Like a Writer's Resume: Your Published Works Almanac and Media Kit

I often feature question and answer pieces on my #SharingwithWriters newsletter and share some of the ones that cover less-frequently asked questions on this blog, too.  You can subscribe to SharingwithWriters newsletter that comes directly to you in your e-mail box at http://howtodoitfrugally.com or by putting "Subscribe" in the window of an e-mail and sending it to hojonews@aol.com. Yes, it's frugal. It's free.

 

QUESTION:

Dear Carolyn,
You referred to a published works almanac on pp15-16 of your January SharingwithWriters newsletter. I wasn't sure how to create one or amend when I have more books.

Kind regards,
Chioma Nnani
Award-winning Author. BEFFTA-nominated Writer. Presenter. Producer.

ANSWER:

Aha!  I guess using a published works almanac on your Web site is a matter of knowing how to build a Web site or a matter of having a good Webmaster. I used to have a hired Web master but found it was both too expensive to hire the amount of work I wanted to do for my expanding Web site and way too slow. So now I do it myself, but it was a huge headache to learn. Here's an alternative approach to using an almanac even if you aren’t Webmaster savvy:

Use the media kit you are assembling to become a record-keeping kit as well. In it you'll have several sections including your published works almanac which will give those gatekeepers looking at your media kit a sense of your experience—your writing chops so to speak. It will do the same thing for you as a résumé but you won’t be applying for a job. More than likely you’ll be trying to get some free publicity or get a conference director to hire you to speak.

Sometimes (once you've been writing a long time) you may need to divide the published works almanac into genres, say freelance, poetry, short stories, etc.  But that's getting ahead of our needs here. An almanac works great to send out as part of a media kit, but once you have one it can be copied and pasted into a Web site or blog page or even a social networking profile. In the meantime, it's great for record keeping so you'll have it when you go to write a book proposal or a résumé. I’d be pleased to send my basic kit to as a .pdf to subscribers who want to use it as I did for Choma (It includes the published works page so you can use it as a sample). Just send a note to hojonews@aol.com asking me for it. The essentials can be adapted to any book, any author.]

 

[Note: Your media kit can be put into a .pdf file, installed on your Web site where it can then be downloaded from your site's media room just as I do with my media kits and newsletters. People (in this case feature editors, radio hosts, etc.) can go online and download your media kit with your almanac in it. It saves them from the time it takes to request it from you and having you send it to them as an attachment.

As you can see, your Published Works Almanac can be useful long before you have a Web site of your own!  And when the time comes to learn to make a Web site or to hire someone to do it for you, your Almanac will be ready to go except maybe for some last-minute editing and formatting.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The multi award-winning second edition of The Frugal Editor; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor .

You, Media (or Press) Releases and Your Subject Lines

I recently peeked in at Joan Stewart's blog when she mentioned a "difference" between "media release," "press release," and "news release." I talk a lot about media releases in The Frugal Book Promoter (http://budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) and it worries me a bit that so many people are using these terms incorrectly. 

 

And, lo! Joan and I pretty much agree.

 

At the root of them, these terms mean about the same thing. Still, I consider it sort of my business to lead people (especially authors and retailers) in the right direction in terms of marketing, so I suggest they use the term "media release" if only because "press release" feels as if it isn't given the other media (like Web site editors, bloggers, TV producers) their full due.

 

Using the right term is especially important when we're sending a release to media that cover the gamut and most times that's exactly what we do. Because newbies may not be familiar with the term"media release," we may be communicating better when we say "press release," so there is a place for the term. I just worry that people might stick "press release" into the subject line of their e-mail releases and come off...well...a little exclusionary?

 

And maybe not quite as professional as they'd like to look.

 

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . 

Carolyn's Automatic Resolution/Goal-Making Technique

Our tradition of making resolutions on January 1 doesn’t work well. We’re busy with so many holiday duties--cleaning, decorating, shopping--we just can’t give making resolutions its due. Besides, making resolution is kind of boring, isn’t it?

On the other hand, in the new edition of The Frugal Book Promoter (www.budurl.com/FrugalBkPromo) I suggest a step-by-step goal-making technique that can be done all year round. One must do this task anyway (more on that in a minute!), and the process is a little like making resolutions in that it helps us evaluate, keeps us on track, and even keeps a record of our accomplishments and careers. But it does more than that. It keeps us grateful.

What could something like that have to do with frugal book promotion you might ask? Well, it involves your media kit. As you know, I believe in recycling and the different segments of your kit (because we use computers, we’ll call them folders!) help you see at a glance what you need to make your writing career move forward—and it’s all broken down into media kit categories so it’s easy to see at a glance. But the biggest advantage is that the process gives us confidence because we can see the strides we’ve taken and makes us grateful because we can see how much we’ve achieved even in our most depressed moments. Of course, it also keeps our media kits up to date.

And there is an even more important benefit. When we can see how well we’ve done, it’s easier to be generous with others.

So, though some may think it’s a little late for resolutions, I think the timing is perfect. And I hope you’ll consider putting one other resolution I think works for most authors on your list, too: http://www.bookbuzzr.com/blog/book-marketing/resolutions-tis-the-season-for-supporting-the-industry/. That’s a guest blog post I did for Bookbuzzr.com and, basically, it reminds you to buy books as gifts. For friends and as business gifts.

It may not be that way for everyone but writing brings me as much joy as about any other one thing I do, and I probably do those others better because of the happiness it brings me.

So, I wish for you the same. Happy New Year!

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second ediction of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

On Marketing Your Book and Homecoming Queens

I'm including this first person essay in my blog because when I teach marketing classes to authors at UCLA, my students often have trouble wrapping their minds around exactly what the first-person essay that should be included in their media kits is. And  that difficulty is exacerbated when I tell them that it helps if the essay is associated with issues that are currently in the news. This one is related to current events at the most basic level--that is, it is a commentary on a news/feature story in a respected newspaper. But the issues are current, too. I hope it helps SharinwithWriters readers.  I've also included the author credit, because that is a vital part of marketing media

 

 

Marketing, Continuing Education, and Homecoming Queens

By Carolyn Howard-Johnson

I admit it. A feature story  in the New York Times Digest on...ahem...beauty queens struck a chord.  On several levels.

The article by Tara Parker-Pope told the story of Heidi Hansen, a forty-two year old mother of teens who has gone back to school to study nursing. And if that weren’t nontraditional enough, she’s running for homecoming  queen. Gasp!

Even  more amazing she’s marketing her candidacy with the same vigor of her young competitors and she’s doing  it without a shred of apology for her untraditional paths or (apparently) without an utterance of the word “shameless” connected with her marketing campaign (which I’ve always contended has a subtext that there is something to be ashamed of).

So, I should back up and tell you I have an agenda. I like to defend my own circuitous path to a degree from the University of Southern California (USC). I was graduated at the ripe old age of thirty-three with two young children, one of whom I once hauled to class with me and let him pretend to catch fish in the fountain outside my class window where I could keep an eye on him. By the time I received that degree on heavy, lineny paper, I had taken at least one class every semester (including summers) since I started seventeen years before. I always considered this approach to education a gigantic plus. One class at a time with plenty of time to focus on required (and optional!) study and research. I figured I was getting more from my education and would retain it longer.

That explains my personal interest in the late-bloomer aspect of this NY Times story. But I find Hansen’s proclivity for marketing just as satisfying. Not only did she decide to run for homecoming  queen because “…it’s a continuing process of being engaged in the world around me, and right now a big part of my world is my life on campus,” but she isn’t dodging the issue of being, shall we say, a bit older than the other candidates even though the photograph in the Times looks to me as if she could easily pass. No. Her campaign slogan to attract votes is, “I’m not your mother, but I could be.”

Now, you should know that I began a lifelong interest in public relations very early when I worked in New York as a publicist and when I worked in several jobs as a journalist and writer. But it didn’t really congeal until my last semester at USC when I studied public relations under the head of the PR department, a former President of Western Airlines who believed that the way to find the best and brightest students for his department was to teach entry level classes and teach them as if he were teaching seasoned pros. And my awareness of the importance of marketing in all our lives only became more intense when I became a published novelist, poet, and author of how-to books on—you guessed it—marketing!

So you can imagine how I rooted for Ms. Hansen when I read that she enlisted the help of every demographic she had access to (other than her children who seem to be. . . well, oblivious to their mother’s schmaltziness). She found fellow students (not necessarily students in her age range) to contribute their skills—one writing a musical campaign ditty, another for producing a video. I call this cross-promotion in my Frugal Book Promoter, a how-to book on marketing for writers. Mr. Hansen's videographer and musician friends are both getting their share of marketing exposure by being part of her campaign. I mean, a mention in the New York Times? I sure hope these students use that information (and the example set by Ms. Hansen) in their resumes as they learn more and more that nontraditional paths and tried-and-true marketing work  for everyone.

Regardless of their age.

 

Carolyn Howard-Johnson is a senior (not in the collegiate sense) who has always used her marketing skills in her professional life and found they gave her a special boost when she took on a new award-winning career in publishing at the age most  are considering retirement. Learn more about her at http://howtodoitfrugally.com.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and how to books for writers including the award-winning second edition of, The Frugal Book Promoter: How to get nearly free publicity on your own or by partnering with your publisher; The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success; and Great Little Last Minute Editing Tips for Writers . The Great First Impression Book Proposal is her newest booklet for writers. She has three FRUGAL books for retailers including A Retailer’s Guide to Frugal In-Store Promotions: How To Increase Profits and Spit in the Eyes of Economic Downturns with Thrifty Events and Sales Techniques. Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com, a blog where authors can recycle their favorite reviews. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at The Frugal, Smart and Tuned-In Editor . If your followers at Twitter would benefit from this blog post, please use the little Green widget to let them know about this blog:

Q & A a la Ann Landers: You Want Me To Do What with That Media Kit?

I occasionally blog in a question and answer format on this blog similarly to the way I do it on my editing, grammar and formatting blog. This question came from one of my readers and fellows on the MuseItUpClub list serve:


QUESTION:

Carolyn, I’ve been reading Chapter 3 in The Frugal Book Promoter about media kits. It seems there is a lot that goes into one of these. What I haven’t been able to figure out is why I need to gather such extensive information. The editor at my local newspaper would probably go cross-eyed before they would read all that stuff. I know if I received one with all the info you talk about, I wouldn’t read the whole darned thing, just skip here and there.

Can you help me out here? Thanks!

Katie Hines
Children's Author
Coming Summer 2009: "Guardian"- A middle grade urban fantasy.


ANSWER:

Yes, Katie. You're on the right track. You want to make it easy on your editor--above all. The thing is, that kit is designed to do just that. That editor would rather browse through a bit and then, when she's grasped onto something she can use, know that everything she needs is right there. Any kind of a question she has that isn't answered right there may become a stumbling block to her using your material at all.

Your editor is one busy woman, probably doing about four jobs that I didn't have to do when I was sitting at a news desk back at the beginning of my writing career. So you want to give your editor stuff he can use exactly as you present it.

As an example, if your kit is an e-kit, then he doesn't even have to retype, just copy and paste. And if he needs that first person essay during a busy holiday season, he just uses it, because you've written it with a word count he's most likely to need, edited it for him and given him permission to use it, too. That's it! No work for him! And a filler? Editors are always needing fillers! Then you've provided them with your Seven Tips page and he can use any one of them and just drop in your name.

Having said that, every segment I mention in The Frugal Book Promoter doesn't go into every kit you send out. Take out the stuff you're sure your editor won't need or want. Except for the mass mailing after your book is issued, most times you can tailor your kit to fit an editor's specific need.

Generally, though, too much is better than not enough. A busy editor is a whole lot less likely to contact you for more info (unless she plans a whole feature on you) than she is to use what you have given her. I know. I once worked on a news desk. And I even find that true now with my newsletter. That's why I keep nagging in my newsletter about a full autosignature in e-mails, even for people you know well.

And when you are using most every segment I tell you about in your kit, the Table of Contents I suggest is a nice extra. (You can learn how I did it my TOC by downloading one of my kits from my website, www.howtodoitfrugally.com. Go to the media room for links on several kits--all differently focused.)

Technorati Tags:
book marketing, book promotion, editors, getting publicity, Q & A a la ann landers, sharing with writers, media kits, media rooms, the frugal book promoter
Add to: | Technorati | Digg | del.icio.us | Yahoo | BlinkList | Spurl | reddit | Furl |

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal." Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler. She also blogs at all things editing, grammar, formatting and more at www.TheFrugalEditor.blogspot.com.

Gayle Trent Guest Blogs on Press Kits: Ironing Out the Details

Gayle Trent is on blog tour and I thought her piece on media releases an important retminder for this blog. Enjoy! And please send us all your own media release tips!



The first and most important piece of your press kit is your press release. Your press release should be concise--one page is long enough. Since you want to say, "This book is terrific!" without being the one to actually say it, you'll want to have a blurb or review comment early on that extols the excellence of your book. Following the blurb, give a brief but brilliant description of your book. Include a statement about the author (you, although you might want to write it as third person) and follow up with ordering information.

You'll want to include an author bio in your press kit. The journalist wants to know whether or not you're a local author, where you got the idea for your book, how you went about writing the book (while you were juggling two part-time jobs and three young children, for example), etc. If possible, put your photograph on your author bio.

Make a Media Questions and Answers Sheet. If the journalist is tight on time (or if it's a television or radio journalist), this sheet will write the interview. Prepare no fewer than five nor more than ten Q&A's such as "Q) Why do you think books like Murder Takes the Cake are important? A) I think it's important to have a fun, literary resource that introduces or validates readers' interests in hobbies.

If possible, make a "talking points" sheet relating to your book. Lissa Warren, publicist and author of The Savvy Author's Guide to Book Publicity, suggests something along the lines of "Ten Things You Might Not Know About ____________" or "Common Financial Mistakes Women Make." These talking points can give the journalist a filler in the paper or a sidebar to an article about you and your book. For instance, if you've written a romantic suspense novel and your heroine is a forensic scientist, your talking points sheet might contain "Ten Ways Real Life Forensics Is Different From TV Portrayals."

Include an engaging excerpt of your book in your press kit. The journalist might not have time to read your book, but he/she might comment on the excerpt provided; or the excerpt might propel the journalist to go ahead and take the time to read the entire book.

PRESS KIT TO-DO LIST

Prepare your press release. Brainstorm with other authors (or other creative friends) to make your press release the absolute best it can be. Set it aside for at least a week and then read it with a fresh eye. If you're uncertain about it, book marketing expert John Kremer has a press release review service at http://www.bookmarket.com.

Prepare your author biography.

Get photographed. You can do this on a budget, too. Wal-Mart, J.C. Penny and Sears all do good photographs that will be appropriate for your press kit. Tell them up front that you need a professional photo for your website, and they won't be as apt to pressure you into buying lots of photos.

Prepare your Media Questions and Answers Sheet. If you're not sure what a journalist might ask you, watch Today, Book TV, The Early Show or Good Morning, America to see how the journalists on those shows interview authors.

Prepare your "Talking Points" Sheet. What interesting facts related to your book can you put into a "top ten list" or other media-friendly format?

Choose which excerpt from your book would appeal to a journalist. If you're not sure, ask family members or friends to read your book and help you decide. Remember, you don't want to give away any surprises in your excerpt, but you do want to provide a good hook and an example of your strong points. For instance, if you feel you're strongest with your dialogue, you'll want to be sure your excerpt contains a lively exchange between two or more characters.

Do you have any reviews you'd like to include in your press kit?

Determine how to present your press kit. Some people use two-pocket folders. You can put your press release in one pocket and other information in the facing pocket. Plus, the folder has a handy business card holder. You might want to simply mail your press kit in a business-sized envelope. Or you might decide to be a little more creative. Jacqueline Deval uses the example of a book called The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn: "The book reveals hundreds of imaginative and simple ways for families to save money…. She mailed out the press packet inside brown paper lunch bags with a sticker of the book's cover pasted on the front."

Hope this helps!

-----

Gayle Trent is a full-time author. She is currently at work on a new cozy mystery series involving her hobby, cake decorating. The series features Daphne Martin, a 40-year-old divorcee who has begun the second phase of her life with a new home and a new business venture--Daphne's Delectable Cakes. Gayle lives in Bristol, Virginia with her husband, daughter and son. Gayle loves to hear from readers who can contact her via e-mail at gd830@hotmail.com or via one of her websites: GayleTrent.com or http://gayle24202.tripod.com/.

-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author of This Is the Place; Harkening: A Collection of Stories Remembered; Tracings, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, The Frugal Book Promoter: How To Do What Your Publisher Won't and The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure success. She is also the author of the Amazon Short, "The Great First Impression Book Proposal." Some of her other blogs are TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.

You Have a Bedroom, a Workroom, a Playroom. How About a Media Room? And Not in Your House!

Most rooms we think are essential -- even bedrooms -- we could easily do without.

Look at all the people who live in studio apartments! The one room everyone seems to think they can do without (and shouldn't!) is a media room.

I'm not talking about a room in your house with a screen, stereo and a popcorn machine. I'm talking about the room on your website that makes life so easy on an editor, agent, blogger, reviewer or publisher that you'll have an edge with them over those who don't have one. Some people call them press rooms, but that's sort of slaps at nonprint media like web editors and radio hosts. So, if you have a "press room" you may want to change its moniker so you look like the professional you are in front of those who can make a difference for you.

But that isn't all you should do. Take a minute to look at this article to see if you're making your media room (aka press room) into the Clydesdale it should be rather than a little pink (and possibly useless) pony.

The media room is an integral part of your website but it is not a place for your readers. It's only for that list of gatekeepers above and it's all business. Meaning no cutsie stuff. Just simple, easy-to-download media kit(s) and a few other possibilities I've listed below. If you think of something else to add to the list, ask yourself, "Will this feature help those who need information access it more easily and save them time?" and "Will this feature only clutter my media room like so much unused furniture and make it harder for editors to find what they need." If the feature is not suitable for the media room, save it for somewhere else on your site.

Because this room will not have music or graphics or any other gee-gaws, you may need to duplicate some information that you have in your media room elsewhere on the site for the casual visitor. Your list of awards is a good example. They'll be in your media kit but you'll probably have a separate page or area for them elsewhere.

The best way to give editors and others who visit your media room is to have a downloadable .pdf of your media kit. Include in that kit:

1. Contact information on every page of the kit and on the media room's home page.

2. A cover letter that's relatively generic so that it will work for most any kind of person who downloads the kit.

3. Your book cover image(s), in high resolution in case the editor needs to use it for print purposes.

4. A professional head shot of you -- also in high res.

5. Two author bios, one very short that editors can pick up and use as a tagline without rewriting it and one that's longer to give them a better flavor for possible feature stories, etc.

6. A page of your publishing credits and experience similar to what you would use in a resume. Keep it simple. Bullet it if possible.

7. A synopsis of your book. A strong, short pitch is even better. Or both.

8. An assortment of endorsements or blurbs.

9. Two sample book reviews, one long for print media, one short for use on the Internet. Both should be available to reprint at no ch * rge and you should say so on the review pages.

10. At least one sample Interview, though you may use several, each with a different focus.

11. An awards page, both publishing and writing awards.

12. A first person essay available for reprint with permission to do so.

13. A list of available seminars or keynotes for your speaking appearances. You might also include ideas for feature stories.

14. A fellow experts page. This makes it easy for an editor or moderator to put together a panel and include you, of course.

Your Media room should also include or have links to:

1. Your Media Releases for news and events, most recent first.

2. Transcripts/audio recordings/video clips and podcasts.

3. Downloadable aids like business cards and sell sheets.

4. Sample chapters of published works or snippets of works in progress. Nonfiction works should have your Contents page available for perusal.

5. FAQ or a facts file.

Don't even ask why you should do this. You don't have time. It is essential this very minute and if it isn't, it will be the minute you have a book, set yourself up as an expert, have a business, begin to consult or whatever work you plan to coordinate with your writing career. You need a media room at least as much as you need a website.

A media room will do for you what you can't possibly do for yourself and what your publicist can't do for you either. It makes your book, your business available to everyone and puts you upfront and center where you'll be on their minds.

You'll find this list with the complete details of writing a media release, putting together a media kit, etc. -- right down to the correct font, structure and indentations -- in The Frugal Book Promoter: How to Do What Your Publisher Won't http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/193299310X/. You'll find a sample media room (with several media kits each with a different focus) on my website at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

PS: The photo is one taken by Nancy Cleary, author and publisher. It is of her well-used copy of The Frugal Book Promoter.


-----
Carolyn Howard-Johnson edits and consults on issues of publishing. Find her The Frugal Editor: Put Your Best Book Forward to Avoid Humiliation and Ensure Success on Amazon. Learn more about her other authors' aids at www.howtodoitfrugally.com.

Q&A a la Ann Landers: Getting Publicity From Grumpy Editors

Your Media Kit: Or How To Get Publicity from Tired, Grumpy Editors

Question: Because I know editors are busy I just send them a quick paragraph with a link to my website . . .

Answer: It's precisely because they are busy you don't want to do this. Our job as publicists for ourselves or our companies is to make the job of the editor as easy as possible. Telling her to go search a site is not the name of the game. Sure, you want your query to grab her interest, but maybe the query she read just before yours did that, too, but that person gave her what she needed right then and there.

So, yes. Capture her interest. Pitch your idea and a bit about you. Give her enough that if she is really time-constrained, she might not even have to check your website. Not pages and pages but a tightly packed, well-written page!

Of course, you also offer a link to your pdf media kit--directly to it. Don't make her go searching around your site to find the kit. You can offer to send her a kit by attachment, too, but often presses and other media don't want them, won't even open them.

You can also offer to help. Give her your phone and e-mail address. Let he know you're considerate of her time.

And the media kit itself--if she ever even gets to it? That's all about making her life easy, too. What an opportunity! Here are just a few things your kit needs to take full advantage of it.

 There should be items in your media kit (Like a 10 Tips piece) that can be published as is or in part by an editor who just happens to have a few inches available at deadline.

 Your media kit should be designed with ease in mind. If your kit is extensive, a Table of Contents (but call it CONTENTS, not TOC) is in order. That will make it easy for her to find what she needs from your kit.

 In addition to the usual stuff, include a complete, well edited first person essay. It could land in a first column on the front page of a newspaper.

 Include a one-page biography, but also include a prewritten short bio or tagline. The editor can just copy and paste it. No rewriting necessary.

 Most kits include a sample review and interview. Many authors forget to make it clear that they may be published at no charge and with permission of the reviewer and/or interviewer. If you don't do that, the editor will have to call you or do a rewrite. Also make clear the conditions. Does the reviewer require that the piece be uncut and that a tagline be included?

There are lots of good books on the subjects of queries and media kits written by experts. My The Frugal Book Promoter is specific about media relations, kits and queries. The Frugal Editor gives tips on how to avoid query-letter faux pas straight from the mouths of some of our nation's top agents.

I recommend that you read more than one book. There is more than one way to do a thing. Here are some other books besides mine for you to look at:

 John Kremer's
 Allan Shepherd's
 Janet Elaine Smith's new PromoPaks
 Fran Silverman's
 My new Amazon Short on writing book proposals (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000YG6O5U/ref=cm_arms_pdp_dp)
 Michael Larsen's
 Terry Whalin's

The biggest mistake is not supplying the editor with what she needs to make a decision on the spot.

I'm ranting, here. Sorry. But having worked in journalism, I know how frustrating incomplete information can be. Even these days, as the editor of my own newsletter, you'd be surprised how many posts I get from people who:

• Do not tell me what they want (these are query letters I'm getting, after all! So they should ask a question or QUERY!)
• Don't even give me a hint about how they want me to use the information they've sent.
• Don't use an autosignature telling me how to reach them in case I have questions.
• Give me links to sites that have no media rooms so I'd have to search many different pages to put a story together.
• Give me a homepage URL rather than the media room URL.
• Don't give me any information on themselves. Without that, how would I know if I'm interested in their story?
• And when I get that media kit, there is no first person essay, no article, no interview, no review, no... . You get the idea. This person wants ME to do all the work. (-:

So make 2008 your be-kind-to-editors year. You may find your queries start getting more action.
------
Carolyn Howard-Johnson, author THIS IS THE PLACE; HARKENING: A COLLECTION OF STORIES REMEMBERED; TRACINGS, a chapbook of poetry; and two how to books, THE FRUGAL BOOK PROMOTER: HOW TO DO WHAT YOUR PUBLISHER WON'T; and THE FRUGAL EDITOR: PUT YOUR BEST BOOK FORWARD TO AVOID HUMILIATION AND ENSURE SUCCESS.
Her other blogs include TheNewBookReview.blogspot.com and AuthorsCoalition.blogspot.com, a blog that helps writers and publishers turn a ho-hum book fair booth into a sizzler.