Prepare for Publicists Speed Dating With “Creating a Press Kit” Webinar

Booksellers who have registered for Publicists Speed Dating at BookExpo 2018 should check out ABA’s webinar on “Creating a Press Kit,” which is available along with other educational materials on ABA’s Learning on Demand page.

The speed dating sessions offer booksellers a chance to meet with publicists from several publishers, where they will be able to promote their stores and find out what publicists look for when planning author tours. Sessions will be held at the River Pavilion from 3:30 p.m. to 5:30 p.m. on Wednesday, May 30, and from 9:45 a.m. to 11:45 a.m. on Friday, June 1, at BookExpo, taking place May 30–June 1 at the Javits Convention Center in New York City.

Watching the video of the May 11, 2017, webinar on creating an effective bookstore press kit will be helpful for booksellers who have signed up for Publicist Speed Dating, as well as any booksellers who manage events, publisher relationships, and publicity.

A well-thought-out press kit enables a bookstore to make the best possible case in conversations with publicity directors and others who can help secure more desirable author bookings, events, and increased book sales. Ideally limited to two pages, a press kit aims to express the highlights of the bookstore to whoever is reading it and then continue to effectively represent the store once the meeting is over.

A video of the original webinar, which was led by Maribeth Pelly, founder of Easy Marketing Strategies and the event planner for BookTowne in Manasquan, New Jersey, as well as a checklist of important information to include in a press kit are available on BookWeb to ABA members with a BookWeb username and password (e-mail [email protected] for login details).

Publicists Speed Dating is currently at capacity. Booksellers who want to join the waitlist should contact ABA Program and Development Coordinator Jessica Stauffer as soon as possible and make sure to indicate which day they would like to attend and whether they would like to meet with kids’ or adult publishers.