I enjoyed this post, and discovering your blog. I WOULD like to hear more from editors and PR people about ides to control the glut of emails and misdirected press releases. I hope that other readers who might have some good ideas will share in a forum here.

I can speak from the side of a press release writer and the person tasked with the onerous job of trying to get those releases in the hands of the right people to review them.

I don’t have access (yet) to Bacon’s, so I generally resort to Googling the type of publication/industry I’m targeting and then trying to find the specific person who is in charge to press releases relevant to the topic. It would be great if publications would indicate specifically what topics they are interested in, and what they are NOT interested in. Perhaps I’m a dreamer, like John Lennon…

Anyway, being respectful of over-crammed in boxes, I usually try to ASK an initial contact who is the CORRECT person to direct an email/press release attachment to, and respect feedback and re-direct instructions. One recommendation I’ve heard that makes sense to include a very clear SUMMARY of the topic in the body of the email, and then attach the release as both a Word document and a PDF, though I’m not sure the use of the PDF…thoughts, anyone?

As any job seeker who’s sought the right fit through the internet, Quality trumps Quantity, and the more finely targeted a publication or regionally relevant the news is, the better. Finally, I’m sure I’m singing an old song, but management who insists everything is press worthy doesn’t help!

I’d love to hear constructive thoughts,

Ann Shea