Friday, December 6, 2013

Media Kit? What’s that? Do I need one?

 

Today we are talking Media Kits.

After a few inquiries from authors I thought I would share some info and importance regarding Media Kits.

What is the difference between a Media Kit and a Press Kit?

They sounds the same right? But they are not. A Press Kit is an author’s portfolio. This is what you would use to submit to magazine’s like RT, USA Today and so on. This is a professionally designed kit that includes all the necessary detail of you as the author and your work.

You're Books, you're media exposure, reviews snippets etc. This is what we call the ompf of the author.  Some Press Kits will include all you're work, some would only be for you're next release. It all depends on the situation.

A Media Kit is something smaller used for online sites like blogs. It just a basic information kit. The kit will include your book details as in title, series, audience, genre, date published, number of pages etc. Your book cover, blurb and book links. Some excerpts of the book, it can be a chapter or just a few short paragraphs. The author bio, links and picture. That’s it! No review snippets, no media exposure and all the extra portfolio detail like the Press Kit. Short and powerful.

Why do I need a Media Kit?

If you are an author approaching an online site, like a blog for example, to either review or host you and your book/s you need this. 95% of all bloggers out there blog on a part time basis. This means that they go to work, have a crappy day, come back home and do all the evening things like dinner etc. Afterwards, usually late at night they start blogging for the next day.

Imagine you’re one of these bloggers and they just finished your review and is about to post it to the blog. They don’t have a cover, blurb or books links. They don’t have your author pic, bio or author links. Do you really think they are going to surf the internet to try and find them?

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No, your review will be posted and that’s it. No other detail will accompany your review to direct interested readers to your book.

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Readers that is interested, will now be surfing the web trying to find your book, because the review sounded awesome, some find it - some just don’t bother with the hassle.

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If you have submitted a Media Kit with your review the blogger would have posted all the relevant detail included the book links. Readers can easily click on the link and be redirected to the exact spot where you as author wanted them. No hassles, and no extra effort.

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Starting to get the picture?

If you considering doing a virtual tour, a Media Kit is a must. No blog will be hosting your stop if you don’t have all the information already ready for them. A lot of the tour companies out there, like us, will assist the author and create that beautiful, yet powerful, Media Kit needed. The hosts have all the detail neatly packed in a downloaded email and voila, you're being hosted without any effort or incorrect details.

You can go even further and host the media kit on your blog or website. Let’s say the blogger have lost the email, it’s 2 am in the morning and you're asleep, what now? The blogger is going to jump to your website and see what they can find and right there is either a page with the complete media kit or a download link to it. See -  no hassles.

A Media Kit is a must for any online representation!!

Don’t have a Media Kit? Check out our Author Services tab and find out more.

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