The full court press

First of all, Happy Cinco de Mayo! I'd say something pithy in Spanish but I don't speak the language – just ask the guys who take care of my horses. Who knew, when I was learning French in Illinois, that I'd be moving to California? All I can say is, "dos cervezas, por favor," but I don't drink beer. I can also say, "what a dump," in Italian, which is inappropriate no matter where I am.

On to today's post.


Three is not my favorite number, and yet it appears to rule my writing. My descriptions tend to fall into phrases of three. Go back and skim through my previous posts if you want proof. For example, from yesterday, "I picture (Peri) having a hearty laugh, a quick mind, and the ability to enjoy fine things without needing them." You see the pattern? Phrase-comma-phrase-comma-and-phrase-period.

And, because I like to write humor, the last phrase is usually the punch line.

I mention this because people have commented on it, warned me to be careful of overdoing it, and – wait, I didn't want to have three phrases there. See how addictive it is?

I even began this Blog-A-Day challenge by talking about cars for three days in a row. My plan was to talk about Peri for three days, then something else for three days, then… Then I stopped and slapped myself in the back of the head, which is not as easy as it sounds.

So I'm going to break my obsessive pattern today and talk about something completely different: press kits.

According to everyone who is trying to sell a book, you need a press kit. When I first heard about this, I pictured a vacuum-sealed box of parts that some reviewer/reporter would piece together to make a model of my book.

Apparently, that's not what it looks like. It's actually a packet of information. I've been reading Nikki Leigh's Book Promo 101, and she says it needs to include the gizmos an author needs to get their book out to the public in a quick and easy way. It sounds like it needs to be flexible, to spin a book toward the correct audience. And it must be written in an engaging yet concise way.

Right, I'll just whip that out.

For example, Freezer Burn takes place in north Orange County, and mostly Placentia, so I might want part of my press kit to focus on the media in southern California and isn't cool to have a mystery in your own backyard.

Then again, Peri is a 50-year old working gal, so maybe I need to spin some of my publicity toward women's clubs.

And she loves dirty martinis, so I should definitely hit up the bars.

Okay, maybe not.

Do I have a kit yet? No. Am I working on it? Yes. Am I floundering about, having a hard time focusing on each of the various pieces of the whole? Oh, yeah, baby. Good thing I'm a stubborn gal and know I'll finish it.

How about any of you? Do you have a press kit? Was it easy to put together? What helped you? What hindered you?

Tomorrow, I'll talk about Peri again. I promise.