{"id":348,"date":"2009-10-13T08:34:57","date_gmt":"2009-10-13T08:34:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp\/?p=348"},"modified":"2009-10-13T08:34:57","modified_gmt":"2009-10-13T08:34:57","slug":"private_relations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/2009\/10\/private_relations\/","title":{"rendered":"Private relations"},"content":{"rendered":"

When soccer moms in army-grade Hummers would double-park on New Canaan’s already-narrow Elm Street, my mother would always mutter, or sometimes shout, “Some people think the rules don’t apply to them.”  She would declare a similar sentiment when we’d be in line for the movies and would hear a parent tell his or her child “just say you’re 7” to get a cheaper movie ticket. Some people think the rules don’t apply to them…and by all means teach your child to lie. <\/p>\n

I sent out a press release last night with extremely specific instructions on how to access, download, and burn a review copy of an album, stating very clearly that physical review copies would only be available at a promotional rate. Of the 20 people who e mailed me back asking to be mailed physical review copies, only one asked what the promotional rate was and how he could order a copy. Lewis Lanese from Stereo Times<\/i><\/a>, you are the reason there’s a patch of hair still left on my head, and I thank you for that. <\/p>\n

Sure, there was an entire paragraph explaining that physical copies would only be mailed at cost, but she can just send me<\/i> a copy, right? Mailing one<\/i> isn’t a big deal. My favorite response to my calm and polite reply e mail asking if someone saw the download instructions was, “Yeah, I just didn’t want to have to look for my password.” SOCCER MOM IN THE HUMMER! Elm Street. New Canaan Playhouse. Amanda spins into Fembot self-destruct mode and blows up. <\/p>\n

Beyond this strange sense of entitlement, I suspect a lot of people just don’t read press releases. My favorite response last night was “Please send for review  — John.” I think he just saw the artist’s name and hit reply. This could have been such-and-such artist recites the Gettysburg Address backwards and in Pig Latin and he would have responded the same way. But what of the content? What of my prose<\/i>?<\/p>\n

Last week, F. Paul Driscoll, editor-in-chief of Opera News<\/i>, offered the following advice to publicists on this very blog<\/a>:<\/p>\n

The most effective way for any publicist to secure a story or profile
\nin ANY magazine is to present a pitch that reflects a working knowledge
\nof the magazine.  That starts with the magazine’s readership.  Who are
\nthey?  Why do they buy the magazine? Clearly, our readers buy a
\nmagazine called OPERA NEWS expecting its editors to present opera as
\ntopic one, but that doesn’t mean that every “opera story” is right for
\nus…And  —  last but not least  —  it helps a pitch if the publicist has
\nread at least one issue of the magazine and can identify just where in
\nOPERA NEWS a potential story might fit best.  <\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Those same words of wisdom, I think, can be\/should be applied to journalists. Not reading the press release I wrote, revised, sent to a copy editor, revised again, formatted and tested on three e mail accounts does not instill in me a great desire to bend over backwards for you. How about “Please send a copy for review…because I noticed in your release that only the deluxe edition of the album will be for sale in the US and would like to pitch a piece to my editor about the different ways classical music is being packaged and presented differently in the US vs. Europe.” <\/p>\n

Perhaps this is asking too much, and I’m not being sarcastic. Journalists are inundated, I realize, with press releases, so the e mail subject really may be all they have time to read. In that case, however, we need to think of a more efficient and effective ways to communicate with them. Everyone might win that way; I don’t think any publicist would breast-beat over the demise of the 800-word press release.  <\/p>\n

I did receive an e mail from a journalist in response to a different press release last week that simply read, “can’t wait!”. And that just made my whole day. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When soccer moms in army-grade Hummers would double-park on New Canaan’s already-narrow Elm Street, my mother would always mutter, or sometimes shout, “Some people think the rules don’t apply to them.”  She would declare a similar sentiment when we’d be in line for the movies and would hear a parent tell his or her child […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-348","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","6":"category-main","7":"entry"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=348"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/348\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=348"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=348"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=348"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}