Dumfries & Press Releases

********Another picture from Threave a beautiful Scottish garden*******
Hi,
I'd like to carry on from where we left off last week on my tour around Bonny Scotland. One of the biggest problems faced by those holidaying in Dumfries and Galloway is the number of attractions. Whilst staying in Mouswald which is on the East side of the town of Dumfries we were simply spoilt for choice.

The town itself is very picturesque with many fine shops and restaurants but no visit would be complete without a look at the camera obscura. This wonderful invention allows the viewer to get a birds eye view of the town without walking anywhere. Whilst in the town we also visited Robbie Burn's house in aptly named Burn's street. It's small, but contains some of his old bits and pieces so worth a look.

However, as nice as the town was we didn't linger too long because the splendid countryside beckoned. We took a trip out to New Abbey to see Sweetheart Abbey. This monastery was built by lady Derguilla of Galloway in memory of her late Husband John de Balliol. She loved her husband so much that when he died she had his heart embalmed and she carried it around with her in a special ivory and silver casket. When she died she was buried in the Abbey and the casket was buried with her.

During that holiday we also visited the Wanlockhead mining village and the lovely little town of Moffat. We lunched in a tartan carpeted pub and I tried Haggis for the first time. As it happens it would also be my last as I didn't find Haggis very rewarding. I always think that if a food hasn't managed to make its way around the world like beefburgers, chips, lasagne, and goulash etc then it isn't going to be very good.

If somebody asked me what it tasted of, I would have to say weak faggots. (Please note any Americans that might be reading this. Faggots in England are big meatballs made from bits of meat and offal they are nothing like American faggots)

In a country that has so much prime beef stock it is hard to see how haggis ever got on the menu. But there again I suppose it started off as cheap food for the masses just like faggots and sausages did South of the border. In just a couple of weeks I've managed to mention the only two things about Scotland that I don't particularly like, that's Bagpipes and Haggis. With them out of the way we can concentrate on just the good for the rest of the journey.

The following day we visited Thomas Carlyle's house in curiously named Eccelfechan and the charming savings bank museum in the village of Ruthwell.
It wouldn't surprise anybody that the first savings bank run on business principles was founded in Scotland in 1810 by a man called Henry Duncan. We visited a lot of places during our stay at Mouswald but like all holidays in Scotland it isn't just the attractions that are so pleasing it's also the countryside that surrounds them. Here is a typical almost roadside waterfall. My next post will come from the other side of Dumfries and will include photos of the beautiful cottage that we stayed in. It was so close to the water we were able to watch grey seals bobbing about and catching fish, but now it's time for me to get on with the writing part of this blog.

Writing
Last week I talked about how writers can make money from writing press releases so I thought I'd continue the theme and tell you how it is done. Please see my last but one post if you want this to make sense.

Big businesses write press releases to get positive publicity, while the editor needs to fill his paper with copy that doesn't look like blatant advertising. Most smaller businesses however do not understand the benefits that come from press releases and this is where you come in. Produce a direct mail shot (a letter) that explains how beneficial a press release would be for their business. Then arrange to meet the business manager to see if you can come up with a story that would be of interest to the local community.

To gather material for your article you will need to ask some questions. Has the business or any of its employees won any awards recently or has the company got a new product with some unique benefits etc? Have they been in business for a number of years that could be linked to an anniversary?

These are just a few of the topical hooks that can be used to hang a story on. There are many more and it is up to you and the business manager to come up with something that you can write about that will also be of interest to the editors you are aiming it at.

Write the article with the most important facts first but try to make it entertaining for the reader. They need to be drawn in, it mustn't look like an advert, this isn't the place for stringing together a lot of fancy attributes.

In my next post I will give you an example of a press release in fact it was one that I sent out myself to publicise the publication my book about angling. If you want more information about that book or the writing book that will expand on some of themes from writing part of this blog, please see my website.
Click here to go to my website
Incidentally you can print off a free sample download of my book from the website.