Example Press Release

Hi all,
Sorry for the delay in putting this post together but I've had a busy week with other writing commitments.

In my last writing post I said I'd give you an example of a press release and here it is. If you go to my website you will find it at the bottom of the writers' resources page. (Click here to see the press release) It starts by telling the editor what the document is. In this case it is a press release. Below that there is a short sentence that hopefully will be of interest to the editor and his readers.

In this case the interesting parts are "local author" for obvious reasons, plus "Izaak Walton" and "fishing."

Izaak Walton was the man who wrote the world famous book "The Compleat Angler" and he just happened to come from my home town of Stafford. Therefore I reasoned that the editor would think it interesting that I'd followed in his footsteps by also writing a book about fishing.

This sentiment is then clarified by the actual title of the piece. What follows that is all of the information required to make it a good read. If you follow the principles of the 5 w's it will do what is says on the tin.

Who
George Mason
What
Publishing a book about fishing
Why
To pass on angling tips that saw him win two championships
When
Now, the book has been published and is available
Where
Details can be found on the author's website

The last bit about the author's website is crucial because without that it is just an interesting story. Remember that when you write a press release for a company you want the story to get the reader to take action. In this case I was hoping that local anglers would see the feature and buy my book.

The objectives of any press release are two fold. One is that it will invite a response from the readers straight away. In that they might purchase a product or service from that company in the near future. The second objective is to establish a positive message about the company and keeping it in the readers mind. Next time they fancy going out for a meal they will remember the article about the restaurant where the chef won a golden frying pan and go there.

Image
Providing an image with any press release is very important. The one at the top of this post is of me posing next to a statue of Izaak Walton that stands in our local park. I am dressed in some of my angling clothes and holding a copy of my book and I also have a copy of Izaak's book tucked under my arm. My wife was the photographer and she used a normal 7 million pixel camera. So good are cameras these days that there is no need to go lashing out good money on a digital SLR unless of course you want to take a picture of an eagle's bum as it flies over a mountain peak in Scotland.

Short Stories
I hope you haven't forgotten about my free short story downloads. I have just uploaded another one which takes form of a monologue more than a story. It was written with humour in mind because according to those who are supposed to me be in the know, "Funny" is always welcome. Well it didn't work for me because it failed to get published. There again perhaps it isn't as good as I think it is. I'd love to hear you comments.
Click here to see the story, "Taking Life Easy."