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.

Ten Tips for Your Elevator Pitch

There is one thing writers at any point in their career need to have prepared: an elevator pitch.

The last time I asked an author "what's your book about?" I got a fifteen minute rambling monologue. I know a lot about the guy's son (?) but still have no idea what his book is about. If I don't know what it's about, I'm not going to buy it.

Whether you're looking for an agent, on submission, or a multi-published author, you need to be able to quickly and concisely tell other people what your book is about. And you need to prepare so that you don't find yourself hemming and hawing the next time someone asks that golden question:

So, what's your book about?

Anytime someone asks you this question, that is an epic opportunity. They are literally giving you the ability to pitch your book without any awkwardness or resentment. Take it! 

The sole purpose of an elevator pitch is to make the listener want to know more. Don't lose sight of that.

Here are ten tips to help you prepare your elevator pitch:

1) Take about 30 to 45 seconds to give the initial pitch. If they ask for more info or specific questions, that's the time to expand on your book, but don't talk for several minutes. (Reminder: your sole goal in an elevator pitch is to make the listener want to know more.)

2) Focus on story, not themes, emotional journeys, or background info. If you are pitching a published book to a reader, do not discuss your publishing path. If they want to know that, they will ask. Focus on your book.

3) Remember that you are a real person speaking to another real person. You should sound natural and conversational, not like you're memorizing something you've written.

4) You must include: genre, conflict, stakes. Most writers leave out the genre, but unless it's already obviously apparent some other way, start off with something like "Dragons are People, Too is a young adult urban fantasy about..."

5) Don't use any cliched phrases. Ex: "will never be the same," "more than he bargained for," "falls into the wrong hands," "to make matters worse," "will change everything." When you have such few precious words, don't use ones that can describe any hundreds of other books.

6) Be passionate. You can't expect others to be excited about your book if you are not.

7) Don't editorialize your book. Ex: "It's a fast-paced thrill ride.." SHOW that it's fast-paced without saying it.

8) Don't discount yourself. Do not, under any circumstances, say things like "oh, this probably sucks, but..." or "it's not that interesting.." Whatever you say, people are going to believe you, so if you tell them it sucks, they're already not that interested.

9) Consider comp titles and use them if they work really well for your book. For some books, comp titles don't work. Make an attempt, but be willing to drop this strategy if it's not working for your book.

10) Practice ad nauseum. Practice on your friends and family until they could give you the pitch themselves. When you get so comfortable with your pitch that you can mumble it flawlessly the second you wake up, that's when you're not going to freeze or mess up when asked the golden question by someone you truly want to impress.

Good luck!

Readers First: A New Spin on Marketing

My book is in the world, my book is in the world! Now buy it, buy it, buy it!

(please?)

('cause, I gotta eat . . . and maybe, one day, get another book deal . . .)

Such is the case of every author with a book for sale. And especially nowadays, authors have to become their own publicists, sales reps, and marketers. Selling your book is a full-time job, which leaves little time for writing. 

As a debut author, this is something I've struggled with this year: the push-pull of "am I writer or am I a salesperson?" has guided my every workday from January 1, 2015 (and my book, Becoming Jinn, came out on April 21). 

I'm one of those debut authors who has done a lot: from blog posts to bookstores to festivals to giveaways to conferences, I've been in the world selling my book. I haven't been writing as much, but that's something I'm rectifying. And next year, when the sequel, Circle of Jinn, releases on May 17, 2016, I hope to have a better handle on balancing that push-pull. That's another blog post for another time!

This post is about the one aspect of marketing my book that I've found the most fun and rewarding: putting the reader first.

This should be a no brainer. Books are for readers, right? Yes, but sometimes, when all you want to do is reach more readers, that simple fact gets lost in the noise.

I recently completed a project with some of my best author friends that brought the joy of connecting with readers to the forefront. I'm sharing the project with you here in the hopes that it inspires you to find new (and enjoyable) ways to market your own book.

I live in New England, and this area is chock-full of talent. Middle grade and young adult authors have a strong footing here, and yet many readers are unaware of just how many writers live among them.

Who knows? The creator of a child's favorite story just might be behind them in line at the movie theater or next to them at the community pool. Authors such as Jeff Kinney, Suzanne Collins, and Rick Riordan call New England home. Not bad company to be in.

One day, Massachusetts-based authors Jen Malone, Jen Brooks, Trisha Leaver, and I were chatting (as we are wont to do), and we said: "We eat local, we shop local, why not read local?" 

And such was born our Read Local Challenge. We created a poster celebrating 30 MG and YA books written by New England authors, appropriate for the middle school level. We are distributing this poster free to more than 500 schools and libraries in the region, in addition to making them available at library conferences. Our goal is to reach as many schools and libraries as we can and encourage students and patrons to read local. As a bonus, the schools that read the most titles will win prizes from us, from swag to in-person school visits. 

This poster has our four books on it, of course. But it also has the book covers of 26 other authors. The only thing we asked of those other authors was to give us a cool fact about themselves that we could put on the poster to increase the fun factor. This project took a lot of time, effort, and funds, all provided by the four of us. But this is one of the most exciting and rewarding "marketing" efforts I've done, and I think the reason comes down to one thing: readers first.

This is not just promotion for me and my book, it's celebrating reading, something I am passionate about, and it's celebrating the region in which I live, something I'm also pretty jazzed about. I'm proud of us New England authors (and yes, all the snow does give us a lot of time to hole up and write).

And in turn, readers are responding in an overwhelming positive fashion to the project. 

Kids are loving the poster and the challenge. They want them to hang in their rooms. They want to check off all the ones they've read and start reading more. Librarians and teachers are excited as well, hanging them in their spaces and asking for more. This is a project that is bringing us closer to that elusive species: book readers. And in part it's doing that because it's not just about us four sponsoring the poster: it's about all authors and all readers. That's what makes it cool. That's the kind of marketing I hope to do more of in 2016.

What out-of-the-box initiatives have you done to reach your market?

Are you teacher or librarian in New England? Interested in the poster for your classroom or library? Visit my Web site for more information.

Are you in need of ideas for marketing your book? I'm offering consulting on this very topic. Check out my Web site for more information.

Lori Goldstein is the author of Becoming Jinn (Feiwel and Friends/Macmillan, now available!, sequel, Circle of Jinn, May 17, 2016, available for preorder). With a degree in journalism and more than 10 years of experience, Lori is a freelance copyeditor and manuscript consultant for all genres. She focuses on the nitty-gritty, letting writers focus on the writing.

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Yes, That's Spam; No, Don't Do It: How to Avoid Alienating Readers

We all hate SPAM. Every author knows that spamming potential readers is a surefire way to alienate them (RIGHT?) - so why do some insist on invading your online space with their advertisements?

It turns out, based on some conversations I had this week, some authors don't believe what they're doing is SPAM. So here's my handy-dandy, not comprehensive guide, called "Yes, that's spam."

1) Direct Messages

Unless you are having an actual conversation (not argument) or the person has asked you to DM her some information, resist the urge to send a private message on any social media site.

The absolute fastest way to get someone who may have been interested in your books to unfollow you is to send one of those gross "thanks for following messages" immediately after they follow you. Bonus points if it's obviously automated.

For ex:

Thanks for following me! Check out my newest release Stupid Book on Amazon! http://amzn.to/1C53u9V (service of @tweetspammerco)

*yes that is a link to my alter-ego's book. Hey, I needed a link for my example. And you're in my space, after all.

This is not limited to sales links! Telling people where to find your website or other social media, or even messages without links are still considered spam. Private messages are a place for conversation, not for promotion of any kind.

It's like: Those obnoxious phone calls just as you're sitting down to dinner

2) Posting on Someone Else's Virtual Space

Posting about your book on someone's Facebook Wall. Promoting your book on a FB group that has not specifically invited you to do so. Using the comments of another person's blog post to link to/talk about your book. Posting about your book in forums not specifically intended for that sort of thing.

Really, posting about your books on any online space that you do not "own" and you have not been specifically invited to use for that purpose is always a big no-no.

It's like: Walking around a book festival, slapping stickers of your book cover on people without asking.

3) Goodreads "Events" and "Book Suggestions"

I know that someone is telling you to use Goodreads Events to announce your book launch and that someone is telling you to use Goodreads Book Suggestion feature to suggest your own book to anyone who's naive enough to friend you.

Someone wants people to hate you. I want people to like you and I'm saying: don't do this.

Events should be an actual event that someone can attend (virtual events are a thing!), not just an announcement of a book launch. And the Book Suggestion feature's intended use is for people who actually know each other (again, online friendships are a thing!) to suggest books they enjoyed to other people they think might also enjoy them.

It's like: Those pieces of mail that make it look like you're going to get in trouble with the law, but really they're just trying to make you sign up for a loan.

4) Tags

Tagging people in a picture when it's just a promotional image for your book. Mentioning people in a tweet that is promo for your book (or even tweeting a bunch of usernames with something impersonal). Using hashtags meant for communities in promotional posts.

It's like: #2 on this list and also implying that the tagged person endorses your product.

5) Repetitive Promotional Messages

If you tweet the same message about your book every day with a link, rethink that strategy. Also, if you post only about your book and nothing else, mix it up. You may think this is ok because those people have chosen to follow/like you, but you're not building your readership this way. Either your readers are going to unfollow you, or your message becomes background noise.

It's like: a preacher giving the same exact sermon every Sunday.


If you are doing any of these things, you are without-a-doubt alienating potential readers. I know some authors will argue with me, but you're deluding yourself if you think these things are a good use of your promotional time. I promise you the number of books you may sell will never outweigh the books you will never sell because you made someone feel like a customer and not like a person.

Yes, that's spam. No, don't do it.