If your product or service would make the perfect Christmas gift, now is the time to pitch many of the major magazines that have special holiday gift sections and work several months ahead. But how do you know which publications are doing gift guides? Or which are doing feature stories on products that make great… Read More
Pitching
Weigh in on the Michael Jackson verdict
I know. I know. You’re sick of Michael Jackson. I am too. But true Publicity Hounds who have something to offer the media don’t stop here. They think of ways to piggyback onto the not guilty verdict. Some examples: —What do child advocates have to say about the pop star, who admitted on camera that… Read More
Pitch ethnic media
When publicist Miriam Silverberg took on Meli Melo, a French restaurant in New York City, as a client three years ago, she immediately got to work pitching ideas that would result in the greatest publicity possible. She dreamed, of course, of a four-star restaurant review in the New York Times. But she’s realistic enough to… Read More
Don’t overlook ethnic media oulets
When you’re creating a media plan, don’t overlook the numerous ethnic media outlets, from small weekly newspapers to specialty radio shows. This article at WashingtonPost.com says the landscape of ethnic media has grown more crowded in recent years, reinforced by the same immigration patterns that are driving the nation’s population growth. It has been particularly… Read More
Honey, the money dog
Filling up your gas tank doesn’t get more fun than this. When Don Rogers picked up a cocker spaniel named Honey six years ago at the dog pound, he could never have guessed the fame she would bring to his gas station–Crazy D’s All American Fireworks at the El Cheapo Gas Station just off I-95… Read More
Contact info for L.A. radio stations
If you want to get booked as a guest on a Los Angeles radio station, check out LARadio.com, a subscription site that gives you access to news about L.A. radio stations, behind-the-scenes bulletins and breaking news, night-before headlines delivered to your email box, more than eight years of archived columns, more than 1,000 email addresses… Read More
PMA Update: Book reviewers don’t want press kits
Do you know what book reviewers at newspapers and magazines do with those fancy press kits you send them? They throw them away. Or, if it’s Bob Minzenheimer of the New York Times, he throws away the contents and takes the folders home to his kids. A panel of book reviewers told members of the… Read More
From PMA University—Don’t let authors pitch book review editors
Kristen Matthews, book editor for the “Early Show” on CBS, says book publicists shouldn’t let their authors call book review editors like her and pitch a program segment. “Some of them can’t stand to hear the word no,” she told 200 members of the Publishers Marketing Association this afternoon. Others refuse to accept their publicist’s… Read More
Memorial Day weekend ideal time to pitch
Reporters already are knocking off work for a long holiday weekend. TV assignment editors are searching everywhere for a good local angle to Memorial Day. News staffs are lean and will continue to be, straight through until Tuesday. But the print and broadcast media still need enough stories to fill all that airtime and all… Read More
Every author should hear this media panel
If you’re going to New York City next week for the BookExpo America convention, don’t miss Steve Harrison’s media panel on Saturday. I’ll be there. I attended this last year when it was part of the convention, and it was one of the highlights of my trip. A panel of top-tier print and broadcast journalists… Read More