Marketing your book is not always easy, but your chances of success are higher when you’re working with the right tools. A press or media kit is a great marketing and sales resource. A proper media kit makes you look professional and prepared, and helps you promote your work in an efficient way. It should contain all the necessary information for reporters, bloggers or book reviewers who want to write about your book. These are the must-haves:

1. Your author biography and a high quality photograph

If you already have a website and published works, then you probably have an author bio ready as well. Your author bio should be written in third person and should be 1-2 paragraphs in length. It should contain your name, place of birth and residence, what you do for a living, any relevant academic degrees, and your specialties. A photograph should accompany your bio. This should be a high quality (professional) headshot.

2. Book cover images and other visuals, for use in web and print

Make sure to include an image of your book cover. This should be in high resolution, 300 dpi for print and at least 72 dpi for web. If your book contains diagrams or illustrations, you can include a selection of these as well.

3. Reader testimonials

Endorsements and testimonials are also a must-have. Include these with your reader’s name (and title if relevant). Ideally, you should obtain these from industry experts and influencers that can offer a trusted opinion on your work.

4. Book information and summary

Include a summary of your book as well as its release date, number of pages, the demographic it targets, its genre and other relevant details.

5. Video or text interview

Interviews are also a handy source of information. If you’ve done video or text-based interviews before, you should also include these in your media kit. You can also interview yourself to share a sample interview with media representatives.

6. Book excerpt or sample chapter

If you want to give reporters a sneak peek of your work, you can also include a book excerpt or a sample chapter. Make sure to share this as a PDF.

How should you share and host your media kit?

The most simple way to share and host your media kit is to put everything together in a single ZIP file and upload it to your site. You can then share the file link via email or social media. People should be able to download it instantly. Alternatively, you can share the files through Dropbox or WeTransfer. Was this post useful? Anything else you would add in your media kit? Let us know in the comments!