The journalist says, “Send me everything I need.” The author who is ready changes the conversation. The author who isn’t loses it.
The email arrives on a Tuesday morning. A podcast host, a newspaper reporter, a blogger — someone with an audience your book needs to reach. They’ve heard about the book. They’re interested. They want to know more.
They write five words: “Send me everything I need.”
This is the moment separating the author who is ready from the author who is not.
The unprepared author scrambles. They dig through files looking for a headshot taken three years ago on a phone. They write a bio from scratch, then rewrite it because the first version runs four paragraphs and says nothing useful. They realize they have no cover image in a format the journalist can use. They send a follow-up asking what resolution is needed. The reply takes two days. By the time it arrives, the journalist has moved on to a different story. The opportunity came and went, and the author never saw it leave.
The prepared author responds in twenty minutes. Headshot attached. Cover image attached. One-page bio attached. Three talking points attached. Contact information at the bottom. Everything the journalist needs to say yes, in one email, before lunch.
What a Media Kit Contains
A media kit is not complicated. It is a folder — digital or physical — holding five things.
A professional headshot. Not a vacation photo. Not a snapshot cropped from a group picture. A clear, well-lit image of the author looking like someone who takes their work seriously. This image will appear beside every article, every podcast listing, every event flyer. It is the author’s face to the public. It should look like it was chosen on purpose.
A high-resolution cover image. The journalist or event coordinator will need this for their website, their social media post, their newsletter. If the image is too small or too blurry to reproduce, it will not be used.
A one-page author bio. Not the story of your life. The relevant facts: who you are, what you write, what qualifies you to write it, and where readers can find your work. Written in third person so the journalist can drop it directly into the article without rewriting.
Three to five talking points. The ideas, themes, or questions making the book interesting to an audience beyond readers. A journalist does not want to summarize your book. A journalist wants an angle — a reason this story belongs in front of their audience today. The talking points give them one. Write them as questions the journalist can ask you. Make their job easy and they will make yours easier.
Contact information. Name, email, phone number. The person the journalist calls when they have a follow-up question at four in the afternoon.
Five items. One folder. Built once. Used for years.
The Author Who Sets the Standard
I tell writers all the time: if you want to see what steady, meaningful engagement looks like, look to Mary Ann Poll. She’s not just a writer — she’s active. She’s a charter member of Author Masterminds. She maintains a podcast, Real Ghost Chatter. She shows up for interviews, contributes to discussions, and responds to readers. She doesn’t disappear between books.
Mary Ann is ready. When the call comes — the podcast invitation, the interview request, the event coordinator asking for materials — she doesn’t scramble. She sends the kit. The conversation moves forward. The opportunity becomes a feature, an appearance, a connection reaching readers she would never have found on her own.
This is not talent. This is preparation. And preparation is available to every author willing to spend one afternoon assembling five items into a folder.
Build It Now
The media kit is not built when the opportunity arrives. It is built before the opportunity arrives. The author who waits for the email before assembling the materials is the author who replies two days late to a journalist who has already moved on.
Build it during the production window. Have the headshot taken. Save the cover image in high resolution. Write the bio. Draft the talking points. Put them in a folder on your desktop where you can find them in thirty seconds.
The next time someone says, “Send me everything I need,” you will. And the conversation will not end with your email. It will begin with it.
The Power of Authors by Evan and Lois Swensen explores what it means to write with purpose — and why the authors who show up prepared reach further than the ones who scramble.
The Power of Authors is available from Amazon or your favorite bookseller: http://evanswensen.com. If you’d like an autographed copy, you can order it here: http://bit.ly/4pgmzjM.
Author Campaign Method (ACM) for Authorpreneurs
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. Author Campaign Method (ACM) of sales and marketing is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authorpreneurs who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for them.
Release Party
Web Presence
Book Signings
Amazon Author Page
Facebook Profile and Facebook Page
Active Social Media Participation
Ebook Cards
The Great Alaska Book Fair: October 8, 2016
Costco Book Signings
eBook Cards
Benjamin Franklin Award
Jim Misko Book Signing at Barnes and Noble
Cortex is for serious authors and will probably not be of interest to hobbyists. We recorded our Cortex training and information meeting. If you’re a serious author, and did not attend the meeting, and would like to review the training information, kindly let us know. Authors are required to have a Facebook author page to use Cortex.
Correction:
We take the quote by Marcella Smith, Small Press Business Manager, Barnes & Noble seriously: “The author is essential to the success of the book, giving energy behind the book to make it something that a customer will come in and ask for. That is what makes the difference in a book that sells, that develops legs, and has a life of its own. Otherwise the book goes on the shelf and stays there for three months. Then it gets returned.”
This is Publication Consultants’ motivation for constantly striving to assist authors sell and market their books. ACM is Publication Consultants’ plan to accomplish this so that our authors’ books have a reasonable opportunity for success. We know the difference between motion and direction. ACM is direction! ACM is the process for authors who are serious about bringing their books to market. ACM is a boon for serious authors, but a burden for hobbyist. We don’t recommend ACM for hobbyists.
We’re the only publisher we know of that provides authors with book signing opportunities. Book signing are appropriate for hobbyist and essential for serious authors. To schedule a book signing kindly go to our website, <
An Author Page on Amazon Author Central is a serious author ACM requirement and desirable for the hobbyist. Author Central is a free resource designed to help authors become more active participants in the promotion of their books. In Author Central you can manage an Author Page, update information about your books, and view Customer Reviews and sales information for your bibliography. If you don’t already have an Author Page on 
We hear authors complain about all the personal stuff on Facebook. Most of these complaints are because the author doesn’t understand the difference difference between a Facebook profile and a Facebook page. Simply put, a profile is for personal things for friends and family; a page is for business. If your book is just a hobby, then it’s fine to have only a Facebook profile and make your posts for friends and family; however, if you’re serious about your writing, and it’s a business with you, or you want it to be business, then you need a Facebook page as an author. It’s simple to tell if it’s a page or a profile. A profile shows how many friends and a page shows how many likes. Here’s a link <> to a straight forward description on how to set up your author Facebook page.
Active Social Media Participation
Mosquito Books has a new location in the Anchorage international airport and is available for signings with 21 days notice. Jim Misko had a signing there yesterday. His signing report included these words, “Had the best day ever at the airport . . ..”
The Lyin Kings: The Wannabe World Leaders
Time and Tide
ReadAlaska 2014
Readerlink and Book Signings
2014 Independent Publisher Book Awards Results
Bonnye Matthews Radio Interview
Rick Mystrom Radio Interview
When he published those overseas blogs as the book The Innocents Abroad, it would become a hit. But you couldn’t find it in bookstores.
More NetGalley
Mary Ann Poll
Bumppo
Computer Spell Checkers
Seven Things I Learned From a Foreign Email
2014 Spirit of Youth Awards
Book Signings
Blog Talk Radio
Publication Consultants Blog
Book Signings
Don and Lanna Langdok
Ron Walden
Book Signings Are Fun
Release Party Video
Erin’s book, 
Heather’s book, 
New Books