Writers Tricks of the Trade ISSUE 1, VOLUME 9

15 Publicity Commandments T HAT W ORK FOR G ETTING F REE C OVERAGE FOR E VERYTHING C AROLYN H OWARD -J OHNSON A UTHOR OF T HE F RUGAL E DITOR — THE WINNINGEST IN HER AWARD - WINNING H OW T O D O I T F RUGALLY S ERIES OF BOOKS FOR WRITERS GETTING THE WORD OUT! I f we read the newspapers or watch TV we know that advertising sells. But even those big guys who do all the ad- vertising aren’t sure what works best when it comes to advertising. A huge retailer once said that advertising works, we just don’t know how, why, or where it works best. Publicity is advertising’s less mysteri- ous cousin. It is the more reliable relative because it is judged on its merit alone and carries the caché of an editor’s approval. It also is surrounded by the ever-magic word “free.” S PRING 2019 The two are easily identified as kin. They often walk hand-in-hand and yet they can be incompatible. The editors of good media outlets will not allow the advertising department to influence them. Still, in an effort to be completely impartial they re- serve the right to use advertiser’s stories editorially if they deem them newsworthy. That is why it is helpful to use advertising in a vehicle that plays to the audience you would like to see standing before your cash register or clicking on your Amazon buyer page. P AGE 13 W RITERS ’ T RICKS OF THE T RADE

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