Online Press Kit - The Complete Process

This post marks the 6th month since I began posting about Online Press Kits. I could have done in about 10 weeks, but I wanted to have book reviews mixed in each month. If you have continued to work on your Press Kit in small bursts with me, congratulations! You have a completed Press Kit.

If you are just starting, I thought I would provide you a completed list of posts in a list below.

1. Info - Press Kit
2. Preparing Your Press Kit
3. A Quick Look
4. Author Photos
5. Biography and Writing It
6. Book Info - Gathering
7. Book Photos
8. What is a CV and why not a resume?
9. Creating a Downloadable CV
10. Press Releases

I am super excited to have this task accomplished. I hope that you found these blog posts useful in creating your own Press Kit. Please link them in the comment section and I will take a look at what you created!

If you would like to look at mine closely, you can find it HERE.

Here's a quick glance at mine:

As of right now, I do not have any other series planned. If you have any suggestions or requests, leave me a comment or contact me through social media.

Press Releases - A guide for the Press Kit

Two years into my writing career, I came across an online press kit of an author and realized I didn't have one. Included in their press kit was a press release for each publication. Not only had I never thought of using a press release as part of my book promotion, but I found it a completely foreign aspect of self promotion.

I will even admit that I still do not use this aspect of promotion all that well. As an Indie author, it may be an important part of promotion as you can send it to locally for a closer source of potential support.

I left this portion of the Online Press Kit until last for the fact that I feel out of my depths. If you are interested in a template that goes in depth, I would suggest All Freelance Writing. This seems like a very good option.

What I am going to show you in this blog post is me setting up a press release for my upcoming book Mountain Momma. During this experience, I would suggest that you type in the words book press release into a search engine and take a look at the images. There are many versions of press releases that seem interesting. I have figured out two I like and created two templates of my own. One is a modern version. The second is a more traditional version.

If you are looking for a modern press release, please check out my newest template. This template can be changed and adapted to your own personal needs for Press Releases.

Here's a glance at what it looks like:

If you are looking for a more traditional press release, please check out this template. It is simplified and easy to use.

Here's a glance at what it looks like:

I know there is a lot of conversation about press releases and the power they have on self promotion. I do not know the statistics of authors who receive more marketing potential with the use of press releases against those who do not. What I do know is that it has the potential for local and national exposure if used correctly. What does it hurt to include this in your normal round of promotion?

If you have questions, please post them below. I will do my very best to help you.

Creating a CV - Press Kit

Creating a CV is relatively easy. You need access to all your publications, awards, and achievements. You also need to write a small, or long, biography to include. In this post, I will be updating my own CV to a more streamline CV.

You can view my previous CV by clicking HERE.

If you would like a template, please visit Annie Neugebauer's Blog post Writer's Resume Template.

What you see in my CV is a small biography, the list of my publications by Genre, and a listing for Other Publications. I submit my poetry to literary magazines and anthologies. If I had won awards for my work, I would also include that.

Here's a list of what you should include in your CV:

• Biography
• Education
• Work History
• List of publications
• Awards and Achievements
• Memberships

You can also include: specialization and social media presence. These may be important to any perspective agent. As an Indie author, social media presence can make or break getting an agent in the future.

Here's a view of the CV I created on Word:

As I read through my old CV, I noticed that I didn't include my newest releases. What I have to do is add the information for these publications. I also noticed I didn't have any work history, education, awards, or memberships included. Some of that is because I do not belong to any writing guilds. I have also not received an award or achievements at this point in time. This doesn't mean I cannot add them at a future date.

Using the new template, I changed my CV.

Here is the updated CV:

If you have word, you can export this as a PDF. You do this by clicking File, then Export on the left side of the navigation. It will bring up the Export options.

Select Create PDF/XPS Document, and then click Create PDF/XPS. It will bring up a save screen so you can name your file. Do so, and the document will come up as a PDF.

You have now created your CV. If you have been creating the page on your website for your press kit, you can take the time now to add the file into your website to be downloaded. If you are creating a page specifically for your CV, you can copy and paste the whole document into the page.


One thing I would suggest is to keep the original Word document in the Press Kit file you created so that you can easily update this with each change that happens like a new publication. Not only does this ensure that you are keeping it up-to-date in your own files, but it will prompt you to change the new file on your website. The more you use this system of organization, the easier it will get to update everything.

Stay tuned for the wrap-up of the Online Press Kit series next week.

A Quick Tip for Authors

Hello writers! If you are reading this, you are likely participating in my press kit project or are interested in keeping your information kit up-to-date. I thought I would provide a small tip to help you have a more organized future. On May 10th, I will be posting a how-to on creating a CV. This post already includes a template for you to input the information, but you still need to gather some. Yes, I know. It takes time. So to help yourself in the future with updating it, please look at the following photo.

In this photo, I have begun compiling my publications in reference form. It has likely been a while (if ever) since you created a reference. Typically, references are used in essays, research papers, and using quotes to avoid plagiarism. Throw back to middle school, high school, and college or Non-Fiction writing. This long task is important to your CV and Press Kit.


Here are some examples of how to create a quick reference:

“Poem 1,” “Poem 2,” “Poem 3,” The Literary Magazine  Fall/Winter 2012

“Short Story,” Anthology, Publisher, 2011

"Flash Fiction," Fiction Blog, June 2011

"Novella," Small Press, June 2011 

“Poem 4,” "Poem 5," “Poem 6,” Prize Poem Anthology, Big Organization, May 2011 

“Micro Fiction,” Well-Known Blog, March 2011

“Creative Nonfiction Short,” Prize Winning Anthology, Credible Institution 2010 

Spend some time gathering your publication information and inputting them into reference form. I have mine in a separate file in my Press Kit to ensure I can quickly update both documents. It does require me to make a new PDF file every time I update the word document; however, that is a small price to pay.

I hope this small tip helps you create a master list of references for your own publications. A writer's job is never done.

Mountain Momma - Early release

Hello friends!

I am currently sitting in my living room surrounded by boxes of my mother's material possessions. Part of me feels completely overwhelmed. Part of me feels sad. The last part of me feels somewhat at peace with having the things she wanted me to have so close. I am not sure I have posted about the title of "Mountain Momma" yet. So I wanted to share.

Mountain Momma was my mother's CB name. Yep...the redneck cell phones. LOL! She used to talk to my step-father on them when he got off work and was on his way home. When I was thinking of my next volume of poetry, that name stuck in my head and wouldn't let go. So, I named this volume of poetry after her CB name.

It is not extremely hard to see how much of my emotions go into my poetry. I have always felt a kind of release in writing poetry. In fact, one of the days after we learned she had cancer, she said "I want you to write a poem for my funeral, Sarah."

The words out of my mouth were "I already have." And I did. I wrote the poem "Unanswered" for her within 24 hours of knowing she would be leaving soon. Her other request of me was a crocheted rose for her hands. My only regret is that my poem wasn't read at her funeral. But I know she heard the words.

Tonight, I wanted to share that and the fact that Mountain Momma has an early release as an e-book on Amazon. I have the proof for the printed release on the way. That one should be available soon.

Click me to purchase as an e-book