Here at QSLA, we’re very fond of authors having a presence online, meaning a home base website and then a profile on 1-2 social media channels that best reflect the author and their personality and connects them with their readership.

On that home base website where all of the author’s information lives—books, bio, links to other social media channels, perhaps a blog—there also needs to be a media kit section. As a writer reading an agency website, we can only assume that you want to become a published author someday. Once published, you’ve got to promote the heck out of your product. Whether published with a traditional publisher or self-published, you’ve got to pound the pavement to make sure your book gets into the hands of the right readers. A very valuable tool in your publicity arsenal is your author media kit.

Alexander Hemus, co-founder Standoutbooks Ltd, created a great breakdown of what needs to be included in your author media kit along with examples of well-assembled author media kits in his post Why having a media kit could increase your press coverage. The essentials according to Alexander?

• Author Bio
• Professional Author Photo
• Reviews/Awards
• Relevancy
• Press Contact Details
• Sample Interview Questions
• Links to Social Media
• Press Release
• Information about Events

You might not have all of the above at your disposal (press releases and event info, for example), especially if you’re a new author. That’s okay. The key is to provide enough information all in one place so that if reviewers, teachers, librarians, and the like want to contact you they can, and they’ll be well-informed when they do.

Make sure you read the full article for all the nitty gritty examples of constructing a short and long bio, the number and types of photos you should procure, and the three final rules Alexander gives for a successful author media kit.