Your Very Own Press Kit

In the latest LARPcast, Dan Comstock talked about the importance of a press kit, and how you can use it to get local media engaged in advertising your game. I thought it would be worthwhile to go a little more in-depth on the subject, including everything that should be included.

1. Cover Letter
First and foremost, you need to have a cover letter. This document should do a good job of explaining who you are and what you do. Try to sound as professional as possible and explain all the basics behind LARP. Remember, this person may not know about gaming, let alone LARPing. Try to put it in terms of entertainment value, not necessarily in terms of game mechanics.

Conclude the cover letter by thanking the person for taking the time to read your press kit, and give them your personal contact info or the contact info of a PR person that they can talk to if they have more questions.

2. Game History
Attach a small essay on the history of your game. If your game is part of a franchise, touch on the history of the franchise. Altogether, this probably shouldn't be more than 250 words. You're trying give this person an easy article. If you give them a life story and make them edit it, it's going to make their job harder.

3. Media
Find some high resolution digital pictures that wouldn't be out of place in an article. Make sure you get the rights to use it from the players in the picture as well as the person who took the picture. Pick no more than 5 or so that you think would fit the article. Again, giving too many pictures gives more work to the person writing the article - something you want to avoid.

I would try and avoid video, since most videos associated with the game are low quality. If the news outlet really thinks this is a great opportunity for a video article, let them bring their equipment out and take their own interviews.

4. Contact/Game Information
Include a small paragraph about how an average person could get in touch with your group. Email, phone, and website (the shortest website name possible). Include location, cost, dates of games. Also make those things readily available on your website, but that's another story.

When done professionally, those four things could get you free advertising in the newspaper or, even better, the local news station.

Anyone have any experience with making a Press Kit for your game?