WOMMA has a guide that I like in terms of reaching out to bloggers so I thought I would list it here with a link to the original source!
Remember: Consumers come first, honesty isn’t optional, and deception is always exposed.
For more information, visit www.womma.org/ethics.
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I will always be truthful and will never knowingly relay false information. I will never ask someone else to deceive bloggers for me.
I will fully disclose who I am and who I work for (my identity and affiliations) from the very first encounter when communicating with bloggers or commenting on blogs.
I will never take action contrary to the boundaries set by bloggers. I will respect all community guidelines regarding posting messages and comments.
I will never ask bloggers to lie for me.
I will use extreme care when communicating with minors or blogs intended to be read by minors.
I will not manipulate advertising or affiliate programs to impact blogger income.
I will not use automated systems for posting comments or distributing information.
I understand that compensating bloggers may give the appearance of a conflict of interest, and I will therefore fully disclose any and all compensation or incentives.
I understand that if I send bloggers products for review, they are not obligated to comment on them. Bloggers can return products at their own discretion.
If bloggers write about products I send them, I will proactively ask them to disclose the products� source.
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I had the great pleasure of speaking to an astoundingly bright group of students in the Mass Communication Department at Texas State University today as part of their Mass Comm week. I talked about podcasts, wikis, blogs, and social media.
So I wanted to put a template link here for the Social Media Press Release and urge all of you to try to create one just for fun to see how it works and how you might benefit from utilizing it.
And here’s a link to the actual release template. Print it out and use it so you can create one of your own!
If you’re feeling overwhelmed about SEO, marketing, blogs, wikis, etc. and trying to catch up to all this new Web 2.0 frenzy, take a deep breath.
And then remember, that as long as you can tell a good story, you’re way ahead of the game. Being able to “weave a good yarn” is key to engaging people about your book, product or passion. Everyone loves a good story and we want stories that are uplifting, inspiring, interesting, evocative, humorous, and compelling.
The best stories make readers or listeners take action. So think about what your story is and write it down, polish it and make sure it’s authentic, engaging and goes for the heart!
TitleZ.com is a fantastic (in beta) site, I just had a client refer me to.
If you’ve got a book out on Amazon, it’s a very cool way to track your sales! For now, it’s free so go and try it out.
For those of you who really want to get some great resource material on how to effectively tap into the advantages that being on the Web give you, I highly recommend this report by Brian Clarke of Copyblogger.com and Tony Clarke
And believe me it’s not an infomercial report, I’ve downloaded it and it’s excellent. Plus I love that the authors worked in NASA, the Sex Pistols and Marshal McLuhan.
My favorite McLuhan quote by the way is, “Politics offers yesterday’s answers to today’s questions.”
So go and read the report and see if it inspires you! (No affiliate fees are given in this recommendation, nor did Brian even buy me a virtual java to tout the report.)
I hope that all of us will take time out today to think about what we can do to save the environment. Having seen Al Gore speak last May – it is thrilling that he won the Nobel Peace Prize. And I will reiterate what he said at that speech, that was so stunning, “Glaciers don’t care which political party you belong to – they either freeze or melt.”
Surely all of us want to provide for an earth that will sustain our children and their children and beyond. Each of us can do something!
I’d also highly recommend that you read the book “Zoom: The Global Race to Fuel The Car of the Future” – it is fantastic and just released. (And no they are not clients.:>)
In honor of all that is horrifying and also Halloween I wanted to post a link to what I think is one of, if not the best short treatises on blogs and how they should look, what they should consist of and what the heck you should be putting on them! Read the “Thirteen Blog Cliches” by Jeff Atwood and pass it on to as many friends as you can.
It truly reminds me of lo so many years ago when I was a tech journalist and interviewed Jakob Nielsen around web site usability and franky I love that Atwood is thinking in terms of “blog usability” and how your blog works for readers!
Here’s the link.
John Jantsch who last year I had the pleasure to treat to lunch at Guero’s in Austin has a good blog post up about journalists.
The post is about how to get journalists to cover you. The only thing I could add (because I was strictly an ebiz journalist for over 13 years and am a proud card carrying member of the Internet Press Guild) is that he says “most journalists have a blog now” and that’s not really so.
Alot of journalists don’t blog so you still have to really dig on the Internet to find out if they’re a good fit for your news and try to connect with them. Also because of the downsizing don’t neglect the freelance writers who write for many different publications. Business 2.0 just closed down and there are for instance, two outstanding writers from that pub who can literally contribute to any publication they want, so keep that in mind when you’re building a good list of journalists.
It’s almost just as important to have a good list of freelancers you can send news too as it is journalists employed full-time at one publication.
I would also add that anytime you send something to a journalist, not only do you let them know you’ve read their stuff by putting a link to a recent story and commenting on it in the body of the email, but you also keep your approach really short, sweet and to the point.
We’re not always “overworked” as John says, but when you’re looking through 200 to 300 email pitches a day, you can be “over-emailed” and suffer “email block” when it comes to reading yet one more story pitch. The biggest mistakes both pros and independents make in approaching journalists is sending way too long emails and “telling” instead of “offering” why a journalist might be interested in a story.
Also don’t be a buffoon and complement them inauthentically. Better to not complement at all, then to waste their time trying to kiss up to them.
And don’t stalk a journalist of course!
And I’ve put this link in before but for those of you who have not read it. I highly recommend Esther Schindler’s (IPG member) Care and Feeding of the Press. It is very insightful and helpful in terms of how to best reach out to the press.
Another caveat – the press will trust you, but only if you don’t assail them with unnewsworthy stories. So be sparing in how many times you email someone or even comment on their blog if your only intention is to get them to cover you. We’re pretty smart about that, espescially on the blog side, so be very mindful when you’re posting to a journalist’s blog.
Also keep in mind that they can use that post in a story once you’ve posted it. I frequently quote John Lociano’s blog when I write stories on Adobe and I know of other writers that have taken from the comments on a blog post and used those in a story with attribution.
So be mindful of that when you’re posting!
Again, ask not what a blogger or journalist can do for you – ask what you can do for their readers!
I cannot tell you how many people call me and tell me they want to write a book or even just become a freelance copywriter but they don’t have time to do it.
What????
Time is what you make of it. There is no easy solution to writing a book other than to start at page one and keep writing. There is no easy and quick fix to being a freelance writer or copywriter other than start at a blank page, fill that page and then send it out with a query.
So if any of these excuses are stopping you – get rid of them:
1. I haven’t experienced enough to write well.
2. Everything has been written before, why should I add to that?
3. There’s no room for a new copywriter and how would I get work?
4. I don’t write perfectly.
5. I can’t make a living at it. (True, if you don’t try you can’t make a living at it.)
6. My dog’s going to eat whatever I write.
7. I’m worried about rejection.
8. I need to read more books on “writing”.
9. I’m having writers’ block.
10. I’m too busy revising the two pages I wrote five years ago that still aren’t “quite perfect”.
WRITE!!!!!
You can do this! Make the time, and you will see success.
I’m on the tail end of celebrating Banned Books Weeks by reading all those banned books! So now I encourage you to read them as well. Here is a full press release about the top banned books in 2006. Please go buy them.
The Most Frequently Challenged Books of 2006
The following books were the most frequently challenged in 2006:
The ALA Office for Intellectual Freedom received a total of 546 challenges last year. A challenge is defined as a formal, written complaint, filed with a library or school requesting that materials be removed because of content or appropriateness. According to Judith F. Krug, director of the Office for Intellectual Freedom, the number of challenges reflects only incidents reported, and for each reported, four or five remain unreported.
The “10 Most Challenged Books of 2006” reflect a range of themes, and consist of the following titles:
“And Tango Makes Three” by Justin Richardson and Peter Parnell
“Gossip Girls” series by Cecily Von Ziegesar \
“Alice” series by Phyllis Reynolds Naylor
“The Earth, My Butt, and Other Big Round Things” by Carolyn Mackler
“The Bluest Eye” by Toni Morrison
“Scary Stories” series by Alvin Schwartz
“Athletic Shorts” by Chris Crutcher
“The Perks of Being a Wallflower” by Stephen Chbosky
“Beloved” by Toni Morrison
“The Chocolate War” by Robert Cormier
Off the list this year, but on for several years past, are the “Catcher in the Rye” by J.D. Salinger, “Of Mice and Men” by John Steinbeck and “The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn” by Mark Twain.
And I will tell you that one of my favorite books of all time is “Boy’s Life” by Robert McCammon and that book has been on several banned lists. Ridiculous. Here’s a letter McCammon read to a school board about his book.
My friend and frequent employer Michael Stelzner, author of the outstanding “Writing White Papers: How to Capture Readers and Keep Them Engaged” has announced the Best Marketing Blog contest. Go and nominate your pick for the best marketing blog!
This is an extraordinary opportunity for those of you who want to write a book but haven’t had the time to get a “roundtoit” as my high school counselor used to say.
I’m going to put the full pitch on this blog because I loved the pitch, and I think it’s a great idea!
I don’t know if this is appropriate for your blog or not, but I wanted you to know about an idea I had to write a book every year for free – starting in 2008 – with ALL the proceeds to be donated to a nonprofit of my coauthor’s choice. You can find more details here: www.1year1book4free.org. My reasons for doing this are two-fold: (1) to enable a promising writer who does not currently have access to the publishing industry to get his or her foot in the door, and (2) to give back to community by (hopefully) sending a nice advance and ongoing royalties to a deserving nonprofit organization.
As for me, I have written more than 30 books thus far – mostly business books, but some on notably un-business topics (writing children’s books, driving off road, etc. – more info at www.petereconomy.com). I’m hoping that by writing a free book each year, I’ll write at least 30+ free books before I am no longer able to write.
Thanks in advance for helping to spread the word!
– Peter -
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http://www.petereconomy.com
Peter Economy is Associate Editor for the award-winning magazine Leader to Leader, a member of the National Advisory Council of the Creativity Connection of the Arts and Business Council of Americans for the Arts, on the board of SPORTS for Exceptional Athletes, and coauthor of The SAIC Solution: How We Built an $8 Billion Employee-Owned Technology Company, as well as The Management Bible, Enterprising Nonprofits: A Toolkit for Social Entrepreneurs, Writing Children’s Books For Dummies, and many others. Call Peter at 619-218-7665, fax him at 858-454-7974, or drop him a line at peter@petereconomy.com.
Would you like to write a book with me in 2008 while helping to make the world a better place?
Visit http://www.1year1book4free.org for more details on my latest project!
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