Media Kit- Something to do over Holiday Week!

When you’re starting out as author you’re still figuring out your unique voice, your brand’s identity and you don’t have the sexy stats just yet. But don’t be discouraged. Everyone starts from ground zero.

I’ll outline below how you can position yourself in the best light even if you don’t have the likes, followers or traffic of more established personal brands. If you pay attention to detail and always present yourself professionally, you’ll outshine 90% of your competition.

This week I will be discussing through my posts:

? What exactly is a media kit? (and do you need one)

? What to include in your media kit (yes, you can include stats even if your blog is new)

? How to create a professional looking media kit (even if you have no graphic design or tech skills)

? When and how to use your newly created media kit (the goal is to get paid, right?!)

So, what exactly is a media kit?

A media kit is a document that summarizes the main achievements, key stats and must-know information for your blog and/or social platforms (i.e. YouTube, Instagram, Twitter etc). Basically, your media kit outlines how great you and your brand are and its goal is to entice potential collaborators to work with you over your peers.

A media kit can be as short as one page or contain several pages. Think of it like a resume or CV. The length depends largely on how long you’ve been in the game and how established your brand is. A newer blogger/influencer will likely have a 1-2 page media kit, whereas a business/celebrity with a full-blown team and some overhead will have a media kit with several pages.

What should you include in your media kit?

This is pretty straight-forward. Include a succinct bio on you and/or your boo. Some stats to illustrate why you’re worth working with (more on this below). If you have services, provide a list of services offered and your rate card (how much you charge for these services). Finally, you obviously need to include your contact information (with your site/and social media handles).

Publicity Landing Page/ Media kit

? Contact information

? Professional bio written in third person

? Basic book info including formats available, price and ISBN number

? Book bio

? High resolution headshots in both color and black and white

? High resolution cover image

? Locations where your book can be found both online and offline

? List of previous books

? Endorsements or testimonials

? Target audience demographics

? Story ideas for journalists

? Possible interview questions

? Book excerpt

? Behind the book (where the idea for the book came from)

? Page on why your book is important or relevant

In my opinion, the items listed above are the minimum sections needed. Some may argue that you don’t need to include your rate card because you could put off some brands from working with you if you price your services too high but look if you’re in this to make money then state it up front.

There are too many speakers, traveling children's book authors (school appearences, etc), authors out here working for free or for peanuts.

QUICK TIP: If the thought of negotiating makes you squirm, create a generic email address like [email protected] and negotiate via this email instead. You could even go as far as to claim you are your own “manager”. This will remove you from the negotiation process and free you up to be bolder than you would if you were communicating as yourself.

What numbers should I include if my following is low (like, really low)?!

I feel your pain. Starting this platform has been humbling as I’m used to dealing with the big numbers my social media pages have but then it hit me that I don’t have to confine myself to using subscriber or follower numbers in my stats. There’s an emphasis on engagement right now. All the social media platforms are changing their algorithms to reward those accounts with high comments, likes and shares. These could be the numbers you share when starting out.

Instead of listing that you have 906 followers on Instagram, state that you have 4,696 average impressions per week. Instead of saying you have only 294 followers on Facebook, brag about having 84,965 monthly views. You get the idea!

So that’s it! I hope this helped? Comment below and let me know if it did or if you have any questions!

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