Using news releases
News releases that are
likely to get picked up and included by editors have a hook, present
a controversial subject, or the story relates to a current event
or topic.
Look at examples of
special interest stories appearing in newspapers and magazines
for ideas. The hook doesn't have to be wild or exotic, it can
relate to money, health, happiness, fears, controversy or current
events. Does your ebook tie into anything happening in the news?
If so, use the formatting suggestions in this article and write
a news release, or better yet, a series of releases.
A great way to get publicity
is to send a news release with an offer of something free. Readers
love free stuff and editors are always looking out for free offers
for their subscribers. Another media favorite is a "tips"
release — a news release that gives bulleted how-to tips on a
topic of interest to their readers.
Getting free publicity
is not difficult but you must be persistent in your efforts. Get
your news releases in front of editors enough times and eventually
they will take notice of you. For five years, I sent news releases
to 300 craft related magazines, including Family Circle
whose subscriber base is around 10 million readers. In that time,
no one from Family Circle ever called or printed any mention
of my books.
However, I continued
sending them releases. Finally one day, a reporter from their
Holiday Crafts issue called saying she wanted to interview
me, having seen a press release on one of my books. That interview
resulted in about $3,000 in book sales.
Consider sending one
news release every month to your list of media contacts. Each
release can focus on a different angle of your ebook's subject.
How to format a fax
or plain paper news release
A news release should
inform the publication of the who, what, where, when, why, and
how of your story. Don't use words like "unique," "the
best," "fantastic" or any other hype. Editors will
toss your release in the trash. Write your story as a news event.
The form should be cleanly
typed and double spaced. Use a heading with the name and title
of the editor on the first line of the upper left corner all in
caps. Follow this with the name of the periodical and then a short
title that tells something concise about your story. Include a
release date or type "For Immediate Release." Skip down
about four inches from the top of the page and place the heading
for your release. Begin the news information under the heading.
Include these elements
in the release, preferably in the first two paragraphs: who it
is about, what is the event, when it is happening, where it is
held, why it is newsworthy. Two to three paragraphs is plenty.
Ideally, you want all the material to fit on one page of paper.
In the final paragraph,
include any past awards and accomplishments. Here is where you
establish your authority and expertise.
At the end, center and
type "-end-" or "###." Skip down two lines
and then put "For more information, call: (your phone number)."
The example shown here
is a single page news release used to announce my new book. This
release was mailed to women's magazines, general craft publications
and local newspapers.
NEWS
RELEASE |
For:
Warm Snow Publishers
P.O. Box 75
Torreon, NM 87061 |
To:
Marva Greer, Editor |
Contact:
James Dillehay, (505)384-1195 |
FOR
IMMEDIATE RELEASE: NEW
EBOOK REVEALS GRANT MONEY FOR
CRAFTS AND HOW TO GET IT
Many craft persons throughout the U.S. receive grant
money every year from over hundreds of foundation and
government giving programs.
"Government grants
for $10,000 each have been awarded to craft persons
who do woodworking, pottery, basketmaking, quilting,
weaving, needlepoint, ceramics, metal working, egg painting,
and many other crafts," reports James Dillehay,
in his new ebook DIRECTORY OF GRANTS FOR CRAFTS ($9.50).
"The secret to getting
grant money for crafts is
1) locating grant programs that give to projects like
yours, 2) learning their application guidelines, and
3) submitting a winning proposal," says Dillehay.
DIRECTORY OF GRANTS FOR CRAFTS
shows how the grant application process works and how
to match a craft project with a foundation's giving
criteria. The author provides successful proposal writing
tips and shows how to avoid the mistakes that get many
applications rejected.
This new book lists over 1,000
foundation, corporate and government grant givers, craft
artist in residency programs, craft and art in public
places, money for foreign studies and more.
To download a copy of DIRECTORY
OF GRANTS FOR CRAFTS ($9.50) call 1-800-235-6570 or
visit http://www.craftmarketer.com/grants.htm.
James Dillehay is author of
six books. His articles have helped readers of major
magazines like Family Circle, Better Homes &
Gardens, Working Mothers, Sunshine Artist, The Crafts
Report and many others. He is a past member of the
advisory board to the National Craft Association.
#
# #
/CONTACT:
James Dillehay, 505-384-1195/
/EDITORS
wishing a review copy, call 505-384-1195/ |
How to send
releases to the media
Send news releases on
plain white paper to the postal address of the editor and you
have a good chance it will get noticed. If your news is urgent
send the release via fax. A recent survey reported that some editors
prefer receiving fax news releases to email or postal mail.
In the book, Publicity
on the Internet, author and Internet publicist,
Steve O'Keefe says sending news releases by email is okay, but
needs to be personalized for each editor. O'Keefe reports success
here is about creating relationships with the editors you are
trying to reach, not indiscriminate mass mailings or SPAM. His
advice is to keep email news releases brief and catchy. Ideally,
your message will fit on one screen view. You can and should always
include a link to more material elsewhere.
Formatting an email
news release
Formatting an email
release differs from creating a fax or plain paper release. When
you type an email message into your email manager program, text
flows automatically to the next line down when you reach the end
of the allowable space. Unfortunately, all email managers don't
share the same standards as to what is the length of a line of
type.
You've probably received
emails where the lines look like someone went in and chopped up
the message. Imagine the negative impression you create by sending
your important news releases to editors and they see your message
in short phrases that don't seem to connect.
For sending news releases
that appear consistent in any email reader, the solution is to
limit the lines of text to 60 characters. Compose the text of
your email in a word processor using a 60 character line length.
At the end of each line,
place a hard return. Then save the message as an ASCII text file.
Now import the text file into your email composer and send yourself
the message to check for how it appears. Double check your release
for spelling errors, typos, and contact information before sending
to your media list.
Here is an example of
a formatted email news release I send to announce my web site.
Note that this email release is shorter than a paper release and
instead of the contact information appearing at the top as a heading,
it appears at the end of the release in the email signature.
Subject
line: Free help for craft persons working from home
Free
tutorials for craft persons who sell their work are
now available on the Internet at the web site, http://www.craftmarketer.com.
The site provides free help to develop skills from
beginning through advanced craft marketing.
Launched
by craft business author, James Dillehay, www.craftmarketer.com
gives free advice on a wide range of craft business
topics such as: Which crafts sell?; Overlooked markets
for crafts; How to sell to stores and galleries; How
to get tax advantages from a craft business; How to
price craftwork and more.
James
Dillehay is a nationally recognized expert on craft
business. Author of six books, his marketing articles
have helped readers of Family Circle, Better Homes
& Gardens, Working Mothers, The Crafts Report,
Arts & Crafts Show Guide, Sunshine Artist, and
many other magazines. He is a past member of the advisory
board to the National Craft Association.
For
an interview with the author or for more information,
please reply by email or contact, James Dillehay,
(505)384-1195.
***************************************
James Dillehay's http://www.Craftmarketer.com
P.O. Box 75, Torreon NM 87061
(505)384-1195
myemail@domain.com
*************************************** |
Using a PR service
One of the first
places to post your news release is at http://www.prweb.com
. It's a free service that allows you to upload a news
release that may get picked up by media editors hunting for stories.
A paid service from
PR Newswire is at http://www.profnet.com.
At ProfNet, you pay around $100 a year to subscribe for which
you can be listed in their database of experts and submit leading
story ideas to journalists around the world who search this site
approximately 10,000 times a month.
To target your media
recipients by fax, http://www.imediafax.com
will prepare a list of appropriate editors and fax
your release to them. In addition to several publicity related
services, Imediafax will also write your release for a fee. Imediafax's
charge to fax a one page release is 25 cents each, which is considerably
cheaper than printing, stuffing, stamping and mailing them yourself.
Here are other firms
that handle PR for clients with web sites:
Helpful articles for getting publicity
See
related article: How to Use Publicity to Get Sales
[back
to article list]
This
article is copyrighted and excerpted from the book Your
Guide to Ebook Publishing Success by James
Dillehay
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