Bizarre, Free Stock Photos

Issue #1033 June 28, 2016
Publisher: Joan Stewart

“Tips, Tricks and Tools for Free Publicity”

In This Issue

Bizarre, Free Stock Photos
Faux Personalization in Pitches
Training Tonight: Tips for Authors
Hound Video of the Week

This Week in the Hound House:

I’m still trying to live this one down. On Sunday morning, while cleaning the refrigerator, the emergency alarm started going off in my car. I found my keys and turned it off using the button on my key fob. It happened again. And again. This went on for 45 minutes. I tried everything but couldn’t get the horn to shut up. A friend told me to drive the car to his house and also bring the spare key fob and he’d try to fix it. The spare key, it turns out, was in the pocket of my jeans that were going around and around inside the hot clothes dryer in the basement. The keys kept triggering the alarm, even after going through the entire wash cycle. Sigh.

1. Bizarre, Free Stock Photo Site

Most stock photo sites are rife with boring, cliche, cheesy photos.

Not Gratisography.com. You’ll find more than 300 free, high-resolution photos, many of which are just plain bizarre.

Humans with animal heads. Someone trying to zap a small critter with a ray of sunshine streaming through a magnifying glass. A small bird resting on a man’s tongue. Tattoos in weird places.
Funny faces. Bulging eyeballs.

All photos were taken by Ryan McGuire and free of copyright restrictions. He adds new photos weekly.

To do: Take a spin through them all at Gratisopgraphy.com. My favorite one is the woman in the watermelon mask. I can see it accompanying a blog post about how people hide behind their websites by not including their photos or contact information. What’s you favorite Gratisography photo and how might you use it? Click reply. I’d love to know and I might include your idea here, or in a blog post.

2. Faux Personalization in Pitches

Don’t act chummy when you’re pitching someone you don’t know, hoping to get on their good side. Like this:

“Hi Joan:

“I hope you had a nice weekend and that summer is pleasant in Wisconsin. I’m writing because I thought you might be interested in my client, an expert in blah-blah-blah, for your publicity blog.”

I had a lousy weekend. The emergency horn on my car wouldn’t stop beeping. It was 88 degrees outside and humid as hell and I was still in my pajamas, running in and out of the car, trying stop the beeping and driving the neighbors crazy.

By now, I’m in a lousy mood because he reminded me about my weekend. And I don’t want to hear about his expert.

Steve Beale of MediaMiser.com hates these gratuitous pitches, too, especially when they come from PR people who ought to know better. In an attempt to personalize a pitch, they try to fool us by throwing in phony personalization that ends up making things even worse.

To do: Read Steve’s article “What’s worse than a mass mailing? Try ‘faux personalization” that includes three examples of awful pitches he received. Steve also explains why he thinks it’s perfectly OK to send just a press release with a short note indicating why you think it’s a good match. I agree. I also dislike cutesy emojis from people I don’t know.

3. Training Tomorrow: Tips for Authors

Here’s one of the easiest ways for authors to get publicity.

Newsjack. That is, tie into a breaking news story that dovetails with your expertise or the topic of your book. The Ashley Madison hacking story was an ideal time for romance authors, marriage experts, relationship coaches and others to pitch a story that relates to the topic of cheating.

I shared that idea one year ago this week during a special free webinar for authors. It was one of more than two dozen of the best tips from the faculty members on our annual “Publishing at Sea” cruise in January. Authors left the training a whole lot smarter and super-excited to join us on the cruise.

We’re doing the free call again tonight from 7 to 8:30 p.m. Eastern. You’ll hear from me and five other publishing experts–Judith Briles, Daniel Hall, Nick Zelinger, Lynda Bouchard and Kelly Johnson. We’re hosting two cruises this January: one for newbies Jan 15-21 and one for more advanced authors Jan. 21-29.

To do: Register for our “Sizzling HOT Publishing and Book Ahas and Tips” even if you can’t join us in January. Prepare to take lots of notes. You can learn more about Publishing at Sea aboard Royal Caribbean’s luxurious Freedom of the Seas.

4. Hound Video of the Week

Think you can’t train your dog? Here’s a compilation of five dog discipline videos. I love the second video where the dogs pray beore eating and clean up after themselves.

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