Putting together a Media Kit

                                                    Media Kit

	A media kit helps present needed materials for publicity. One can be assembled online or in a two pocket folder. One should include the following items:

 1.  a photograph of the author
 2.  reviews and summaries of books by the author and any news released availabe
 3.  a writing resumé for the author
 4.  a bio of the author
 5.  any possible writing awards can be listed separately or included in the resumé.

	My media kit has a CD envelope (with the transparent window) on the front with a photograph. The window is facing the reader. The envelope is glued across the bottom of the envelope and about two thirds up each side. The flap can then be opened and closed so the photo can be removed and replaced. 

	I put my name at the top of the front of the folder, printed in large font and in blue on a strip of neatly cut paper.

	My online media kit has all the needed items in one folder.

	Anytime I need to provide information for media publicity, I can hand or mail the kit. If the media source prefers an attachment emailed, I can attached any portions of the kit needed for that source. 

Examples of items for kit:
Vivian Gilbert Zabel  (V. Gilbert Zabel)
biography

	Born to Raymond and Dolly Gilbert July 28, 1943, Vivian followed her father as he transferred from military base to military base from Randolph AFB, Texas to Loring AFB, Maine.  
	People’s fears of polio became one of Vivian’s first memories. Her brother Ricky, two years younger than she, was taken to a hospital at a base near Shevesport, Louisiana.  When the doctors diagnosed the boy as having polio and decided to fly the three-year-old to Ft. Sam Houston in San Antonio, Texas, Raymond had to pack his wife’s and son’s clothes and take the suitcases to the Air Base before the two flew to Texas.  He left his two daughters, Kathy aged four and Vivian aged five, with neighbors. The woman put the girls in a fenced area and left them there in the August sun without any shade or water. When Kathy started to cry because she was thirsty, and no one came to help, Vivian climbed over the fence, trotted to the door, and beat on it. The woman peeked out the window.
	“We’re thirsty,” Vivian yelled. “My sister’s crying. We need to go to the bathroom.”
	The woman backed away without opening the door. Vivian climbed back over the fence and held her sister. When their father finally came to get the girls, Vivian told him how they had been treated. The furious father beat on the door, but no one would answer.  About eighteen months later, Kathy’s heart gave out, and she died.
	Vivian started kindergarten at Randolph AFB, but by the time she graduated from Limestone High School, Limestone, Maine, she had changed schools twenty-two times. Only four years did she attend a school the whole year: first grade at Sam Houston Elementary in San Antonio; seventh grade at Star School in Oklahoma City; tenth grade at Star-Spencer High School in Oklahoma City; and her senior year at Limestone High School. Other times her father was transferred during a school year, sometimes more than once. She attended some schools more than one time: Lincoln Elementary in Ponca City, Oklahoma; Ponca City Junior High; Jefferson Elementary in Enid, Oklahoma. Other schools were mainly stop-gaps in her education from Guam to Morocco.
	In February before Vivian’s ninth birthday in July, another girl was added to the family, Diana. A little over a year later, Ben was born.
	During her school years, Vivian, always a reader, also discovered a love of writing. She wrote her first poetry in third grade. By the time she was in junior high, she wove stories and knew that some day she would write a book. 
	Finally Vivian returned to Oklahoma from Maine to attend college at Bethany Nazarene College, now Southern Nazarene University.  While there, she met Pat Zabel, a classmate in music appreciation class. One of Pat’s brothers stopped by to visit her as he looked for a job.  Robert planned on earning enough money to travel to Oregon, but he and Vivian met. Robert finally made his way to Oregon about thirty-five years later when the couple took a trip to Washington to visit their older son and his wife.
	Vivian couldn’t afford to continue at BNC, even working. She decided after the first semester to attend business school so that she could make higher wages. February 18, 1962, Robert and Vivian married in Midwest City.
	During the next forty-four years, Vivian and Robert loved each other as they promised and had four children, three who lived and one who only visited a short time.  Rene became the mother of five children, two of whom were taken by their father in 1996. Rene’s two oldest daughters married and have children. Her youngest is younger than two of Vivian’s great-grandchildren. Bob has two daughters. Randy has three sons. All manage to find their ways into Vivian’s poetry or stories.  
	After working in the business world, Vivian’s rheumatoid arthritis decided to make its presence not only noticed but the center of attention. Since her stiffened fingers made typing and writing extremely difficult, she went back to college and became a teacher. For twenty-seven years she taught mainly at the high school level.
	While teaching, Vivian honed her own writing skills and had some poetry, short stories, articles, and essays published in various magazines, papers, and anthologies. After retirement, she wrote full time. Three novels and a juvenile book seek publishers while she has a large percentage of the short stories in Hidden Lies and Other Stories, written with Holly Jahangiri.  She was one of the editors and contributed over thirty poems for Walking the Earth: Life’s perspectives in Poetry, a collection of poems from eight authors, including her. Her latest book is The Base Stealers Club, a sports/mystery novel for readers aged eight through 14 or 15.
	Vivian’s website can be found at http://www.viviangilbertzabel.com.  The books mentioned previously can be ordered through any book store or Amazon.com.


Writing Resumé
Vivian Gilbert Zabel

Names used:	Vivian Gilbert Zabel	    Vivian Zabel       V. Gilbert Zabel	Vivian E. Zabel      Granny Zabel

Education:	Limestone High School, Limestone, Maine    		      	                            graduated 1961
		Bethany Nazarene College (now Southern Nazarene University), Bethany, OK            1961 - 1962
		Oklahohoma Panhandle State University, Goodwell, Oklahoma 			  graduated 1977
			 majors:         English & Speech       minor: French		                      
		post graduate hours:   University of Central Oklahoma, Edmond, Oklahoma
				          Oklahoma State University, Stillwater, Oklahoma
				          University of Oklahoma, Norman, Oklahoma
Places lived:	San Antonio, Texas						Hooker, Oklahoma
		Anderson AFB, Guam						Guymon, Oklahoma
		Ponca City, Oklahoma						Liberal, Kansas
		Enid, Oklahoma						Woodward, Oklahoma
		Victoria, Texas							Sharon, Oklahoma
		Midwest City, Oklahoma					Garfield, Arkansas
		Casablanca, Morocco						Buffalo, Oklahoma
		Loring AFB, Maine						Morris, Oklahoma
		Oklahoma City, Oklahoma					Braman, Oklahoma
		Okmulgee, Oklahoma						Pawhuska, Oklahoma
		Pampa, Texas				     			Arcadia, Oklahoma
						Edmond, Oklahoma
Occupations and jobs:	store clerk		office manager			answering service operator
				inventory clerk		bookkeeper			car hop
				business manager	insurance agent			hotel registration clerk
				teacher 25 years:  English, composition, creative writing, French, yearbook, newspaper,
				       	literary magazine, drama, speech, debate; coach speech/drama/debate     
				wife, mother, grandmother, and great-grandmother

Items published:   (Information about some items has been lost over the years.)
	Potpourri Spring 1975:    poetry - “Love Is”		“Coming of Spring”	
				   essay -   “Morocco: Marriage of Old and New”
	Potpourri Spring 1976:    poetry - “Escape”		“In Memory”		“Listen to the Drum”
				   essay -  “Guam: Island Paradise”
				   story -   “Once Upon a Christmas”
	Potpourri Spring 1977:    poetry - “Oh, Girl”		“How Many Times”	“Sun Set”“Amy”
				   essay - “Maine Winter”
				   story -  “Come Home”
	Teachers Write Summer 1997 (The Oklahoma Council of Teachers of English)
				   poetry -  “Erosion”		          “Cry for Help”		“Rewards”
				   essay  -   “Glimpses of History”         “Guam”                
				   short story - “Once Upon a Christmas”
	Reflected Images by Vivian Gilbert Zabel, publisher Turner and Robinson, 1998 (out of print)
	Writing Poetry (lesson plans for poetry unit) by Vivian Gilbert Zabel, Turner and Robinson, 2000 (out of print)
	Standard January 26, 2003 poem - “Heaven Waits”
	Hidden Lies and Other Stories by Vivian Gilbert Zabel and Holly Jahagiri, publisher 4RV Publishing, 2004
		fourteen short stories
	Walking the Earth: Life’s Perspectives in Poetry, by Vivian Zabel et al, publisher 4RV Publishing, 2004
		thirty-six poems
	The Base Stealers Club, by V. Gilbert Zabel, publisher 4RV Publishing 2006

Examples of book reviews/press releases:

News release for Ponca City News (included a photo)

Two authors with local ties will sign copies of their recently published books at Brace Books, April 30 at 2 PM.  Vivian Gilbert Zabel and Jacque Graham both were involved in Walking the Earth: Life’s Perspective in Poetry, while  Zabel co-authored a book of short stories, Hidden Lies and Other Stories.  Both books have received excellent reviews.

Freezers can be dangerous things, as shown in Hidden Lies and Other Stories by Vivian Gilbert Zabel and Holly Jahangiri.   Each writer includes a short story with a deep freeze used as more than storage for food.  The 202 page collection of 21 short stories contains stories with mystery, crime, romance, or touches of horror, a combination of various genre and situations.

The women, from two generations, incorporate timeless story lines and characters into their works.   They create believable plots and take readers for a reading ride that keeps attention centered on what will happen next.  Zabel embodies skills honed through 25 years of teaching composition and multiple life experiences into her writing.  Many published items resulted from her family and beliefs.

Zabel is closely connected to Ponca City.  Her grandparents, Elvira and Howard Gilbert, lived in Ponca until their deaths.  Her grandmother, who outlived her first husband, would also be recognized by residents as Elvira Perry or Elvira Karney.  Zabel’s father, Raymond, returned to the Ponca area after retiring from the Air Force until his death in 1987.  Her mother, Dolly Lyles Gilbert, continued to live at Marland until her death in 1996.  Zabel attended Lincoln Elementary and Ponca City Junior High between her father’s military assignments.

Zabel also co-authored and edited a 178 page collection of poetry which covers human experience from eight poets’ point of view.  Walking the Earth: Life’s Perspectives in Poetry takes readers on a trip through life through 135 poems: from childhood to old age, from sunshine to the shadows of sorrow.   Graham has several poems included.

Although the authors live in various areas across the continent, brought together through an online writing
site, they are bound in their talent of creating images with words. Zabel and Becky Simpson live in Edmond,
Oklahoma, Zabel always claiming the state as home and Simpson a newcomer. Jahangiri is in Houston,
Texas. Graham resides in Blackwell, Oklahoma, her lifetime hometown. Kimberly Ligameri lives in Atlanta, Georgia while Robert Blackwell is in Columbus, Ohio. Two Canadians round out the group:Tim Larkin from British Columbia; Diane Steele from Ontario.

Zabel said, “The whole project excited me because I was able to work with talented poets. Each of us has a unique approach to writing poetry, yet the items in this book all blend and coordinate, creating a book that everyone can enjoy.”

Simpson's opinion of the book states that life’s twists and turns are exposed through the eyes of
educators, engineers, homemakers, and one true jack-of-all-trades.  “We invite you to relax, put your feet up, fix your favorite drink, and come along as we delve into the many aspects of life through these poets’ eyes,” is Simpson’s advice.

Graham says, “The poems included reflect life with its sunshine and shadows, its roses and thorns,
love requited - or not - childhood through the aging process, and the faith that grows in each of us as we travel
those paths.”

Born and raised in Blackwell, Graham started writing poetry while in junior high.  Her work was published in an Oklahoma State University official publication and in two of the Poetry Society of Oklahoma’s anthologies, Oklahoma Poets.  Other works appeared in The Disciple, a national church publication.  After retiring from teaching English, Graham returned to Blackwell.  Recently she helped research books about Kay County historic homes, written by John Walton and Kathy Adams.

Reviews of Walking the Earth: Life’s Perspectives in Poetry
Vivian Gilbert Zabel et al
       This collection of poetry has much to offer. The reader is treated to a variety of styles by the eight different poets, and the poems offer perspectives on the different stages and moods of life. This book of poetry will become treasured by many, being the sort of collection that one enjoys reading over and over again. I heartily recommend adding this book to your personal library and giving it as a gift to those you know who enjoy good poetry. You will not be disappointed by this collection of poems. 
              Reviewer: Harry Gilleland is a poet, having authored two books of poetry, as well as a prose novella.
****

     Other authors in attendance [Authors’ Reception] included Vivian Zabel, a poet and Edmond author whose collaborative book of poetry Walking the Earth: Life’s Perspectives in Poetry, has received rave reviews since being published in October.

			                                       Loralea Epperson, The Edmond Sun, January 22, 2006, page 2