For Immediate Release

HOW TO WRITE A PRESS RELEASE
So, you’ve made the work, booked the venue, ordered drinks for the opening. Now you have to let people know there’s something to see. Aside from social media (which great, but will only really reach people you know) and some posters, you’ll need to write a press release and send it to local and perhaps national media.
What follows is some guidelines gleaned from others and from my own experience. It’s worth following as it does generate results. Journalists of all types are hungry for subjects but usually very busy.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Press Release Guidelines
BEGINS
When writing a press release it’s important to work towards these two simple principles:
1 – Make it as easy as possible for the journalist who is receiving it to make sense of it. Get the information into their heads quickly. Stick to formats they understand and make it easy for them to transfer your words into their report. For short pieces, journalists will often simply cut and paste what you’ve written and tidy it up bit.
2 – Tailor your text for the receiving magazine / radio show / tv show. Artists have a tendency to resort to the kind of statement that wouldn’t look out of place in frieze or Art Monthly and wonder why the local paper won’t cover their event. If this means writing more than one press release, so be it.
So, how to go about fulfilling those criteria?
Sticking to this format is a good start. Do not mess with it to be ‘creative’, you’ll be shooting yourself in the foot. Trust me:
At the top you should write a release date. That is, when can this be used. Either as FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE or in the style of FOR RELEASE ON 14th JANUARY 2015
Next is a title. Again, don’t be too clever. Keep it simple, so that they know what they’re reading (remember that they’ll get Press Releases for things like product launches, charity events, exhibitions, fun runs, school events, openings, political announcements, and so on). Similarly, don’t pick a weird font. They won’t take this sort of thing as evidence of your genius, but as a reason to throw it away.
Now comes the important part. Start by writing BEGINS on a line of its own. Don’t ask, just do it. I’m assuming that this will be for a local newspaper and you want to drum up interest in a forthcoming exhibition. The body text should be punchy and get to the point. Don’t write an artist statement. Start with summary of the whole Press Release. I’ll use an example from my own practice:
Artist Bryan Eccleshall produced a drawing for every day of 2013 and is showing them at Bank Street Arts throughout January.
Then use up to a couple of hundred words to flesh out that statement. Journalists won’t typically be interested in art historical or theoretical references, though they classically like to know the answers to the following:
Who, what, when, where, why.
If you can cover these points here that’s great, but it’s worth listing them too (See below). Journalists like to know facts about a project. For example, how many hours something took, how much thread was used, how many people were interviewed. If there’s something remarkable about this – “ten miles of fishing wire used to make spiderweb sculpture” – then it’s likely to form the focus of a brief article.
If the press release intrigues them and they want to follow up and write a longer story they will get in touch and you can go into more depth then.
Write ENDS on a line on its own. Anything after this is not likely to be included in the article, but you can now list facts that might be useful, especially in terms of a What’s On guide.
NAME: What’s the event called?
WHERE: Address / name of venue.
WHEN: Opening Times (if your event is free, mention this explicitly too. If booking is required, include clear and accurate details). If there’s a Private View you want to promote in addition to the exhibition or event then say so. In short make it clear to ANYONE reading it that a journey to the venue won’t be a wasted trip if they come when you say. This is REALLY important.
WHO: List participants by name, making sure that all the names are spelled correctly.
CONTACT DETAILS: Don’t flood them with lots of details. Best to choose one mobile number (two at most) that will definitely be answered by someone who knows what’s what. Don’t confuse the issue by suggesting that the journalist replies to a different email address from the one you’ve sent it from. If they want to get in touch they’ll either ring you or hit ‘Reply’. Make it simple for them. Mention website addresses or #hashtags if that’s your thing.
That’s it.
Except that it isn’t.
You are likely to be emailing the Press Release. Do NOT attach it as a Word document or a PDF. That’s an extra click for the journalist and there’s the possibility it won’t open. Simply paste the text into the email itself.
Images. You’re making art and you’re likely to have something visual. Attaching one or two photographs (correctly oriented, sensibly named, in focus, and not too big) is a good idea. Don’t be surprised if they don’t use them.
It goes without saying, but I’ll say it anyway: Print out the resulting document and give it to a friend to check who knows grammar and can spell. Spellcheck does NOT check spelling sufficiently well for this. Ask them to read it in terms of understanding the information. Can they work out what’s happening, when, where, and what they’re likely to see when they turn up? Make adjustments if necessary.
ENDS