As far as I know, there is no real ultimate guide book for this,
although there do appear to be any number of books written on the
topic. (I've worked extensively in this area, and have never worked
anywhere that had a specific third-party style guide or reference book
just for press releases, although I'm sure some places do.)
Essentially, press releases written in journalistic style, and as
such, you'll generally use the The Associated Press (AP) Stylebook and
Briefing on Media Law for specific style issues, such as when and
where to use serial commas, how to refer to titles, and so forth. (If
you are doing this within a corporate environment, individual
companies will often have templates or company-specific style guides
as well.)
You can buy a new or used copy of the AP Stylebook here:
http://www.powells.com/search/DTSearch/search?kw=associated+press+style&pokey=skeptopotamus&Search.x=31&Search.y=8
You can also look up common questions about AP style in the "Band-Aid
AP Stylebook," which is described on the site as follows:
"This stylebook is a summary of the most commonly used items in the
Associated Press Stylebook. It includes helpful reminders, but it is
not a substitute for it. When in doubt, look it up in the AP
Stylebook."
It's located here:
http://web.missouri.edu/~jschool/missourian/style.htm
As far as specifically writing press releases, there are almost too
many guides to this online to mention, but here are several that
showed up on the first page of results of a Google search on the terms
- write press release - (don't include the dashes):
http://www.pertinent.com/pertinfo/business/pressrelease/
http://www.infoscavenger.com/prtips.htm
http://www.pressflash.com/anatomy.html
http://home3.americanexpress.com/smallbusiness/resources/expanding/pressrel/
http://www.press-release-writing.com/newsletters/
http://www.marketingviews.com/prfaqs.html
If you'd prefer a hardcopy book, a search on - public relations
writing - at http://www.powells.com brings up these books:
http://www.powells.com/search/DTSearch/search?kw=public+relations+writing&pokey=skeptopotamus
A search on - public relations writing - at Amazon.com brings up 39
results, several of which:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/search-handle-url/index=books&field-keywords=public%20relations%20writing&bq=1/002-2810463-5544020
Note that Amazon's listings can be sorted by popularity, user rating,
and so forth, so if you're looking for the most popular title, it's
called "Writing Effective News Releases: How to Get Free Publicity for
Yourself, Your Business, or Your Organization," by Catherine V.
McIntyre ($20). It's also got unanimous five star user ratings, so it
may be your best bet:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0941599191/qid=1027618489/sr=1-1/ref=sr_1_1/002-2810463-5544020
Regardless of where you get your details, there are a few points that
deserve to be highlighted:
1. Write your boilerplate carefully. If you are writing corporate
press releases, you will need standard text that describes your
company. (E.g., Acme Widgets (NASDAQ: ACW) is a leading edge purveyor
of the finest widgets available to the Industrial Bongo Pallets
Industry...)
2. Write a catchy headline that will get an editor's attention without
sounding too commercial or silly. The point is to get your release to
stand out among all the others and still be suitable for a newspaper
story. Make it as interesting and topical as possible, and write clean
copy, so that editors will be more inclined to pick it up as filler.
(This is rare, but not unheard of.)
3. Include appropriate contact information so a representative can be
reached easily with followup questions.
4. Use terminology appropriate for the audience you're targeting
(generally investors and end users, with journalists and editors as a
'filter'). Avoid using too much industry-specific lingo and explain
any technical concepts that the general public won't immediately
understand.
Let me know if you need any clarification on this, and good luck.
Lisa. |
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