You've published a book and suddenly a newspaper, radio or television
station wants to interview you or a reviewer asks you to send them a
press kit. First of all, don't panic. A press kit is not some magical
entity that only those published by the big houses can have. You can
create your own.
Here are some things you can include in your press kit to send
to interested reviewers and interviewers:
A) An author's bio detailing all your professional writing credits,
contest wins, short stories, articles etc. A little bit about what
you enjoy in your spare time, but most of it should be about your
writing life.
B) Include the clippings (or photocopies of them) from newspapers or
magazines where your articles have appeared. If you've only ever
written for the Web, print out a copy of the article and mention the
Web site where it was selected to appear.
C) An author photograph, as professional as possible.
D) A picture of your book's cover, or poster of it.
E) Any previous good reviews you've had for your book.
F) Any speaking engagements or book signing events you have coming up. Or the details of previous ones and how successful they
were.
G) You could also inlcude a previous interview. It might save them
some time and at least you know what sort of questions might be
asked of you.
If you can afford it, a nice presentation folder for your press kit
goes down well. But it isn't essential.
On your Web site, you can also list the things above, but if a newspaper or other media outlet
asks for a press kit, don't just send them to the Web site. They are busy and would probably prefer to have
everything to hand.
Make your press kit the best it can be and who knows where it might take you.
Annette Gisby is the author of Silent Screams, a thriller
about family secrets coming soon. Two of her short stories appear in the sci-fi anthology, Alien Light and later this year
her story, A Knight Without Armor will appear in the Romancing the Soul Anthology. She is also the editor of
the Twisted Tales Webzine.
