Keep public materials current

Refresh public materials after news

Whenever something changes the story (a major review, an award, a new edition, a rights sale, a new book), update the bio file, the media kit, and the book page the same week.

OptionalOwner: AuthorYou: Do itFreeAll publishing paths

Why it matters

Your public materials are read at unpredictable moments by people making quick decisions, and they take what they read as current. A bio that omits the award, a media kit without the major review, a book page that does not mention the audiobook: each one is a small lost opportunity that costs nothing to avoid. Keeping the canonical copies current is what makes every other copy correctable.

Your part

What you do: Do it. You normally do this yourself.
Who normally owns it: Author. Author updates own materials; publisher updates its author page and metadata on request
When: As needed, within a week of any significant news (Keep public materials current: whenever something real changes)

How to do it

The full walkthrough

Significant news is anything you would want a journalist, bookseller, or librarian to know before they look you up: a major review, an award result, a bestseller-list appearance, a new format or edition, a translation or film sale, a new book announced, a change of publisher, or a change of name. Each one makes the current bios, media kit, and book page slightly out of date, and the gap widens with every piece of news that is not carried through.

The refresh is a fixed routine. Update the bio file first, at every length, using the exact wording of the news. Then the canonical biography page and book page on your site. Then the media kit. Then the profiles that carry a bio (Amazon Author Central, Goodreads, BookBub, social accounts, the publisher's author page by request). Then the structured data if it lists awards or editions. Record the date.

Traditionally published authors should send the publisher the updated bio for its author page and the catalog, and ask whether it wants to add the news to the metadata. Hybrid authors do the same. Self-published authors update the metadata themselves.

The discipline is doing it the same week. News that is a month old is already less useful, and the profile that still describes the book as forthcoming is the one an interviewer reads.

Common mistakes

Posting the news on social media and updating nothing that persists.
Updating the long bio and leaving the short one, which is the one event programs use.
Describing the news in different words in different places.
Waiting for a convenient moment that never arrives.

Identifiers for Refresh public materials after news

Set a status on any record and it joins this step. All author identifiers.

Book and author identifiers
My status	Identifier	Why this matters	Cost	Yours
Not reviewed Learn more	Amazon Author Central The free Amazon page where you claim your author name, attach every edition of your books, and write your biography.	Unclaimed, the author page a reader sees is whatever Amazon assembled, and any edition listed under a different spelling of your name sits apart from the rest of your work. Only you can fix that: a publisher cannot claim your author page for you, and the platform account a self-publisher publishes through is a separate login, so the job is identical on all three routes. Amazon's help says author pages are not removed once created, so use exactly the name that appears on your books rather than creating a second page you would rather not have. You're done when one author page carries the right name and every edition and format is attached to it.	Free. Amazon has previewed a paid Author Pro tier; the core profile tools remain free.	Add your Amazon author page link
Not reviewed Learn more	Goodreads Author Program The free way to claim the Goodreads profile that is created automatically once a book under your name enters its database.	The profile exists whether or not you claim it, so leaving it alone means the picture, biography, and book list readers see are whatever the database assembled, and a book by a different writer with your name can end up attached to you. Reader reviews and ratings sit outside your control by design, and claiming the profile does not change that. All three routes do the same thing here; what differs is how the book record arrives in the first place, normally through the publisher's data for a traditionally published book, and through your platform or a volunteer Goodreads Librarian for a self-published one. You're done when the profile is claimed and every edition is grouped under the right work and author.	Free. Giveaways and advertising are optional paid features.	Add your Goodreads author page link

A template for this

Media-kit checklistEverything a journalist, producer, bookseller, or event organizer expects to find in a media kit, grouped so you can see the gaps at a glance.

When to use it: Use this when you first assemble a media kit, when the publisher sends theirs and you want to check it against your own records, and again after any significant news. Do not use this when the kit would be out of date the moment you shared it. An out-of-date kit is worse than none, because it gives a journalist wrong information with confidence.

MEDIA KIT CHECKLIST: [Book Title]
Kit address: [Link]
Last updated: [Date]

THE BOOK
- Title and subtitle exactly as on the cover: [Book Title]: [Subtitle]
- Author name as it should appear: [Author Name]
- Publisher and imprint: [Publisher], [Imprint]
- Publication date: [Publication Date]
- Formats: [Formats]
- ISBN, price, and page count for each format: [ISBN And Price By Format]
- Short description, about 50 words, as plain text
- Long description, about 150 to 250 words, as plain text
- Front cover at original resolution, as JPEG or PNG, in two versions:
  - For print: at least 1500 by 2250 pixels, which is 5 by 7.5 inches at 300 pixels per inch. Pixels per inch tells you nothing on its own; it only means something alongside the printed size.
  - For web: about 600 pixels on the long edge, for a listing, a post, or an article.
- Buy links for each format: [Link]

THE AUTHOR
- Biographies at 50, 100, and 250 words, as plain text
- Headshot at original resolution, as JPEG or PNG: at least 1200 by 1500 pixels for print use, plus a web version about 800 pixels on the long edge. Keep the print and web downloads separate and labeled.
- Photographer credit: [Photographer Credit]
- Author website: [Link]
- Social profiles you actually use: [Link]

FOR INTERVIEWS AND FEATURES
- Press release or announcement, with a date
- Sample interview questions and topic angles
- Endorsements, with permission to quote and correct attribution
- Review excerpts within permitted length, with source and date
- Excerpt or sample chapter, if permitted: [Permission Status]
- Upcoming events and appearances, with dates and venues
- Past interviews and coverage, with links

CONTACT
- Author contact: [Your Name], [Your Email]
- Publicity contact: [Publicist Name And Email]
- Rights or bulk sales contact, if different: [Contact Name And Email]

BEFORE YOU SEND
- Every fact matches the Book Identity Sheet
- Files are named so a stranger can tell what they are
- Every link tested on mobile and desktop
- The publisher's kit and yours agree, or yours links to theirs
- The last-updated date above is current

What done looks like

A short list of what counts as significant news, agreed in advance so the trigger is clear.
The bio file, biography page, book page, and media kit updated within the week, in that order.
Profiles and the publisher's author page updated from the new bio file.
Structured data updated where relevant.
The date and the news recorded in the Book Identity Sheet.

Ask your publisher

Copy this into an email. Replace the bracketed parts with your details.

Hi [Name], following [news] for [Book Title], I have updated my bio and materials. The new short bio is attached. Could you update the author page and, if appropriate, the title's metadata to reflect this? Thank you.

Sources and last checked

Official source: No single official page for this step.
Last checked: Not checked against its source yet.
How confident we are: Verified