Hallak Cleaners<\/i>, subject: Hallak Cleaners Holiday Hours —<\/b> informative, do not care, not opening [File under “TMI”, I got involved with Hallak after I was so intelligent as to place a huge bottle of olive oil in my leather and fabric purse and then proceeded to somehow drop the purse. I have not dropped a purse before or since. Who has ever dropped a purse in the history of purses?]<\/p>\n
Barnes & Noble<\/i>, subject: 2 Days Left — 15% Store Coupon<\/b> – informative, possibly saves me money, done with my Christmas shopping so don’t really care, not opening.<\/p>\n
Grub Street<\/i>, subject: Ravi DeRossi to Open Rum Bar, Bobby Flay’s Lawsuit, Gail Simmons on Wings —<\/b> informative but catchy, involves a lawsuit, involves wings, still not opening. OK well now I am because I’ve typed all that out and want to know who’s suing Bobby Flay, but I didn’t open it when it arrived. <\/p>\n
Ling Skin Care<\/i>, subject: Happy Holidays from Ling Skin care —<\/b> not informative, but opening these e mails have saved me money in the past, so yes, open.
Natalie Foster, BarackOb<\/i>., subject: Amanda — send this to your friends<\/b> —<\/b> not informative, but opening because it has my first name in it (I have never seen a classical press release that auto-fills writers’ names like all the e mails from the Obama camp do. That would be exceedingly useful. “Jim – Hilary Hahn is playing a CD release show 1\/12.” Love it.)<\/p>\n
Mrs. Meyer’s Clean Day<\/i> [where do I find these things to sign up for??], subject: Reminder: 25% off Iowa Pine <\/b>—<\/b> informative, not opening, don’t care about whatever “Iowa Pine” is. <\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n
Those are the top six in that Gmail inbox, and the two I opened were from senders whose e mails have served me well in the past, regardless of subject (though, as mentioned, recipient-name-in-subject trick does get readers’ attention). Perhaps, then, we can take from this exercise that the Sender field is the more important one; if journalists have been happy with previous press releases and pitches they’ve received from a publicist, his or her e mails will be opened whether the subject is informative, creative, or both. <\/p>\n
I am often tempted, however, to steal Time Out New York<\/i>‘s e mail subjects for my own press releases. I always open those e mails, even though I already subscribe to the magazine and rarely click through them. <\/p>\n
![\"TimeOutEmails1.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/TimeOutEmails1.jpg\")
Seriously, what would the classical music writers of New York City do if “Free burgers, Scarlett Johansson and your best holiday ever” was my e mail subject, and they opened the press release to find “Called ‘consistently charismatic, theatrically and vocally’ by New York Magazine<\/i>, American bass-baritone Eric Owens will perform an evening of standards at (le) poisson rouge on January 5, 2010.” Would I at least get style points?<\/p>\n
Here’s another:<\/p>\n
![\"TimeOutEmails2.jpg\"](\"http:\/\/www.artsjournal.com\/lifesapitch\/TimeOutEmails2.jpg\")
…and you open it to find, “On January 11, 2010, Sondra Radvanovsky will bring her lush musicality and incandescent interpretations of Verdi’s works to the Metropolitan Opera in Stiffelio.”<\/p>\n
<\/i>Back in September, Anne Midgette wrote a great post, “What’s in a Name?<\/a>“, about creatively naming albums:<\/p>\n This reminded me of a CD that came across the transom the other day with the deliberately provocative title “Razor Blades, Little Pills and Big Pianos<\/a>.” <\/span>
\nIt looked like yet another pop CD sent to the wrong critic, but in
\nfact, the repertory was straight classical piano: Bach’s French Suite,
\nChopin’s Ballade No. 4, Beethoven’s e minor sonata, op. 90, and the
\nlike. The soloist, James Rhodes<\/a>,
\nhas chosen to feature his turbulent past (childhood abuse, breakdowns,
\ndrugs) in his presentation, baring everything in interviews, on his
\nwebsite, and in conversations with his audience when he performs. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n
\nNot the same thing about blatantly lying about the subject in the subject of an e mailed press release, but related food-for-thought nonetheless. <\/p>\n