Thursday, April 24, 2014

Ten more ways NOT to get coverage

Every now and then I realise if I had back the hours I've spent answering messages from publicists that should never have been sent to me, I could probably have written a whole new book instead. At this point, I usually produce a blogpost about how NOT to get coverage for your concert. Here is another one.










1. Person Gives Concert! What an exciting topic!

2. You promise a really good story to one newspaper. Then another wants it. You take it away from the first and give it to the second instead. Then they let you down. You try the first one again.

3. You fail to read anything published in your target's newspaper about music, fail to notice that interviews don't happen unless they are with megastars or someone who has one hell of an amazing history, then write in demanding an interview for your lovely unknown artist who lives a peaceful life in a Surrey village.

4. You don't get a response from your first message. You write again. Now you get a terse "no" or an annoyed few sentences, and you're really upset and you write saying you "understand completely". Next time, you do the whole thing all over again.

5. You write to a UK journalist over the age of 22 saying you're "reaching out" to them.

6. You e-greet for the first time a UK journalist over the age of 22 with the word "Hey".

7. You declare that your artist is "one of the xxxxxest of his/her generation". Then you wonder why no one finds this interesting.

8. You write in with a brilliant story. The event in question takes place in two days' time.

9. You write to a professional journalist asking them to do an interview for their blog, which is unsupported by pay or pension: i.e., you ask them to spend their free time giving you free publicity, even when there is already a note in the sidebar of their blog pointing out that this is what you are doing.

10. You send the same message on Twitter to lots of different people, each one beginning with the addressee's tweet name - e.g. "@jessicaduchen cover Person giving Concert in Place" - and expect this somehow to be effective.

To Be Continued.............