Reaching the Press

Ahh, the press spoke: A meeting in Norcross yesterday that included Kathy Cox and several other representatives of news outlets for Gwinnett County. These included the Gwinnett Post, Patch and AJC. Upshot: Send them lots of pictures. The better the photo, the better your chance of getting some news out about you. They are all short-handed with small staffs. Give them the bare bones information first, the date being the most important piece of information. Give them a quote -- as if they had interviewed a key person in the story -- and make sure it is sent far enough in advance. Two days won't cut it. Late breaking news might as well not happen if it is in the arts. If you want to ever get noticed, try to think of an angle, a good story, a twist and write the best press release you have ever written in your life. It was suggested that artists hire a publicist to help out -- I sighed. Artists, right. Artists who might not be millionaires.