you a book review. Let buyers know how important a review is to help authors sell books.
___ Add your book title and link to your e-mail signature line.
___ Update all your social media bios that you are now a published author. Review Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Instagram, and your website
___ Let every company, organization, or association you are part of know about your new book. If they have a newsletter or a “What’s New” section on their website take advantage of your connections. Media and associations love new author success stories.
___ Continue to post about your book. Be sure to have a live URL link back to Amazon so followers can buy.
___ Thank everyone who bought your book at the launch.
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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