Some Basic Reference Materials the Media Will Want From You
It occurred to me that, with all this talk that's been going on about making yourself accessible to the press, I don't actually have current press materials of my own anywhere. With that in mind, I'm throwing up a quick, skeletal collection of facts, photos, books and links to more information on Rob Callahan.
Don't think of this as a proper template for your own press page (as my fellow reporters would probably tell you it looks a bit rushed and sophomoric) but feel free to think of it as a starting point when you design your own promotional pages for the media.
Also, note that this isn't a complete list of everything you need to have online and readily available to the press. This is just how you provide them with reference materials to make the job of researching and writing about you easier on them. You'll still have to have the standard stuff, like links to your work, your bio and contact information.
Wikipedia Mentions:
First, there's a collection of interesting facts and credentials. You never know who's going to want ot write you up. It might be a big paper or magazine (where they will probably not use wikipedia) or it might be a personal blog (where they might) so try to provide reference links to accomodate everyone. In the examples below, anything that you could link me back to on wikipedia is followed by a parenthetical link back to that topic's wikipedia entry. The references are noted in brackets, and are listed in more detail further down the page.
I only use wikipedia in this example because it's convenient for me. It's just an example of a site to which you can link. You can link back to anything. If you are connected to a bunch of stuff that was written up in Vita.mn, link to those articles. If you are part of a show that only has a facebook page, link back to the facebook page. This will build associations and help the reporter find possible angles for their story, and it will give them as many options as possible:
Rob Callahan is a member of the Rockstar Storytellers, along with comedian Joseph Scrimshaw, (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joseph_Scrimshaw) who perform regularly at the Bryant-Lake Bowl (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bryant-Lake_Bowl) [REF 1] and at other venues, such as outdoor music festivals. [REF 2]
Callahan contributed to the Sinister Bedfellows anthology. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sinister_Bedfellows) [REF 3]
Callahan has written and performed in two shows for the Minnesota Fringe Festival (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Fringe_Festival) [REF 4, REF 5], which won fan awards for Outstanding Spoken Word [REF 6] and the Frot ("Fringe + hot") list. [REF 7]
Callahan has previously been broadcast on Minnesota Public Radio (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minnesota_Public_Radio) [REF 8, REF 9] reading his short stories.
Callahan was a guest of honor at MarsCon (Bloomington, Minnesota) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MarsCon_%28Bloomington,_Minnesota%29) along with author Catherine Asaro (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catherine_Asaro) and actress Denise Crosby (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Denise_Crosby) in 2012, and is a regular guest at other science fiction conventions. [REF 10]
Callahan is an avid gamer, and has been part of a Dungeons & Dragons gaming group with musician Jeremy Messersmith. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeremy_messersmith) [REF 11]
Wookieepedia Mentions:
Just like the wikipedia references above, but with the Star Wars wiki. Because how cool is that?
Callahan has made many references to Star Wars in his fiction. (http://misc.thefullwiki.org/List_of_references_to_Star_Wars_in_miscellanea#Hellbound_Snowballs) [REF 12]
References:
The references noted in brackets above are listed here, in case your reader wants to check your facts or just get more information on something up above. If you really want to make it easy on them, you can list the author, publication, article title and date of publication. (Note: You really want to make it easy on them. I didn't because I was in a hurry.)
REF 1: City Pages: Rockstar Storytellers
REF 2: 2013 Stone Arch Bridge Festival Announces Live Music Lineup
REF 3: Google Books: Sinister Bedfellows Anthology
REF 4: Fringe Festival Reviews: Idiosynchronicity
REF 5: Fringe Festival Day 3 & 4
REF 6: 2011 Fringies!
REF 7: The 2011 Frot List
REF 8: Millwind: Rob Callahan interview
REF 9: MPR News: In the Loop
REF 10: MarsCon 2012
REF 11: Vita.mn: Jeremy Messersmith: The Dungeon Master
REF 12: Wookieepedia: List of References to Star Wars in Miscellanea
Bibliographical Reference:
In my case this is a link to a list of books I've been in, but it could just as easily be a discography, filmography or gallery, depending on the type of art you do.
Amazon - List of Books with Rob Callahan in Them
General Biographical Reference:
If you've done interviews in which you talk more about your personal life, or go into much greater detail about your career, or simply provide more interesting information about you and your work, provide a link to those. A blogger might lift block quotes from these, or a reporter could use them as the basis for their own interview questions:
MN Daily - Rob Callahan: A New Kind of Sci-Fi
Twin Cities Daily Planet - Q: Who IS that? A: Rob Callahan, wizard of words
Millwind - Rob Callahan interview
Images:
Try to provide a variety of quality images. You'll want something like 300 dpi or higher (a bunch of media outlets consider 600 dpi the standard) for print. Try and have casual shots, head shots, pictures of you performing, action shots, selfies. Whatever. The point is to give the press easy access to a lot of options, let them know what's going on in each picture, and tell them how to attribute it:
(Click to enlarge. Right-click to download.)
Callahan performing at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in 2012 (Photo: Dennis Zerwas Jr., dzpics.com - Attribution required.)
Callahan at the Bryant-Lake Bowl in 2013. (Photo: Dennis Zerwas Jr., dzpics.com - Attribution required.)
Callahan performing at MarsCon. March 10, 2012. (Photo: Dave Stagner, Dave Stagner Photography. Attribution required.)
Callahan with Catherine Asaro and Denise Crosby at MarsCon. March 11, 2012 (Photo: Rob Callahan)
Callahan performing at the Stone Arch Bridge Festival. June 16, 2013. (Photo: Dennis Zerwas Jr., dzpics.com - Attribution required.)
Callahan performing at the Stone Arch Bridge Festival. June 16, 2013. (Photo: Dennis Zerwas Jr., dzpics.com - Attribution required.)
Callahan performing in 2011 (Photo: Dennis Zerwas Jr., dzpics.com - Attribution required.)
Callahan signing in 2011 (Photo: Nancy Cerkvenik)