|
Links
Articles
News
Reviews
Amateur
Theatre
Contact
Other
Resources
|
How to write an effective press release
The aim of a press release is to get your words, totally unchanged, into the newspapers of your choice. It's not impossible: it just takes careful planning and an understanding of how editors think!
Difficulty Level:
average
Time Required:
60 minutes
Here's
How:
- Is the news you want to pass on of real general interest? Imagine you are someone not involved with theatre. Would you be interested?
- Choose your hook! What aspect of your story will catch the general reader's attention? Human interest works best. Focus on one or more people.
- Make a list of everything you need to put into your release. Think carefully! Miss nothing out!
- Now go through it and see what you CAN miss out. The shorter the release, the more chance it has of being used - and the less chance it has of being messed up by a sub-editor!
- Can some of the story be told through quotations from the people involved? It almost always can be - and that's what editors like.
- Now start writing: one paragraph for each aspect of the story; no more than three sentences per paragraph.
- Check your writing. Have you used complicated sentences? Simplify them - no more than one subordinate clause per sentence, please.
- Now we begin to word-process the story. Use a proper letterhead. If you haven't got one, design one on your computer!
- Put a row of Xs where you're going to put your headline. Use a sans-serif font like Arial and make it half as big again as the body text.
- Using a serif font like Times New Roman, type in your release. If it runs for more than one side, it's too long.
- Cut out all unnecessary information and all unnecessary words.
- Devise a snappy headline and type it in. Do not use puns, the sure sign of an amateur. The headline should catch the reader's eye and make him want to read. Do not try to tell the whole story in the headline.
- Check it thoroughly: no mistakes of spelling, grammar or punctuation. Could you have used fewer words? If so, use them!
- After the last line of the release, put a forward slash followed by the word "ends". Right align it.
- Now put a line right across the page and underneath it type: "For further information, contact", followed by a contact name and telephone numbers where the contact can be reached day or night.
Tips:
- Think like a journalist, not a theatre person.
- If you must send more information than fits on a single sheet of paper, include a sheet or sheets with additional information, but make sure that it is clearly differentiated from the main release.
- When you are sure you can cut no more words out, go back and cut some more!
How To... Index
|
