I hope you are having a wonderful Saturday morning. In exactly one week I’ll be in Europe to visit my grandfather and do some sight seeing. My entire family (minus my parents, sister and nephew) all live in Europe – can you believe it? So it’s always such a treat when I’m able to go see them. I’m going to have to convince some of my cousins to visit New York! So, you won’t be hearing from me for a couple of weeks. However, I will return with many photos and lots and lots of chocolate. 🙂
This week, I worked on building an electronic press kit (EPK) for my client. She is planning a trip to Los Angeles for a writing workshop and is reaching out to many industry heads, publishers, agents, etc. to make some connections. Once she started to reach out more and more, more people were asking for her EPK, and she didn’t have one!
Lesson learned: have an EPK updated and ready to send out.
I started my research and put together everything we needed to build one. So, what exactly do you need in your EPK? Let’s go down the list together:
–Photos – choose 2-3 downloadable great photos (I try to pick one landscape, one portrait so there are options.) *Pro tip – include the photographers name in the caption.
–Bio – both short (50-word) and long bio. Make these downloadable as well.
–Music – choose 2-3 of your top songs for visitors to stream AND download.
–Videos – feature 1-2 videos to share.
–Press Quotes – feature your BEST 5-6 quotes.
–Press Release – Include your latest press releases if you have any.
Where we were going to host this was the next question. You have a couple of options if you are not currently working with a public relations company that can host your EPK on their site. You can:
1) Use an online service to build your EPK: If you have an updated account with Reverbnation or Sonicbids, they offer for a low monthly fee to create your own EPK and URL to share. This is the quick and easy fix, but lacks your own branding and personality. I recommend using this service until you can build an EPK on your website. Which brings me to…
2) Make a comprehensive page on your site dedicated to your press kit.Have your assistant create a page with the url www.yourbandname.com/presskit and build a site with your press kit items, nicely laid out. Make sure you include links to download photos and bio. You could even include a link to a zip file that downloads everything, but definitely keep it an option. Sometimes people just need one photo and not your whole career story.
In a matter of days, together as a team, we were able to pull together a brand new spankin’ EPK that looks great so she could start sharing with her contacts gracefully and easily.
I hope that this gives you a clearer idea of what you need set up and how you can have your own EPK ready to share with the world. If you have any questions on this or on which service to use for your EPK, just hit reply and I’d be happy to help!
Have a wonderful rest of your weekend, and I’ll see you in a couple of weeks!
Auf Wiedersehen!