Author Tools & Resources, Book Marketing & PR

14 Items to Include on Your Author Web Site’s Media/ Press Page

Above is an example of a media page from author Kathy Lynn Harris’s website. So do you need a media page (also known as a media kit?)

If you are considering a blog tour, are contacting reviewers, want to be featured on blogs, websites or your local or national newspaper/ magazine, a media page is a killer resource to have. It makes reporters and bloggers owners’ lives a ton easier (trust me I know all about this!) and this in turn means that they will be more likely to feature you.

If all the information about yourself and your book is in one place, it’s just so much easier to whip up a short post or feature. This is the aim of the media page, to cater to the media folk, so keep them in mind when building the most intuitive and informative media page possible.

Here is a list of 14 useful things you can include on it.

1. A summary of your press attention to date. This can be images and links to PR you have already received to show off a little.

2. Author Bio for Press. This is a professional yet fun summary that doesn’t include your whole life story. Keep it to under 150-300 words and make sure it’s interesting!

3. A Book Description. Short and interesting enough to be lifted and used in it’s entirety on another site or article.

4. Author Photo: Upload or attach a link to a professional, high resolution headshot. Not you at dinner with your other half or hanging out on the sofa in your Christmas sweater!

5. Book Info: The vital statistics – title, subtitle, genre, ISBN, no. of pages, formats available, publisher and release date.

6. Reviews and endorsements: This can be sentences lifted from Amazon.com reviews, or endorsements from professional reviewers or other authors/ celebrities (blurbs) if available.

7. Press releases, if any.

8. Buying information: Links to the relevant retailers.

9. Contact information. Your email address or that of a publicity rep, Twitter handle if you have one.

10. Interview topic ideas that are relevant to your book. Give the reviewer/ reporter/ site owner some food for thought.

11. News pegs. How does the book tie into contemporary issues, politics, news? Even if your book is a fiction, you can be considered an “expert” in the topics and issues presented in your story. Your personal story is bound to influence your writing, so if you’re not shy present your own experiences in relation to your book, too.

12. Sample chapter/ excerpt: (A link to) Don’t go overboard or include anything with spoilers! Enough text to pique interest is all that is needed here.

13. Book trailer/ audio file (interview)

14. Info on your target readers: Who reads and buys your books? Why? This info helps a journalist, blogger, or other potential reviewer know if you appeal to their own target audience.

And there you have it, a Media-friendly press page! It might take you a few hours to get all of this information together,  but the content will be useful for ALL of your promotional efforts, and will help you get the media attention you deserve by putting you a cut above the rest. Head here if you need more resources for writers.

See my example for my book Wow! Glowing Bride in 30 Days here. See an example put together by 30 Day Books for the author Kathy Lynn Harris here.