Category Archives: press kit

Busy-ness!

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Ever since the book trailer went up last weekend, I’ve been busy with more and more things to tend to as I move closer to the release of A Voice for Kanzas. It’s exciting…and a bit overwhelming at times.

Here are a few of the tasks I’ve been working on this week:

  1. Finishing the press kit (it’s being uploaded now)
  2. Writing discussion questions for teachers and/or book clubs to use (I’ll send these to Lynn at Kane Miller for her to post on the KM website).
  3. Requesting to have my new website (this one) posted on Missouri Writes for Kids
  4. Sending news about the book’s release to MO-SCBWI for their newsletter
  5. Preparing information for TWO bloggers who will feature me on upcoming posts
  6. Preparing for the Apocalypsies’ “blog hop/scavenger hunt” that begins tomorrow and getting all the information posted on my home page
  7. Having some wonderful journals made to use for prizes for the blog hop and for contests on my own web page
  8. PLANNING MY LAUNCH PARTY!!! I have just a few more details to confirm before I begin announcing it and sending out invitations.

On top of all this, I’ve been asked to do a school visit in a few weeks, and I’ve been asked to write an article for the MO-SCBWI newsletter!

Review copies of the book and press releases have gone out. Now I just have to avoid nail-biting as I wait for the first reviews to appear. There is still much to do, but I’m loving every minute of it!

Ironing out the Press Kit

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I’ve been working on this element of my promotional package for a while now. In addition to Susan Raab’s book, a friend sent me a link to a website with instructions, so I’ve been trying to follow that as well.

The first component of the PK was images. The website advised both an author photo and cover art. It also suggested having three images sizes (large, medium, and thumbnail) of each. I’m not sure if that’s really necessary, since most people have access to software that will easily shrink larger, high-res images to smaller ones, but I did it anyway.

The second piece of the PK puzzle was my author bio. Again, the website suggested short (50 words or so), medium (approx. 150 words), and long (as long as I wanted it to be–mine is about a page, single-spaced).

Susan Raab suggests a Q&A document in the press kit. This is a kind of interview with questions like “What led you to write this book?” etc. Of course, I get questions like this from people who know me all the time. Also, author and blogger Cynthia Leitich Smith has issued a very generous invitation for the Apocalypsies to submit answers to some questions, and she will put these on her blog near the release date of our books. She gave us many questions, so that we could choose just a few to answer for her. I used some of her questions in my Q&A page, along with others of my own. The purpose of this piece is to give some information to media outlets (newspapers, radio, TV) who might be thinking of featuring me.

The other component in the PK is an actual Press Release. Raab gives a good example of one, but I think it is too early for me to really put this together. Lynn is in charge of marketing at Kane Miller, and I know she will put together a press release when we are near the book’s release date. Raab says the press release should also have some excerpts to reviews, and of course it’s still too early for that.

So most of the things I need for the PK are ready. My only hurdle is figuring out how to upload the folder to my website. Luckily, my son can help me with this part! It’s not there yet, folks, but keep watching. Soon, you’ll see another tab on my site marked Press Kit.