WHAT'S IN A BOOK PUBLICITY PRESS KIT AND WHY DO YOU NEED ONE?

As a book publicist, I love creating press kits (aka "media kits") to send out to media (news editors, reporters, TV/Radio programmers, bloggers, etc.) via snail mail, e-mail, and posting online as Digital Media Kits (aka Electronic Media Kits). At its best, a press kit serves as a calling card that practically glows in the dark with two important messages:

1. "Your audience will not want to miss out on reading this book.”

2. “This author will give you an exciting interview.”

Now add a “because” after each of those statements, fill in what comes after it, and you’re on your way to a scintillating press kit!

So what’s in a press kit?

1. A ONE-SHEET

When printed out, all this info must fit on one sheet of paper.

Here’s the format I like to use:

*Book cover photo (small jpg in upper left corner).

*The Why of the Press Kit:
"(Author’s name) would be honored to be a guest on your program to speak about (book’s topic)."

*Sell Sheet Info:
List your book’s vital statistics—the same that you find on every Amazon book page:
(Title, Author, Paperback or Hard Cover, ISBN, Price, etc.)
Include author/publicist contact info; website and social media links.

*Summary:
Keep your summary brief and magnetic. This is your marketing pitch. Not hype. It should cut to the heart of what makes this book unique and attractive to its readers. And do so with enthusiasm and style. No spoilers. What would make you want to pick up this book and read it right away?

*Reviews:
Include a few terrific review blurbs. Your best bet is to ask other authors to review your book or submit it to a free but prestigious service like Midwest Book Review. Blurbs carry weight. They may ultimately convince a media host to ask to read the book. Yet newbies often expect their book to get along fine without advance reviews as it bursts out of the publishing gate.

*Author Bio with Photo:
Your bio can only be a couple lines, and focus on the most fascinating things about you. If you can’t think of anything, ask a best friend or family member to remind you.

If you print out a hard copy, you may use the back of the one sheet to include a short excerpt or a press release.

2. PHOTOS: Reporters often ask for relevant photos in addition to the author’s photo, such as a reading/signing at your book’s launch event.

3. EXCERPT: If you include a book excerpt, keep it relatively short (pretend you are contacting an ADD sufferer). If it’s not exciting, funny or intriguing…don’t send it.

Now a few words about Electronic Press Kits (aka “Digital Media Kits”):

In addition to mailing out press kits, you might also consider creating an online press kit. This will have all the info listed above, but on its own site. This serves as a kind of mini-website. Your book at-a-glance.

Here are samples of the Digital Media Kits that I've designed for authors that will give you an idea of how an Electronic Press Kit (EPK) can rock your book:

"Arrgh!"
http://arrghpresskit.blogspot.com/

"Father's Wisdom"
http://authorpresskitsbymarlansample.blogspot.com/ 

And above all…

Have fun!

____

Marlan Warren is a publicist with Roadmap Communications and its subsidiary Book Publicity by Marlan in Los Angeles. Yelp named her to its 2018 “Best Publicist in L.A.” list. She writes book reviews for the Midwest Book Review; maintains the blogs Roadmap Girl's Book Buzz and L.A. Now and Then; and is a contributor to the popular book promotion site: How to Do It Frugally. Marlan is the author of the novel, Roadmaps for the Sexually Challenged: All’s Not Fair in Love or War. A filmmaker and playwright, her nonfiction film “Reunion” was the official selection at international film festivals, and her documentary about the women of the Japanese American Internment, What did you do in the war, Mama?: Kochiyama's Crusaders, is currently in post-production. She directed her play Bits of Paradise in San Francisco and Los Angeles.

AMAZON REVIEWERS & AUTHORS BEWARE! YOUR REVIEWS MAY BE PURGED.

Update: Since I posted this all over my social media, Amazon has notified me that they have "reviewed" my reviews and decided they were Kosher enough to put back. But stay woke!

Check your book's Amazon site. Amazon is banning reviews left and right, often for no good reason.

All the reviews I wrote on Amazon have been removed. No notice. I only found out when I tried to post a negative review for defective merchandise I received yesterday, telling me that my reviews are no longer welcome on Amazon. Next, an author contacted me to say that my review disappeared from their book's Amazon page.

I have a strict honesty policy. If I don't like a book, I don't review it. Period. And when I review, I'm careful to include either a quote or items that clearly reflect that I've read and considered the book.

Right now there's a sweeping Amazon policy that will affect all of your book reviews on Amazon. Some of things to be aware of, as far as their bots are concerned:

1. If there's an indication that the reviewer and author know each other, the review can be removed.

2. If you say you received a complimentary copy, the review can be removed.

3. If 5-6 reviewers post in the same day, all those reviews can be removed. 

("Andddd...YOU'RE OUT!")

I'm not that worried. I still review for Midwest Book Review which has an excellent reputation and I'm honored to have a review "shelf" with them. And my reviews can still be found on Roadmap Girl's Book Buzz and L.A. Now & Then...plus Twitter, Facebook, etc.

AMAZON REVIEWER ALERT!

By Nate Hoffelder

Nate Hoffelder is the founder and editor of The Digital Reader

Amazon has been fighting fake reviews since at least 2012. They have deleted scads of reviews, banned paid reviews, filed suit against several batches of fake review perpetrators, and even forbidden authors from having any type of relationship with reviewers.
 

And it's still not enough. Fake reviews are still being posted, mostly due to an underlying problem.

Buzzfeed published a story earlier this week that delved into the dark underbelly of the paid review ecosystem that has sprung up to manipulate rankings on Amazon. This massive system continues to operate despite Amazon's best efforts:

The systems that create fraudulent reviews are a complicated web of subreddits, invite-only Slack channels, private Discord servers, and closed Facebook groups, but the incentives are simple: Being a five-star product is crucial to selling inventory at scale in Amazon’s intensely competitive marketplace — so crucial that merchants are willing to pay thousands of people to review their products positively.

To be fair, Amazon isn't the only retailer with a fake review problem; earlier this week Valve announced it had permanently banned a game developer from the Steam marketplace after finding out that developer's employee had posted fake reviews.

This problem exists in all marketplaces, and not just Amazon, but Amazon is the only retailer who has a reputation for banning innocent reviewers, thereby punishing innocent authors.

Right about the time that Buzzfeed was publishing its article, I was reading FB post after FB post from authors whose reviewers were getting banned from posting reviews.

Elena Page wrote about how she lost one of her first fans: "Amazon emailed her last week and accused her of leaving biased reviews on Amazon. She was banned from ever leaving reviews on Amazon again, and told she was not allowed to argue her case or refute the claim in any way. All the reviews she’s ever left, have been removed."

Other authors chimed in with similar reports, including one who noted that their books had lost most of the reviews even though none of the reviews were fraudulent.

Amazon has an automation problem. This company uses bots to run almost every aspect of the Kindle Store from detecting fake reviews to checking the formatting in ebooks and finding fraud in Kindle Unlimited, but the bots don't work very well. This leads to situations where innocent authors are punished because Amazon's bots think the authors are scamming Kindle Unlimited while the actual scammers continue to operate at a massive scale.

The under-performing bots are also in part to blame for the ongoing problem with fake reviews on Amazon.com.

The simple fact is Amazon can't tell which reviews are fake, and which are forbidden by policy, and they're not the only ones.

A lot of the recent stories about fake reviews, including the Washington Post article from last month and Buzzfeed's piece, have relied on a company called ReviewMeta. This one of two startups that have developed algorithms to detect fake reviews. The other is called Fakespot, which has its own algorithms that work in essentially the same way.

These two companies will tell you that they can identify which reviews are fake with a high degree of certainty, but the thing is, they rarely agree and that raises serious questions as to their accuracy.

After the Washington Post reported on the fake review problem last month, David Gaughran followed up with a post that pointed out how ReviewMeta falsely labeled his books as having fake reviews.

Okay, this doesn’t look good. And if you look down the page it shows each of the products they have assessed that led to this overall brand trustworthiness score. You can see many of my books have “failed” in the eyes of ReviewMeta and “Unnatural reviews detected” has been appended to several of my books. Crikey.

You can click on each product and see how it came to that determination, and the supposed evidence for each component of that decision. Again, I stress, this transparency is truly commendable.

But this breakdown also reveals the faulty assumptions that led to these incorrect determinations about my reviews. And it’s not just my reviews, of course. These simplistic calculations affect most authors. (You can search for your own books here.)

You can find ReviewMeta's analysis of David here. While you are at it, you might also want to take a look at Fakespot's analysis.

The thing about these two companies is that they identified some of David's books as having fake reviews, but not all. The other thing about these two companies is that they didn't agree on which books had fake reviews.

One thought Let's Get Digital was tainted, while the other passed the book. The same goes for Liberty Boy, and other titles.

The disputed analyses call into question the very idea that fake reviews can be identified by algorithms. As David put it:

The sad thing about all of this is that Amazon does have a fake review problem, one which is compounded by Amazon deploying a fake review detection algorithm that seems about as accurate as the one from ReviewMeta, perhaps for similar reasons too. Which means that authors innocent of any wrongdoing get genuine, organic reviews from bona fide reviewers removed every day and the scammers and cheaters with fake reviews keep getting away with it.

This problem is only going to get worse before it gets better.

"BEST PUBLICIST IN L.A." - THANK YOU, YELP!

Yes, it's true, Yelp.com has named Roadmap Communications--my PR agency--to its "Best Publicists in Los Angeles" List! Book Publicity By Marlan is also on Yelp, and is a subsidiary of RC. So...

Huzzah! And thank you so much, YELP!

It may have come about due to Yelp's algorithms (aka "Robots") that track certain elements that may make it eligible for this honor. What elements, you wonder?

Become a client and find out! Just one of the many magical tips I've got up my publicity and marketing sleeve.

By the way, while we're on the topic of...well, me...

Did you know that Roadmap Communications' author services run the gamut from writer consultations from the moment the book is conceived to editing to assisting with book cover design, author website creation and maintenance, formatting manuscripts for e-book and print publication, book launch, events, media interviews, press kits, press releases, etc. etc.?

Yelp 5-Star Reviews

"As a managing editor of a small independent book publishing company, having Marlan on board has been an essential part of the the process. She is so knowledgeable and an expert at what she does. She is a joy to work with!" Kari Hock, Green Darner Press, Gemelli Press

"I hired Marlan three weeks ago to help publicize my Fathers' Wisdom book. She did an outstanding job with all of her work and services. She wrote a press release to publicize a reading that I was giving at a store in Long Beach, and the event had standing room only! She also created a one-page media sheet and media kit for my book, which are filled with powerful language to convey the highlights and inspiration of the book. Marlan was also a great help and support with some publication issues for my book. She was in frequent communication with me, so I knew the progress of her work. In addition to being an excellent publicist, she was also highly encouraging to me with issues I faced as a new author. I also appreciated her service ethic and genuine care about me and the book. Her expertise, work and guidance were stellar. I highly recommend Marlan's book publicity services. She definitely merits her five stars!"--Jennifer Jordan

"Marlan Warren is the publicist for my new novel, Changing Spaces, published by Plain View Press in January 2014. She has been an indefatigable advocate and tireless researcher, finding ways to promote my book, arrange appearance, and, unexpectedly, acting like a detective to discover glitches in the listing of my book on Amazon. She's smart, hard-working, sensitive to my needs as a writer/author, and an expert at communicating complex ideas and practices clearly and thoroughly. I cannot recommend her highly enough!"--Nancy King

HOW TO MAKE AN AUDIOBOOK

Happy New Year!

Ever wish you could figure out how to record and publish your book as an audiobook? Me too!

Here are some helpful tips that I came across in my searches that I hope you find valuable.

SUMMARY

·        Warning: The Audiobook Road can be thorny with "producers" who want to talk a gullible author into spending a fortune on producing a product that may have little return on the investment. Sound quality may not be great, even if the producer is well known.

·        The good news? Audiobooks are cheap to make.

·        The other news? Audiobooks are fun, but tedious work.

·        HOW TO MAKE AN AUDIOBOOK RECORDING: You'll need a super quiet room (carpeted floor, padded walls are preferred); a USB mic that plugs directly into computer or tablet; Download Audacity (free, easy to use digital audio editor and recorder for Windows, Mac, etc.). There is a lot of tech stuff to know in terms of which volume levels are acceptable; how far away from the mic your mouth should be; marking pauses in your manuscript before you read, etc. Also keeping the files organized, etc.

·        VIDEO: HERE'S A SUPER HELPFUL STEP BY STEP DEMO BY ROB DIRCKS: HOW TO RECORD YOUR AUDIOBOOK:

http://robdircks.com/yes-you-can-record-your-own-audiobook-heres-how/

·         

·        ACX: Several services offer Audiobook Creation and Distribution Platforms. ACX (Amazon) is the most prominent. If you register your published-on-Amazon book with them in order to find an Audiobook producer, be forewarned those producers do not come cheap--although some offer authors a "Royalty Share" option (less or no money up front). Audiobook quality varies; so make sure you get what you are paying for. The producers publish and distribute your audiobook on Amazon's AUDIBLE.

·        CD BABY and AUTHOR'S REPUBLIC:  Lee Stephen, author of Dawn of Destiny went a different route entirely: producing an audiobook that is more like a radio play (5 years in the making), and offers it on CD Baby under "Spoken Word" in their Music Category. He states that success depends on how well you publicize your audiobook via social media and your fan base. But CD Baby passes on 91% profit to the author/producer. Plus, he says you can get them easily on the phone (unlike Amazon). It is worth noting that since posting this on Jane Friedman's Blog, Lee has signed the audiobook with Author's Republic, and is happier with their distribution deal.

Author Lee Stephen on the Power of PR:

"You might wonder about the "wide" exposure that comes with having an audiobook on Audible. To that, I would say that our fan bases are our exposure—the incredibly amazing people who follow us on Twitter, who like us on Facebook, who join our mailing lists, and who hound us for our next release dates. And they don’t care if you point them to Audible, CD Baby, or a shed in your backyard. If they follow you, if you’re fair to them, and if you reward them with quality material, they’ll make the purchase."

NEED MORE INFO? CHECK OUT THESE LINKS!

ACX (Amazon Platform):

http://audible-acx.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/6605/~/how-do-i-join-acx%3F

ACX Production Advice and Helpful Hints:

https://blog.acx.com/tag/production-advice/

AUDACITY (Free, easy to use digital audio editor and recorder download for Windows, Mac, etc.):

http://www.audacityteam.org/

JANE FRIEDMAN'S BLOG (RE ACX ALTERNATIVE)

https://www.janefriedman.com/listenup-acx-alternative/

GUEST BLOGGER, LEE STEPHEN, ON JANE FRIEDMAN'S BLOG:

https://www.janefriedman.com/acx-alternative-2/

Author Lee Stephen on the Power of PR:
"You might wonder about the "wide" exposure that comes with having something on Audible. To that, I would say that our fan bases are our exposure—the incredibly amazing people who follow us on Twitter, who like us on Facebook, who join our mailing lists, and who hound us for our next release dates. And they don’t care if you point them to Audible, CD Baby, or a shed in your backyard. If they follow you, if you’re fair to them, and if you reward them with quality material, they’ll make the purchase."

LISTEN UP AUDIO BOOKS SERVICE:

I include this not as a recommendation, but because it gives an idea of the expense involved.

http://listenupaudiobooks.com/

"ListenUp is a full-service audiobook solution. We give every author and small publisher the same service we give to our big clients. That means a dedicated casting director, choice of narrators, professional studio recording with a trained engineer, a full edit and final mastering according to Audible standards. Authors have the option to use us for distribution or do it themselves. And we’re creating new marketing solutions.

And with us, you can call up and talk to us about what you want. There are a lot of different ways to go about creating and distributing audio and we’re open to exploring all of them.
Our standard rate is $450 per finished hour of audio. That’s for a book with one narrator. To estimate how much a book will cost, figure a narrator reads about 10,000 words an hour. So a 70,000 word book will be approximately 7 hours long, or $3,150."

AUTHORS REPUBLIC:

Authors Republic is an audiobook publisher/distributor that evaluates your ALREADY COMPLETED AUDIOBOOK to see if it is right for its 30 major retailer buyers. If AR accepts it, you get 70 percent of the sales proceeds. Monthly payments. Sales records displayed for you to track easily.

http://authorsrepublic.com

http://authorsrepublic.com/create

NY BOOK EDITORS WEBSITE (Helpful Info for Beginners):

https://nybookeditors.com/2017/12/tips-for-turning-your-novel-into-an-audiobook/

About Me

Marlan Warren is a publicist, as well as a published novelist and produced playwright. Her PR services can be found on Midwest Book Review's "Trusted Publicist" and Linked In's "Top Publicists" lists.