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ASP Advantage 1993
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The Association of Shareware Professionals Advantage CD-ROM 1993.iso
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1993-05-21
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Putting the Bop in the Bop-She-Bop
or How to Prepare a Press Kit that Works
by Sam Bellotto Jr.
Publicity is a primary ingredient for shareware success. If you
have all the time in the world, place your programs on as many
BBSs and in the libraries of as many vendors as you can and wait.
If you have all the money in the world, advertise.
For those who don't want to wait forever or aren't independently
wealthy, good news! Lots of valuable publicity is free for the
taking. Trade magazines. Newspapers. Special interest magazines.
These media outlets regularly print software reviews. In fact,
they want to print software reviews. The trick is to get them to
print yours.
How? Paraphrasing a well-worn slogan, the way to a media editor's
heart is through the press kit. A professionally prepared press
kit can almost insure you some valuable editorial coverage.
Briefly, a good press kit contains not only a copy of your
shareware itself, but a two-page description of your product, a
minimum 4x5-inch color glossy screen shot taken of your software,
and a business card. Everything should be neatly packaged in a
9x12 pocket folder.
The purpose of the press kit is simply to do the editor's job for
him or her. Yes, folks, rarely do any of those lofty individuals
whose profiles grace the pages of your favorite publications have
anything to do with the dirty work of reviewing software. (Unless
it is the latest release from Bill Gates. If yours is the latest
release from Bill Gates, don't bother reading this.)
Nine times out of ten, a lower echelon editor is responsible for
filling up those "What's New" or "Industry Briefs" columns. This
drudge has deadlines, bills to pay and a life outside of the
office. A package placed within reach of this unheralded
individual which will allow him/her to fill up three or four
column inches with very little effort is generally considered to
be a gift from heaven.
I know this for a fact. I spent nearly 15 years in hot New York
City editorial offices covering technology in one aspect or
another. I would paw through the "slush piles" (what we called
all those unsolicited manuscripts) looking for press releases
that I wouldn't have to spend any time editing like a prospector
panning for gold. Hell, they were gold!
Companies that never got any coverage by me wasn't due to the
fact that they had bad products, or that my readers wouldn't be
interested in what they had to offer. Rather, many other
companies gave me well-written releases geared to my editorial
approach, enabling me to get my "regular departments" filled in
time for a two-hour lunch and on to more interesting work. Geez,
I wasn't a dummy, you know.
And therein lies the rub. Don't you be a dummy.
The heart of a good press kit is the press release. Physically,
one-and-one-half to two pages, double-spaced is a good length. It
allows the editor to swiftly fill from a small news brief to a
longer column. Don't assume that if you inundate the editor with
a short novel you guarantee yourself an article. Chances are the
editor will seize up over the task of red-penciling "War and PC"
and that'll be the last anybody will see of it.
Others favor putting together a good, general press release that
can be sown promiscuously throughout the industry. I don't. I
think each press release should fit its target. Study the
magazine, newspaper or whatever that you want to hit on. Write
your release to complement that publication's style, tone and
audience. Don't cloud something written for "Computer Idiot"
magazine with paragraphs of technical specs. If the medium you
are aiming at goes for "just the facts," give them "just the
facts" and not a glowing endorsement from Anita Bryant.
Remember. The less work you make an underpaid editor put into
your press release, the likelier it will see print.
The first page of a good press release has the company name,
address, telephone number, fax number, e-mail address and the
like at the top. List a human being as the contact. (Contact:
Human Q. Being.) Don't forget the date. Begin the press release
itself about halfway down the page with a succinct headline that
describes your software in eight or words or less. Skip another
inch and begin the press release itself.
Allow for plenty of margin space, with one-and-one-half inches at
the bottom. Double space the text. And heed this word of warning:
now that typewriters are extinct, the temptation exists to
desktop publish your press release, justified, in 12 point
Garamond with italics. DON'T. Have you ever tried to edit a press
release submitted justified in 12 point Garamond with italics?
Root canal is preferable.
Pick a clean, pedestrian monospaced font. Turn off justification.
Let the editor decide where to italicize or boldface.
Finally, paper clip your press release pages together if you have
more than one page. If you have more than two pages you probably
fell asleep several paragraphs ago.
Establishing a company name is a step up. It makes you look
professional. If you don't want to bother with a company name,
use the name of your software. Or your dog. This is easy for
authors with their own homes. The Postal Service told me that any
homeowner can get mail for a home-based business and I believe
them because I've been getting mail addressed to Crossdown (my
software) at my address for over a year now. Apartment dwellers
might want to consult/bribe their own mail carriers.
In addition to the press release, include one or more glossy
color screen shots of your software. The minimum size should be
4x5 inches, 8x10s are preferable, with wide margins all around.
Yes, I know that many publications are capable of accepting
images on disk, but unless the editor who gets your press kit
happens to be from the planet Metaluna all that editor is going
to see from looking at a disk is a square of plastic. You want
the editor to make immediate eye contact with your gorgeous
screen graphics, get a rush of endorphins and exclaim "wow!"
Also, larger photos scan easier.
Each photo should have a caption on a separate piece of paper
scotch taped to the back (for easy removal.) The caption should
impart some bit of information not readily apparent from the
photo. In other words, "Screen shot from latest release of Cosmic
Cabbage computer arcade game by Navel Arts" is not a very good
caption.
Each photo should also be labeled on the back with your company
name in case it gets lost.
Include a business card. Business cards are not expensive.
Editors just love to collect business cards and, in particular,
affix them to huge Rolodexes. Even editors with computers do
this. I am not exactly sure why. Regardless, if your press kit
makes a hit with the editor, your business card is going to be
kept and, who knows, maybe several months down the line you'll
get a call from that editor which could lead to even more
valuable editorial space ... or a free lunch.
-----------------------------------------
Sam Bellotto Jr. is the author of Crossdown and Enigmacross. He
currently serves on the ASP Public Relations Committee. From 1970
to 1985 he edited a wide variety of business magazines and held
nearly godlike power over the life and death of new products.