Author one sheets are a powerful marketing tool for authors who want to connect with media, event organizers, and other professionals who can help them get their book in front of readers.
What is an Author One Sheet?
An author one sheet is a singe sheet of paper (real or digital) that offers all the pertinent information a journalist, event organizer, book buyer, etc. might need. It encourages these people to either reach out or acquire even more information with the intent to help spread the word or sell the book. Not having a one sheet means finding information about you is more difficult, and many professionals don’t have time to search. They’d rather move on to someone who makes their job easy. Be the author that makes their job easy!
What information is on an Author One Sheet?
The basic information every one sheet needs:
- Author head shot
- Book cover image
- Book title
- Book description
- Author’s name
- Author bio
- Contact information
After those are included, what else you add depends on who will use that one sheet.
Create Specialized One Sheets for Every Occasion
After the basics, it is up to you what you add. You may have more than one one-sheet. For example:
- You could have one that you send to conference organizers with your talk title and description.
- You could have another that you take to book festivals and other author events to share within the industry. This one might have your genre, word count, target audience in case you talk to bookstores or other retailers.
- You could have a third for podcast producers and bloggers who might have you on their show or write a blog piece about you. This one would include suggested talking topics and refer them to your Q& A sheet.
After the basic information, each one sheet will have different extra information. Just as when you write a book, you are not writing to everyone. Write to a very specific audience.
Use Templates to Make it Easy
Author Nation has a several templates for our members to use to make their own author one sheets.
I love templates! They make every task easier. This is why I created them for the members of Author Nation. It is so much easier to start with a template than it is to start from scratch. Faster too. And I know authors are busy people.
If you want access to awesome templates, checklists, guides and more, join Author Nation.
Do you have an author one sheet? I’d love to see it.
– Keep writing
Melody Ann
Author Nation is your go-to resource for becoming a successful nonfiction author, from planning to promotion and everything in between. Download the resource for the stage you are in.