Writers in the Storm

June Stevens Westerfield Have you ever known exactly the information you want to put out into the world, but then draw a blank as to how to do it properly?  Would you believe that, strangely enough, that happens to authors a lot.  Like a really lot.  You’d think that those of us that fancy ourselves talented with words wouldn’t be faced with that issue, but alas, it happens. That happened to me with this post.  I’ve known for several weeks I was going to post this week about the importance of media and press kits.  You see, I wrote a book on the subject last year and so I know quite a bit about it.  The problem is, I just wrote a book on the subject.  How do I give you the same information in a new way? The irony is that this is the exact same issue many authors face when presented with the need for a media kit.  All of the information one would put in a media or press kit is already out there in the world for anyone to find if they look for it, so do you really need to put together a specific kit?  The short answer is, yes, of course. And the answer to my issue, the one about presenting the information to you in a different way, is that I’m not going to.  Wait…what? What I’m going to do is give you an excerpt of my book, Author Media Kit Essentials.  This excerpt is the entire first section, in which I discuss the different types of kits you should have (yes, there are two), when you should prepare each, and why each is important. Stick with me to the end, because there is a surprise waiting for you!

Author Media Kit Essentials 

Getting Started Welcome to Author Media Kit Essentials.  My name is June and I will be your guide on this adventure.  I’m a bestselling “hybrid” author, that means I’m both self & traditionally published.  I’m also a branding & design specialist with Author Branding Essentials.  The information contained in this book/post is based on my own experience, hours upon hours of research, and consultations with other authors, acquisition editors, and agents.  I’m confident that by the end of this, you will be armed with the information you need to build your own press and media kits. What is a media kit and why do I need one? The most basic definition of a media kit is a packet of information used for promotional and public relations purposes.  That's all it is; information.  What information is gathered and how it is packaged into the kit is what makes it a powerful tool Media kits are used to facilitate public relations and promotional efforts of businesses and their products or services.  Your instinctual response to that last sentence may have been "but I don't have a business."  But that response is wrong.  If you are a writer of any kind and are published, or your goal is to become published, you don't just have a business.  You are a business; at least in a sense. Let's break that down a little.  Publishing is a business.  The act of being a published writer or author is a business.  Your author name is your company, your brand.  Your books (and other writings) are your products.  If you write nonfiction and give lectures or other talks to schools, groups, or businesses, then you also provide a service.  For the purposes of this book/post we are going to focus mainly on promotional tools for writers who have authored a book (or books) and are promoting their author brand and books.  The differences between a press kit and a media kit. You may have heard the terms media kit and press kit used interchangeably.  In general, that is okay.  They are, essentially, the same thing.  However, as an author, you need to very distinctive packages of information.  They will contain some of the same information, but their purposes are very different. For the purposes of this book/post, when we use the word "press kit" we are discussing a publicly available package of information you will use to connect with bloggers, press & media outlets, the public, book clubs, and more.  From here on out our usage of "media kit" refers to a kit of information you will put together specifically targeted to promote you as an author and your pre-publication book to agents and editors.   To sum up: The basic uses for press and media

• Sell yourself and your book to agents and editors
• Accessible information for bloggers and other press
• Have readily available and easy to find information for book clubs, teachers, and students

I’m not going to self-publish, so I won’t need to do this. One of the misconceptions new authors have is that if they are published by a traditional publisher they don't have to worry about the marketing side of things.  This is very wrong thinking in today's market place and can result in low sales and authors being dropped by their publishers or agents.  That is, if you can even get a publisher or agent without a media kit and solid author platform.  You can learn more about creating your author platform in Author Platform Essentials, and we'll go into more depth later in this book about how a media kit can be an essential tool to help you snag an agent and/or publishing deal.  But for now, know that, in today's ever changing publishing business, agents and publishing houses look more favorably on an author who proves, even before their foot is in the door, that they are dedicated to their own success and will put in the work it takes to ensure that success.

*** Important Note ***

No matter what stage you are at in your career, whether you have several books published or are just putting the finishing touches on your first manuscript and are getting ready to shop it, you should have at least the beginnings of both a media kit and a press kit.  If you don't, don't fret.  By the end of this book you should have a good grasp on what you should gather together and how to present it. Did that grab your interest?  I hope so.  I hope you will want to read more because I am offering Author Media Kit Essentials for FREE on Amazon for five days. (This is the surprise!) Author Media Kit Essentials will be FREE from February 6-February 10.  So hop on over there right now and grab your copy!  

What are your questions? Do you already have a media kit? Did you create it yourself, or hire it out? For those who have one, what feedback have you received when you use it?

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About June

June Stevens Westerfield is author of romantic fiction.  She has been in the publishing field one way or another for over decade. She has helped launch several small publishing houses, worked in acquisitions, editing, cover art, web design, as a blogger, radio host, and assisted many authors in their self-publishing journeys.  Her particular expertise is in design and branding.

On a personal note, when not writing or working for ABE, she designs greeting cards.  She has a wonderful husband, a brilliant stepson, 6 fur-children, purple hair, and a chronically filthy house.

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About ABE

Author Branding Essentials is dedicated to offering comprehensive author centric branding and design services at competitive prices.  As an Author, your name is your brand. Building your Author Brand is key to success. Many agents encourage authors to begin building that brand long before they are published. At Author Branding Essentials we understand the unique criteria it takes to build an author brand, versus another type of business.  We can help you decide on the best options for your author brand and help you implement them. 

There are a lot of exciting possibilities for everyone this year, all relating to the changing energies around us. You don't have to believe in anything "new age" to admit that the first month of 2017 flew by like a rocket. And that's just the start. I wanted to pull forward some of the ancient lore for a fun look at the potentials for 2017.

First off, Happy Fire Rooster Year! 

The Chinese Year of the Rooster just started, so we'll begin with "rooster characteristics" that can enhance your year:

Honesty: Pay particular attention to what you say and how you say it. Try not to "fudge factor" information by sweetening it to fit the communication. If your manuscript isn't finished, don't tell an agent or editor it is.

Energetic: Plenty of energy is available to you this year, but you've got to be smart about how you use it. Take care of the physical needs of your body, like sleep, water, and exercise, even if you're on deadline. Your writing is going to reflect your personal energy. (My non-writer friends know when I'm writing battle sequences. I'm more reactive to getting cut off in traffic, conversations are "terse"-their word, not mine, and I walk faster even though I'm scouting out my surroundings for ambush possibilities. Yes, I actually mentioned that on a trail last month.)

Intelligence: Writing a book requires intelligence. So if you've been holding back, or you haven't finished something you started last year, this is the year to finish it. You've got what it takes. Need to fill in plot holes? Put your brain to work. Have to revise an ending? Brainstorm possibilities. Then brainstorm more.

Flamboyance: Okay, this one isn't my strong suit. I typically try to fly under the radar. But, I'm upping my game in this category because if there's a time to dip my toe in the water, this is it. I'm committing to being a little flashy (don't laugh, this is huge for me...maybe I'll even buy an article of red clothing!), putting myself "out there" in ways I'm definitely not comfortable with (yes, more social media pics). But I'm going to have fun with it. Who knows? Being a little brighter, noisier version of myself could be fun. And I can always blame it on the Rooster.

Flexible: My first book is scheduled to release June 8, 2017. If something happens to the production schedule, I'm going to be flexible without going crazy. (Yes, I know. I can say this now, on February 1.) If I need to change appointments to take advantage of opportunities, I'm going to be flexible enough to do that, too. Flexibility is key to successful revisions, when you're considering changing from the original vision of your story. Flexibility to the demands of a writer's life can help you maintain your sanity.

Confident: Embark on this year with confidence that you can attain your dream. Set and work toward reasonable goals. Each time you've achieved success, you will be more confident for the next step on your career path. 

We all know what a real, living rooster does, especially if you live near one. You're called to rise and shine and get to work early. Ever watch a rooster strut? Let's make this a year that helps us all to "strut our stuff." 

You know I'm a mathematician, right? Well, numbers have their own energies. Just ask anyone if they have a lucky or favorite number. Everybody has one. The cool thing is, my lucky number doesn't have to be the same as yours to be lucky for me.

Pythagorus, a Greek mathematician and philosopher, led a secret society devoted to the study of how numbers
influence our lives. Stay with me. I'm not saying that numbers can be used to predict the future, but if you've ever read your horoscope, or if you can answer the question, "What sign are you?" what about the possibility of asking, "What number are you?" Same difference, right? 

Along that line, 2017 is considered a "one" year in a nine-year cycle. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that we must have just finished a "nine" year, which closed that cycle. Completing unfinished business made last year a difficult one for all of us. But now we have the excitement and potential of this "one" year to begin new endeavors, to try new things. We have a license to experiment, be it with a new genre, a different kind of POV, or just finishing the dang book and seeing what happens. If you haven't entered a contest, maybe it's time. If you haven't sent out query letters or pitched your story, now is the time.

Did I think about any of this number/Rooster Year stuff when I decided to self-publish my books in June last year? Nope. I think last year's energy helped push me in the direction to finish a big loop in my writing path, leading me to this year's opportunity. Actually, I thought my first book would be ready to release last November, five months after I made my decision to indie publish. I guess flexibility started early for me.

Here are some additional words and a  phrase to notice in your life this year: Adventures. Ingenuity. Curiosity. Joy. Synchronicity. Patience. Resourcefulness. Help each other. Opportunities.

We all have magic inside of us. That's why we're writers. Bring forth your magic this year. Be amazing.

How does 2017 look to be shaping up for you? Did January leave you in its dust? 

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ABOUT FAE

Fae Rowen discovered the romance genre after years as a science fiction freak.   Writing futuristics and medieval paranormals, she jokes  that she can live anywhere but the present.  As a mathematician, she knows life’s a lot more fun when you get to define your world and its rules.

Punished, oh-no, that’s published as a co-author of a math textbook, she yearns to hear personal stories about finding love from those who read her books, rather than the horrors of calculus lessons gone wrong.  She is grateful for good friends who remind her to do the practical things in life like grocery shop, show up at the airport for a flight and pay bills.

A “hard” scientist who avoided writing classes like the plague, she now shares her brain with characters who demand that their stories be told.  Amazing, gifted critique partners keep her on the straight and narrow. Feedback from readers keeps her fingers on the keyboard.

When she’s not hanging out at Writers in the Storm, you can visit Fae at http://faerowen.com  or www.facebook.com/fae.rowen.

Photo credits: Pixabay

Jessica Strawser

Mumble-mumble-cough years ago, back in my high school days, I was what you might have called a hopeless romantic—in the doe-eyed, day-dreamy way of those who have yet to actually experience romance, let alone real hopelessness. At my bedside was a faux wood clock radio, and every night after my lights were out, I’d curl up in the glow of its red neon time display and tune the dial to “Delilah After Dark.”

I don’t suppose I’ll regain any of the street cred that admission might have just lost me by going on to tell you that even then, the show was far sappier than I was. Still, I liked hearing bits and pieces of other people’s stories as they called in with their requests and dedications. The writer in me liked to supply missing backstory and imagine potential outcomes as the ballads would play in between the calls.

There was a lot of Celine Dion on “Delilah” in those days. Whitney Houston. Boyz II Men. Sometimes I took issue with the song selections, but hey, she was the expert, not me. “Slow down and love someone,” Delilah would remind us over and over, her voice dripping with understanding and hope.

And then one night, a woman called about a troubled relationship, an on-again-off-again sort of thing. I don’t remember the details, but as usual, Delilah empathetically wished her a speedy resolution and told her to stay on the line while she cued up the perfect melody. The opening notes of the song began to play, and the microphone was supposed to shut off then.

But it didn’t. And so the voice that sounded through the darkness of my bedroom was Delilah’s, but it was different. It was the Delilah who existed off the air.

“You know, the real problem,” Delilah told the woman (I’m paraphrasing here, but this was the gist of it), “is that this man is a selfish asshole.”

I bolted up in bed, wide-eyed. A slow smile crept across my face. Holy technical glitch, Batman. The curator of the museum of cheesy love songs just called someone a selfish asshole on the air. I looked around at my stuffed animals, the only other witnesses on the scene. “DID YOU HEAR THAT?” I wanted to say to someone, anyone else. I laughed. I shook my head. I couldn’t wait to find out what was going to happen next. Surely the producers knew what had happened?

Sure enough, after the song, she came back on the air, with a sheepish apology that what we heard was meant to be a private conversation. She tried to move on, business as usual.

But I still want to squeal in delight when I think about it. Because that was the point I stopped being interested in the callers and started being interested in Delilah. Clearly there was more to her than that sugary sweet voice.

I wanted another glimpse.

Calling Character Into Question

In my day job editing Writer’s Digest, I see a lot of craft articles and pitches cross my desk on the subject of character. The vast majority of them advise writers to make sure each character acts and speaks in accordance with his unique persona. Sound enough advice. But I see precious few reminders that as long as you've established who each character is (and that is a pretty important as long as—think of how easily you can conjure Delilah’s comfortable, soft on-air persona), a departure from acting in character can be far more powerful.

My novel Almost Missed You, forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press in March, starts with someone doing something completely out of character. Finn Welsh, by all accounts a devoted husband and father, packs up and leaves his wife, Violet, in the middle of a family vacation—and takes their son with him. Poof: Both are gone without a trace.

Everyone thought this couple had a perfect marriage, the kind of love that’s meant to be. Violet is blindsided, and so is the reader. How could he do such a thing? “This doesn’t sound like Finn,” all their friends and family say. “There must be some mistake.”

Everything is immediately called into question. And it’s not long before the characters and the readers are both asking themselves: Is this out of character, with some bizarre circumstance forcing his hand? Or did no one know his true character after all? Is the boy safe with him? How can Violet get her son back?

The people in his life want to find out. They need to find out. Too much is at stake not to.  

Acting out of character doesn’t have to drive an entire story forward, though it can. It can also add a twist, a turn, a layer of interest at any point in your arc. This can work equally well with protagonists, antagonists and even supporting players.

Consider:

1. A man known for having a lead foot gets a speeding ticket on the interstate. He complains to his friends, who laugh and point out that he’d long had it coming.
2. A relatively sedate woman is caught going 45 in a school zone, during an hour she was supposed to be at work. Whoa, what was her hurry?

A traffic ticket is a relatively run-of-the-mill occurrence, yet even so, our interest is piqued.

1. A known philanderer hits on a coworker at the office Christmas party.
2. A father of three who is so devoted to his wife it's almost a running joke has too much to drink and corners the new hire in the elevator. (Or did he really have that much to drink after all?)

Which do you want to learn more about?

1. A bully pushes your kid down during a fight on the playground and breaks his arm.
2. Your kid's best friend pushes him down during a fight on the playground and breaks his arm.

It's the out-of-character behavior that raises the question, "But why?"

And that's what keeps people reading.

The next time you feel like your story needs some jazz, see if your characters might be acting a little too in character. Send in that caller who will make them slip and show their true colors on the air.

Your readers will find themselves smiling in the dark, delighted and eager to find out what happens next.

What's your favorite "surprise" for your characters or characters in books you've particularly enjoyed?

About Jessica

Jessica Strawser is the editorial director of Writer’s Digest, North America’s leading publication for aspiring and working writers since 1920. Her debut novel, Almost Missed You, is forthcoming from St. Martin’s Press in March 2017 and has garnered accolades from Chris Bohjalian, Adriana Trigiani, Garth Stein and others.

She loves connecting with fellow writers (and readers) at Facebook.com/jessicastrawserauthor and on Twitter @jessicastrawser.