Re: Press Kits & Press Releases (long)

**Duane Campbell d*@juno.com**

On Wed, 27 Aug 2003 17:12:35 -0500 "Doreen Howard"
<gardendiva@charter.net> writes:

> I'd like to share with everyone some basics I've learned and expert 
> advice I
> gleaned from GWA symposium workshops in the last two years, 

There is one important matter that is left out of this otherwise very
good list, and that is: A press kit will almost never get you a gig, no
matter how good it is. If you put it together with the idea that some
editor will read it and call you, you are living in Wolkenkuckuland. The
best you can hope for is putting a bug in his head that he might think of
later.

I write a weekly column for newspapers, and I have learned that a wide
mailing of press kits is almost useless. Years ago I tried it as I was
trying to colonize another state, considerable expense, and I never got
back a single response. A press kit must be used in conjunction with some
kind of personal contact, at minimum a telephone call, much better a
personal visit.

Since I deal with newspapers, I assume that the managing editor doesn't
know a petunia from a potato and figures that the only people who garden
are old folks forced off their family farms by greedy bankers. Yet the
managing editor is the guy to see. Five minutes of face time is more
effective than the fifteen seconds it takes to open and toss a press kit.
Ask him if there is anyone on the staff who gardens. Try to get the press
kit into that person's hands, even if it's just a receptionist. One
person, no matter how lowly, who likes your writing is more important
than a managing editor who will deep six your carefully prepared kit the
minute you walk out the door.

I carry press kits with me whenever I travel outside my area. When I pass
through a town, I seek out the newspaper and drop in. A five minute delay
in the trip. I guarantee it won't be longer than five minutes. They don't
need a garden columnist. Either they already have one (the publisher's
niece or the local extension agent - illiterate but free) or they can't
imagine why they would want one.

The odds are astronomicaly against your accidentally dropping in on a
paper that has just lost their columnist and is looking for a new one.
But they may need one a year or two down the road. So I like to include
in my press kit something that might hang around -- a magnitized card
with my picture, number, and a catchy phrase or two.

Three samples of your best writing might do for magazines, but for
newspapers I think more is in order. I include a column from each month
of the year. Maybe they won't read anything, in which case three is too
much. But if they read anything at all, and if it's good, they'll read
them all. (And if it isn't good, why are you bothering?)

I am also up front with the selection. Hey, guys, you know I've picked
out some of my best stuff. If you'd like to see what goes out every week,
let me know and I'll put you on my distribution list for a month.  (No
publication rights, of course.) This is where it is important to try to
find an accomplice who might want to take a look when the managing editor
wouldn't even bother.

Finally, keep in mind that the one page introductory letter is THE MOST
IMPORTANT PIECE OF WRITING YOU WILL EVER DO. Make it grabbing.

D

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