Press Release How-Tos
- Posted by Johanna on December 2, 2008 at 10:11 pm
- Category: LinkBlogging
Brad Guigar (Evil Inc.), one of the authors of How to Make Webcomics, expands on those instructions by covering how to write a press release.
Some of the advice is basic — most important information first, keep it short and meaningful — but it never hurts to hear it again. And it’s always someone’s first time. As a web publisher, I’d like to reiterate the part about making it easy to get illustrative art, especially company and/or title logos.
As a follow-up, Brad covers the even more important topic of determining when to write a release — in other words, what is newsworthy? Some examples I’ve actually received of things that don’t qualify as news:
- We’re in the Previews catalog
- We’re using the latest hot buzzwords
- We sold some books
- We’re promoting books you can’t buy
Don’t be like them. Pay attention to what not to do.
December 2, 2008 at 11:48 pm
I disagree about the “We’re in Previews” bit. I certainly don’t mind knowing what’s going to be in that morass of a catalog, especially if a publisher I like is telling me to pay attention. I just think the publisher needs to keep things in perspective.
For example, TwoMorrows routinely sends out a “This is our product in this month’s Previews”. Contrast that to the example you gave, which read more like “We’ve partnered with Industry Leader Diamond! We’re superspecial!” That stuff is annoying and false.
December 3, 2008 at 8:09 am
You have a point, but to hear “we’re doing basic business for a comic publisher” as the first announcement from an unfamiliar company… that doesn’t give a good impression. Better they’d have written it as “company launches” or “company expands”.