What writers & other say
“Look for ‘The Phil Factor.’ That’s the element that makes your reader yell to her husband: ‘Hey, Phil! Yagotta see this!’”
— Anonymous
“If the copy doesn’t excite me within 20 words, I won’t read the rest of it.”
— Editor to Jack E. Appleman, CBC, president of SG Communications, LLC
“There is a formula to press release writing and the chief ingredient in that formula is an attention-grabbing lead paragraph.”
— Mickie Kennedy, founder, eReleases
“Don’t expect journalists to sift through your news release to find the angle.”
— Lisa Morton, managing director, Roland Dransfield PR
“If your subject line makes it past the automatic delete button, and your headline grabs at least the partial attention of a reader, then your lead needs to convince that reader to stick around for the rest of the release.”
— Megan Totka, chief editor, ChamberofCommerce.com
“A good rule of thumb is to pretend that all a news outlet has space to publish is the lead paragraph of a press release.”
— Megan Totka, chief editor, ChamberofCommerce.com
“Most [PR leads] are dull and uninspired.”
— Dennis L. Wilcox, and Lawrence W. Nolte, authors of Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques
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