How’s this for irony? I watched The Shipping News a couple of days ago before reading this book. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the main character learning how to write strong headlines. Instead of the dull “Horizon Fills with Dark Clouds,” his co-worker suggested, “Imminent Storm Threatens Village.”
The main character, an honest man, asked, “But what if no storm comes?”
“Village Spared From Deadly Storm.”
Writing attention-getting releases isn’t about lying, but about putting a creative twist on the truth. Free Publicity is unique in that it’s written by a person who is typically on the receiving end of the releases instead of someone who has spent years writing and submitting them. I’m more interested in what the recipient wants than what the person who has written a ton of them thinks they want.
Crilley is a TV news reporter in Dallas who shares his experiences in book that takes about an hour to read because it’s fast-paced, grabs your attention and keeps it. That’s how good these stories are and why they got Crilley’s attention. Each chapter provides a few key points and those points are reiterated at the end of the chapter for easy referencing.
The author is on target when he suggests honesty even when things are bad. If Clinton had come clean from the start of it, the whole scandal involving him and “that woman” might not have been the big deal that it came to be. The media is going to keep nibbling until it gets what it wants or arrives at the truth.
Within moments of reading the book, ideas started floating in my head on how to bring more attention to a few things needing spotlight. This simple book has it all: it’s fast, easy, useful, and humorous.
VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Free Publicity: A TV Reporter Shares the Secrets for Getting Covered on the News
AUTHORS: Jeff Crilley
PUBLISHER: Brown Books Publishing Company
PUBLICATION DATE: December 2002
ISBN: 0972647406
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 128
PRICE: USD: 12.95
CDN: 13.65
UK: 6.34