Published Authors: Your Basic Author Media Kit

My day job is to plan events, mainly author events.

I have emailed my manager the words "I just can't." twice today.

Because I have spent the entire day dealing with authors who don't have the most basic materials they should have in order to promote their book, I thought I'd develop a short list of the things you should have readily available once you have a book published. Some of these may seem obvious -- and I thought so too, until today.

So please, make it easy on anyone who wants to help you promote your book and have these things at the ready the day your book is published (or earlier if you want day-of-release publicity). I like to have them saved in my google drive and dropbox so that I can access them anywhere with an internet connection.

1) A high-resolution jpg of your book cover.

At the very least, it should be 500 pixels wide and more long. I routinely get 250px wide book covers. I can't put those up on a big screen. I can't print those in an event program booklet.

Do not copy this into the body of the email. Do not put it into a word document and send it that way. Both of these reduce the quality of the image automatically. Attach it to email as a jpg attachment.

2) A high-resolution professional headshot.

If you don't have the money to get a professional photographer to shoot one, check out my post here on faking it.

No bathroom selfies, please. Unless it is a distinct and obvious part of your author brand, no purses or bra straps. Please.

Same quality and delivery guidelines as discussed in #1.

3) Your book blurb.

Well-edited. Typo-free. Not in first person from the author's perspective, unless it's a memoir.

4) Direct, clean links where your book is available for purchase. Include Goodreads even though it is not a retailer.

5) Your bio.

To be on the safe side, have the following versions prepared: 1-2 sentences, 1-2 paragraphs, a page long. Only send the page-long one if specifically requested. Most people want the 1-2 paragraphs version.

6) Your web links. Website, Twitter, Facebook, and anywhere else you maintain an author presence.

Don't make me google you. Especially if, for instance, there are violent criminals with your name who rank higher in search results than you do. For example. Hypothetically. *cough*

7) Book review quotes.

1-4 sentence quotes with source, linked if possible.


Bonus: Include numbers 3 through 7, in that order, in a single simply-formatted word document that can be sent off at a moment's notice. This is sometimes called a "one-sheet." It can include embedded images of your cover and photo, but these should not be the only way you send these files. Do not get fancy with formatting. This should be informative first.

Help yourself by helping those who are trying to give you free publicity have all the information they'll need. Please. I'm begging you.

Traversing the Trilogy - Where it all began

Over the next few months, I'm going to talk about what led up to my decision to self-publish The Domino Project trilogy. With the whole thing out there now, I'm going to reflect back on its road, and the things I learned.

The road to my decision

Way back in June 2011 I realized pantsing books wasn't working for me. I'm a very organized person, and really, should have known all along that I needed to be a plotter. After some research and adapting questions I found online, I ended up plotting out The Domino Project. Very loosely. After a couple of days, I had a long and detailed plot outline for Chameleon. Then I proceeded to draft out books two and three.

 That was my first mistake, but I'll come back to that a bit later.

At the end of 2011, with a complete trilogy under my belt, I began editing Chameleon (during NaNo I believe). By February 2012 I was mostly done with edits, and a few friends convinced me to enter Operation Awesome, and the very first PitchMadness.

I did - and had a ninja agent request from Operation Awesome, and two agents who wanted my full in PitchMadness... which evolved into an offer from one of them. Chameleon hooked my first agent for me.

Needless to say, I love this book. But it was only ever subbed out to five editors, and when my first agent left the business, my second agent wouldn't read it. I just don't think it was high on her priority list - after all, she didn't sign me with it. A lot of things happened that led me to the decision to put Chameleon out there myself.

In total I went through: 

• Two agents 
• Four submitted books 
• Approximately 55 failed editor submissions 
• With about 20 no responses 
• But two of the responses got REALLY close 
• One R&R that due to circumstances never got to me 
• And about 20 of those 35 responses said my genre was bad market timing. 

Bad market timing has been my nemesis for years now. I do not write to market, and I don't know how to. I write the stories I would like to read, and hope they coincide, but my luck just isn't there and that's okay. I get it.

Chameleon is a labor of love. It changed a lot from its inception to the final draft. Of which there were about twelve. Which - and now I'll come back to it - means that books two and three sort of had to be mostly rewritten, and entirely reworked. Probably better to have done a round or two of edits before you draft that second book... Avoids a lot of labor later on.

Fun Fact: The Domino Project is not my baby. I adore it and the characters like a mom, but it's not my baby. That's a different book, one I hope to share with people in a year or so.

To summarize:
I wrote the books, I put in the effort. I've edited, been in the query trenches, been in submission hell and wracked up rejections.

I didn't want to wait another 5-10 years and hope that Chameleon's genre came back into the light, and then hope that an agent and an editor loved it. So, I bit the bullet, went over the manuscript with a fine tooth comb again, had all the books content and copy edited, professional covers and layouting done, and decided to put it out there myself.

And I'm damn proud of the books.

I'll go over the following things in the coming months:

• Drafting & Editing
• The Announcement and your todo list
• Choosing editors (content and copy)
• Finding a Cover artist and interior formatter
• The pros and cons of Kindle Unlimited
• The indie-stigma that permeates everything you do
• And different angles to take on marketing
• Perks and happy things!

2016 - Keep the passion burning

So it's time for my seasonal greeting to you all - Happy New Year YATopians!

Well, where to begin? Another year has rolled around and we're divided into three camps:

1) Those sparkling full of new promises and resolutions.
2) Those ruminating over last year and not quite feeling the buzz for the coming 12 months.
3) And those who couldn't care either way.

So what does this all mean for us lofty writers? Well, it means that we're all swimming in the same writing waters. We might be at different places than each other, but we can see each other over the white tips of the waves.

If nothing else, we should look at the new year not in a stressful way. We should look at it as a way to build upon what we have - whether that is craft skills, publishing goals, or simply to do what it is that we enjoy - writing.

I have one tip for anyone continuing their writing journey this year: PASSION.

For those sparkling with new promises - make sure you keep your passion alive no matter the day, week, month or year. Don't stress yourself. Make sure the passion is more important than the goal. Don't let your writing become a circle of fighting to meet goals to the detriment of your enjoyment of the written word.

For those ruminating on last year and feeling a little down in the dumps - think hard about why the negative events/thoughts/reactions are impacting so much on you doing what it is you love. Yes, you might have ambitions and dreams you haven't achieved, but that shouldn't take pride of place over the wonderful written word you are creating and growing into a magnificent story. Enjoy your art, love your words, and let the excitement of what you do wash over you.

For those who don't care either way - perhaps you are the luckiest of all. Perhaps you are continuing to float along in a blissful wave of happy writing and contented storytelling. And if you are, great. And if you're not, why not let your mind wander and find the story that grabs you and stirs up the muse and the excitement in your gut.

So, my fellow YATopians, let's imbue our writing world with all the passion that we have.

Happy 2016!

Beginnings

Day two of 2016. The year is still new. Still fresh. Still full of plans and promises. An opportunity for new beginnings, new goals, new successes. But where to start?

To quote Julie Andrews, "Start at the very beginning."

But for me, I don't really have any "beginnings" to start. I'm in the middle of several things, yet, for a couple of months, I've felt stuck in this middle. The middle of writing. The middle of indie publishing plans. The middle of a vast ocean with no sign of land. I haven't even been sure about which direction to row, so I've been sitting in my little boat, drifting over the waves, hiding from battering storms and blistering sun, ignoring all thing writing because I don't know which direction I should be rowing.

But it's time for new beginnings. It's time to start rowing.

In October, I decided to pursue indie publishing, and I haven't changed my mind. I might have felt adrift for a while, but it's time to pull out my compass and find my direction. And sometimes, going back to the beginning is the best way to find direction. I don't necessarily mean to start over, but taking the knowledge gained since starting out the first time and returning to step one, when the ideas were new and fresh. When hope and possibility felt endless. And harness that excitement and let it propel me straight through the middle.

Because while the beginning feels exciting, the ending will be so much sweeter.

Are there any projects you've felt stuck on? Let the promise of a new year and new beginnings give you a second chance.