It\u2019s hard to find the time to do everything you \u201cshould\u201d to promote your books, but one of the easiest (and most over-looked) tasks is creating your online press room.<\/p>\n

I use the word \u201ceasiest\u201d because you probably have the press kit elements you need already. If you don’t, you certainly have the information you need to create them \u2013 you just need to do some editing and tweaking to put that material into the right format.<\/p>\n

Not familiar with the concept? An online press room is a home for information the press and bloggers need to write about you and your book.<\/p>\n

Here’s why you need one and what you need to include.<\/p>\n

4 reasons to have a press room<\/h2>\n

Whether you label your press materials on your toolbar as \u201cpress room,\u201d \u201cfor the press,\u201d or \u201cmedia materials,\u201d your online press kit serves several purposes. They include:<\/p>\n

\n
• It gives journalists everything they need to report on or reference your book, often without needing to contacting you.<\/li>\n
• It leads journalists to you when they\u2019re looking for interview sources.<\/li>\n
• It boosts your site’s search engine optimization (SEO)<\/a>, that process that helps your site show up when people search for terms related to your book.<\/li>\n
• It provides readers with information that could help them decide that your book is exactly what they need.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n

  Must-have and nice-to-have elements<\/h2>\n

  Here are eight elements you\u2019ll want to include in your online press kit.<\/p>\n

  1. Author bio<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  Is this on your book\u2019s jacket flap or back cover already? Just copy and paste.<\/p>\n

  A two- to three-paragraph biography is enough. Journalists don’t need your life story. (Be careful not to make these four author bio mistakes<\/a>, though.)<\/p>\n

  2. Book announcement press release<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  This versatile tool helps people understand your book’s<\/span> value. When writing yours, include an objective description, information on why people will benefit from reading it, your author credentials, and how to purchase it.<\/p>\n

  Haven’t written one before, or you’ve written one but it isn’t working hard enough for you? I’ve got detailed, step-by-step instructions in Get Your Book in the News: How to Write a Press Release That Announces Your Book<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n

  3. Author photo<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  Provide a professional, current author photo in a JPG format that journalists and bloggers can save and use. Offer it in both high- and low-resolution versions.<\/p>\n

  This needs to be a high-quality image, not a selfie you took with your phone. Get tips on how to get an affordable head shot in “Get a better author photo without spending a fortune<\/a>.”<\/p>\n

  4. Book cover image<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  Media outlets and bloggers will want to use your book cover as an illustration, so make it possible for them to do so without contacting you for the image.<\/p>\n

  As with your author photo, offer it in both high- and low-resolution versions.<\/p>\n

  5. Author Q&A<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  The question-and-answer list is particularly popular with radio talk show hosts. These busy people don\u2019t have time to read guest books, so they rely on publicity materials you provide.<\/p>\n

  Include answers with your questions. Doing so gives all interviewers, whether they’re from a radio station, popular blog, or magazine, a sense of your viewpoint and depth of knowledge.<\/p>\n

  6. Optional fact sheet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  If you find yourself continually referring to specific details during conversations about your book (with the media or others), summarize them in a fact sheet. It will save you \u2013 and them \u2013 time, and will contribute to your SEO.<\/p>\n

  List the facts with bullets.<\/p>\n

  7. Optional tip sheet<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  A tip sheet is a type of news release that offers tips or advice in a bulleted or numbered format. It\u2019s used by both fiction and nonfiction authors to get widespread media and blog exposure.<\/p>\n

  Get a sense of how to write them<\/a>, and how they get used, in the article \u201c4 tips to show seniors you care during the coronavirus<\/a>\u201d on the USA Today <\/em>site.<\/p>\n

  8. Optional quiz<\/strong><\/h3>\n

  Could you create a quiz or two related to your book\u2019s topic?<\/p>\n

  Magazines, newspapers, bloggers, and radio talk show hosts like them, so give them what they want. They\u2019re fun to create, too.<\/p>\n

  How you present your online press kit<\/h2>\n

  Present your written information in a format that can be copied and pasted. That’s not necessarily PDF files. When copied and pasted, some PDF text loses its formatting, which makes it useless.<\/p>\n

  Either make it available as text — just like the text on your other website pages — or as a Word file.<\/p>\n

  Author Candy Harrington\u2019s press room<\/a> for her book, 22 Accessible Road Trips: Driving Vacations for Wheelers and Slow<\/em> Walkers, is an excellent example of how you want to do this. At that link, select “press release,” then click on each option.<\/p>\n

  If you need help creating these materials, check out my popular author workbook, Build Book Buzz Publicity Forms & Templates<\/em><\/a>. This time-saving resource that includes instructions for creating these elements and many other publicity tools used by authors features fill-in-the blanks forms and samples for everything.<\/p>\n

  What\u2019s in your author press room? Please share a link to it, too!\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

  ---

  \n

  (Editor\u2019s note: This article was first published in August 2012. It has been updated and expanded.)<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  <\/a><\/p>\n

  It\u2019s hard to find the time to do everything you \u201cshould\u201d to promote your books, but one of the easiest (and most over-looked) tasks is creating your online press room.<\/p>\n

  I use the word \u201ceasiest\u201d because you probably have the press kit elements you need already. If you don’t, you certainly have the information you need to create them \u2013 you just need to do some editing and tweaking to put that material into the right format.<\/p>\n

  Not familiar with the concept? An online press room is a home for information the press and bloggers need to write about you and your book.<\/p>\n

  Here’s why you need one and what you need to include.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":19652,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","_kad_post_transparent":"","_kad_post_title":"","_kad_post_layout":"","_kad_post_sidebar_id":"","_kad_post_content_style":"","_kad_post_vertical_padding":"","_kad_post_feature":"","_kad_post_feature_position":"","_kad_post_header":false,"_kad_post_footer":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[10,25,12],"tags":[32,155,156],"class_list":["post-2761","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-book-publicity","category-fiction","category-tools","tag-author-press-kit","tag-online-press-room","tag-website-press-room"],"yoast_head":"\n