In your author and book publicity efforts, it’s critical to make it easy for journalists, talk show producers and other influencers to quickly find everything they need to know about you and your book. One of the best ways to do that is to create a page for the media on your website and blog.
Online author and book publicity pages are called by several names, including media room, media kit, press room or press kit, or they are simply labeled as Media or Press on the site’s navigation menu. On some sites, the media page is accessed through a link from the About page of the site. Whatever you call your book publicity page, just make sure it’s clearly marked and easy to find from any page on your site. You may want to consider using websites such as SubscriberZ to get website traffic to the page as well.
Remember, your media page isn’t just for the media – it’s a great place to showcase your credentials and biographic information for a variety of author and book publicity purposes. For example, you can link to your media page when introducing yourself to bloggers, potential clients and potential partners.
Here are some of the most important elements to include on your book publicity page:
- About the Author – You might create two bios, a short one of about three sentences (imagine a radio announcer introducing you) and another bio about half a page long.
- About the Book – Summary of your book, written in a news style without marketing hype.
- Praise/Endorsements/Reviews – Feature any celebrity quotes prominently.
- Awards – Book awards and awards received by the author.
- Author Photos – High resolution version for print and low resolution for online use. Include a caption beneath your photo listing your credentials or author tagline.
- Book Covers – High resolution for print and low resolution for online use.
- Contact Information – Make this easy to find, include email address, phone number, and address if applicable. See these tips (link didn’t work) for protecting your email address online.
Other elements commonly found on author and book publicity pages include:
- Complete Press Kit – One page or document containing all of your media information in one place.
- In the Media – Provide links to previous media coverage that you’ve received. If you have appeared in any major print or broadcast media, include their logos prominently on your media page.
- Audio and/or Video Clips – Short audio or video clips of you (preferably being interviewed) allow potential interviewers to hear or see you in action.
- Interview Topics – A list of topics you can speak about.
- Sample Q & A – Radio stations, in particular, will appreciate using questions you provide for an interview
- Article Topics – A list of topics you can write about and/or suggested angles for feature stories about you. You might even provide pre-written stories or tips for the media to use.
- Fact Sheet – One-page document with pertinent facts about your industry or book topic.
- Press Releases – Links to online versions of press releases about you, your book or business.
- Media References – Nice quotes from media who have interviewed you or worked with you.
- Clients Include – If you’re a consultant, you might want to post a list of important clients (with their permission) and a few testimonial quotes from clients.
Sandra Beckwith, a former award-winning publicist who now teaches authors how to generate media attention at BuildBookBuzz (.com) advises imagining what questions journalists would ask about you and your book and making sure they can find the answers to those questions in your media room. “You want to make sure you’re providing the information they want in a format they’re familiar with,” she says. “That means you want to present that information in a factual way without hyperbole or exaggeration.”
Many online book publicity pages contain downloadable documents in PDF format, but Sandra advises just putting the text of your media materials on a web page and letting people copy and paste from there. Even when it’s convenient to copy or download your book publicity materials from your website, some people will still want you to email information to them or even send a printed media kit.
Your online author publicity page is a great promotional tool. If you don’t already have a media page on your site, get started now – you can always add to it over time. If you do have a media page, now is a good time to review and enhance it.
