If you sell freelance articles to newspapers or magazines and you’d like to make a little extra money selling accompanying photos, but you’re a lousy photographer, this is your lucky day. I just got off the phone with Linda Martin, production coordinator for Shotgun Sports Magazine, who told me that she had a frustrating day… Read More
Pitching ‘All Things Considered’? Pitch while the story is hot
If you’re pitching National Public Radio’s “All Things Considered,” Carol Klinger, associate editor, who has worked for NPR since 1995 and fielded thousands of pitches, says you must remember that this show deals with breaking news, not mostly feature-oriented stories that are the mainstay of other NPR shows. Here are her pitching tips. Pitches she hates: Get… Read More
Inexpensive gifts will be in demand for holiday gift guides
With the economy hanging by a thread, this could be one of the grimmest retail holiday seasons in decades. That means editors of consumer gift guides will be on the lookout for press releases and photos featuring inexpensive gifts such as calendars, picture frames, jewelry, CDs, books, scrapbooks and even kitchen utensils. (Who in the world would feature… Read More
Include special-interest weeklies in national publicity campaigns
In yesterday’s ezine, The Publicity Hound’s Tips of the Week, I wrote about how Publicity Hounds should rely on weekly newspapers more than ever, now that several dailies are eliminating their zoned editions because of mounting financial pressures. It wasn’t until today that I remembered a fabulous article in the May/June 2000 issue of The… Read More
Gift expert needs product ideas for Pittsburgh Women’s Expo
Jennifer Melnick Carota of Belle Vernon, Pennsylvania writes: “I am an expert bargain shopper and ‘give-ologist’ known as the Gift Therapist. I have a ton of fun teaching folks how find fabulous gifts on a shoestring budget. “I recently combined all of my bargain shopping tips and gifting advice into my first book titled ‘Shop… Read More
Perez Hilton’s 3 tips for a profitable blog
Perez Hilton, the Hollywood gossip blogger named the #1 most influential “web celeb” by Forbes.com, tells Martha Stewart his top three secrets for creating a profitable blog. He blogs several times a day and gets an astounding 9 million visitors to his blog each day. Advertising at the site has made him a millionaire, although he won’t tell Martha… Read More
Colleges hungry for experts who speak on 17 topics
These are gloomy times for many Publicity Hounds who are corporate speakers and rely primarily on speaking fees and back-of-the-room product sales. Some companies, faced with huge expenses they can’t control such as the skyrocketing cost of gasoline, are slashing training budgets. Corporate speakers, competing with thousands of other speakers for gigs, are finding that the pot of money available… Read More
How do you promote your social networking profiles?
Publicity Hound Holly Miller of Chesapeake, Virginia emailed me this morning and and asked if it’s proper to include a Twitter address within a press release. It’s a great idea, and it got me thinking about other ways to let people know where they can find you online. —If you’re on MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn and… Read More
Tomato Pie: A great way to get rid of all those tomatoes
I’ve gotten so many requests for this recipe that I’m offering it here. My sister makes the low-cal version with low-fat cheese and mayo. This pie also makes great leftovers. And it’s a quick dish to take to a potluck. (Make two–they’ll love it!) You can use any kind of tomatoes. I like Romas because they aren’t… Read More
How to promote a website for alternative energy research?
Mike Michaud of Bonham Fannin County, Texas writes: I would like to get some ideas on how to promote a site that is all about pooling our financial contributions to fund alternative energy research, development and production. There are many promising technologies that are languishing due to government ineptness, red tape, corporate greed, banking failure… Read More