I write this a few hours before heading to Whitewright, Texas, to Skydive Dallas for my first tandem jump appointment. Ever since I posted I would jump out of a plane if we collected $5000 worth of prizes by this blog’s 8th birthday, I’ve fretted and regretted my offer. Sometimes publicity forced a person to do stupid things and this was mine.

I blame Peter Shankman. I watched a video of his skydives and listened to him gush about his love of the daredevilish activity. But it was my own stupidity for letting that talk and desire to share prizes with the world to influence my decision. In truth, Peter put up with my rants and supported me throughout this chicken phase. He’s a busy guy with over 11,000 people following him plus he travels often — yet he makes time to push me and responds to my yadda yaddas.

I made the initial appointment on June 20. But bad weather postponed it another week. Two days before the jump, I joined my girl friends for a game of mah jongg. Big mistake.

“Jumping is a big deal!” one said.

“My sister is a daredevil and has tried everything. When she went skydiving, they had to pry her fingers off the plane’s edge and she almost peed in her pants!” said another.

“Why don’t you just go to Planet Pizza (kids’ party place with rides) and jump out of the airplane there? That way you kept your word!” said the first one. This sounds more like deception than comical and I won’t do that when it comes to something tied with my business.

To make it worse, my mother kept reminding me I have three children and should be responsible.

By the end of mah jongg night even after I won the last hand, I decided I couldn’t do this as a pit in my stomach formed and visualizing being in the plane frightened me. But how do I get out of this after telling people I would? I found a way out of this whole mess. One prize sponsor who pushed the prizes over $5000 by June 1 never responded. But it didn’t feel right, either.

Ironically, the biggest supporters come from my own family. My oldest and my husband. Both said they would do it if they could. Oldest isn’t old enough yet and husband (at 6′4″ tall) passes the weight limit. I know hubby would do it as he mentioned it years ago before I ever considered this.

Back ‘n forth. Dilly dallying. Wishy washing.

So how this skydiving mess like writing? It’s exactly how many of us feel when we started freelancing as a writer. Your mind comes up with many similar thoughts…

Can I do this?

Everyone thinks he or she is a writer. What makes me a real one?

Aw, this is crazy. Forget about it. How the heck am I going to stay busy and keep clients coming?

It’s too risky!

What if the client hates my work? Then, I’m done for.

But you have to deal with all the other stuff like marketing, bookkeeping, preparing for the dive…

What if I enjoy it?

Sometimes you just have to do it! The last time I remember freezing out of fear was on top of a mountain at a camp in Colorado when I was about 11. I was strapped and on the edge. I guess it was about 30 feet to the ground. I stood there stiff and gripping the rope not trusting it to hold me. My foot dragged a few inches backward without coming off the mountain’s edge. The other followed. By the time I reached the middle, I pushed gently and eventually glided down like an inexperienced pilot flying a plane.

I did it! I did it! I did it!

It was a breeze the first time I went indoor rock climbing thanks to this experience. Freelance writing — like all things we try for the first time — gets easier with experience. Quoting rates, doing certain types of writing (white paper, web content, case studies, etc.), bookkeeping, providing expertise.

The folks at Skydive Dallas (especially Ernie, my instructor and my glue) were wonderful. They know how to put a gal’s mind at ease. It didn’t help that we had to wait because the winds were too strong. More time to chicken out and fidget. I mostly paced and tried texting in an area where my phone service barely breathed.

It was time. I did what Ernie told me to do and paced more until it was time to head out to the plane. Unexpectedly, my heart beat at normal speed. My stomach growled (lunch time) rather than knotted. I just sat in the small plane and watch the ground grow smaller. Didn’t think about much except wonder when the heck we would reach 2.5 miles high in the sky.

Tired. More about the tale another time. This entry wasn’t meant to tell the whole story.

Prizes for this entry: $450 basic WordPress customization package from Kim Beasley.  one copy of Andy King’s upcoming Website Optimization. Here’s its companion site. Just leave a 30-word comment on this post by June 29 (yes, I made it longer — through the weekend) to get an entry for a drawing.

For a long time, I knew of John Hewitt and he didn’t know me. Way back when I used to search for jobs for AbsoluteWrite.com’s markets newsletter, I relied on John’s listings. I linked to John’s site over time because he offers a wonderful resource for writers.

We got to know each other better after to my surprise and delight, he listed my blog as one of the recommended blogs for writers. It surprised me because this blog doesn’t make such lists often since it doesn’t focus on a niche (just writing, in this case — I know that’s bad… but hey, it started out as more about web design). So he made my day, week, month, year.

Then he included my blog in March Writing Blog Madness and I was hooked. Thanks to his contest, I immersed myself back into the blogosphere with fervor (I kind of neglected it because of business commitments). I’ve met some awesome folks because of John. Thank you, John.

Don’t Call 911, Call Us!

That was the gist of the ad I wrote. It ran for one day in the local newspapers. By the end of the next day, my client had been lambasted on the radio, on television, and even by the newspapers that ran the ad. There were also a few local politicians who personally called to ask just how insane my client was. Some people say that there is no such thing as bad publicity, but I’m pretty sure this was the definition of bad.

But We’re the Good Guys!

To be fair, my client did have a legitimate complaint with 911. My client owned an ambulance service. He had operated that service for over thirty years, and he was being squeezed out of the market by the city. The city had decided to get into the paramedic business, and had been changing the rules of the game at will, just to suit their goals.

The kicker came when the city actually started diverting calls away from my client, even when they had ambulances that were closer and more ready to respond. The city was, in my client’s opinion, putting people at risk in order to put his company out of business. That was when he came up with the idea for the ad.

The client came to me with a rough version of the ad that he had put together himself. All he wanted from me was to clean up the text and tweak the graphics so that it looked more professional. I ended up rewriting the ad twice to make it as clear as possible that my client was only suggesting calling them in non-critical situations such as broken bones and medical transport.

The text of the ad was quite clear about that, but the headline was what caught people’s attention. Don’t Call 911, Call Us! Nothing I said in the rest of the ad was going to make that headline any less damaging.

His Problem, My Mistake

I wish I could say I tried to talk the client out of it. If I were in the same position today, I certainly would give it my best shot. At the time though, I was as caught up in their situation as they were. I knew they were being forced out of business. I knew the city was being underhanded. Plus, I kind of wanted to see what would happen.

As I said in the beginning, the results were not good. I’m not sure if there was a way that my client could have prevailed, but that ad cemented his defeat. The company didn’t quite go out of business, but that was the end of its involvement in emergency services for the city. It was also the last job I did for that client. I don’t know if he blamed me for the debacle, but clearly my work had not yielded the results he needed. I don’t blame him for moving on.

What I learned

There’s a difference between what your client wants and what your client needs

My client wanted to take on the city and reach his customers by diverting them from the 911 system that had shut him out of the game. His strategy antagonized a powerful opponent and angered both the media and potential customers. What he needed was a whole new plan (and a different goal). There was no way I could have made the ad work. I should have discussed other strategies. I only focused on what my client wanted, not what he needed.

If it feels like a bad idea, speak up

Since then, I have been much more vocal when faced with projects or clients that I think are misguided. I try not to be insulting, but I do try to give them my best advice and steer them away from self-destructive practices. I do this for them, but I also do it for me. I don’t want to be associated with failures if I can help it.

Make a choice

Over the years I have turned down several projects and partnerships. I turned them down because I either thought their plan was bad, or I didn’t trust them to follow through. I have also taken a few risky projects. Sometimes I took them for the money. Sometimes I took them for the challenge. I’ve been burned more than once, but not every risky project was a failure. Sometimes you succeed even when the plan is bad. Life is funny that way.

Move on

Whether a project is a success or a failure, once it is done you have to put it behind you. Find the next job. Look for the next challenge. Find new ways to succeed.

About the author
John Hewitt has been a professional writer for 20 years. In that time he has learned 12 Ways to Write Terrible Documentation, 10 Ways to Annoy the Hell out of Your Writers’ Group and How to Write Your Way Out of a Wet Paper Sack. You can read more at poewar.com.

Lots of PR talk hitting the scene as of late as PR peeps and bloggers argue about PR spamming, blacklists, and doing PR pitches right.

Just the messenger trying to collect them all in one spot. I do both sides of the PR biz… receiving-end and PR’ing end.

Advice, Arguments, Debates, and Articles

1. 5 PR Pitches: The Good and Bad
2. 7 Promises of the PR Pro [pdf file]
3. 15 Reasons To Just Freakin’ Do It…Stop The Complaining and Take Command! Make the Pitch Your Friend
4. Blacklisting Bloggers
5. Blacklisting PR Firms
6. Blogger Blacklist and other PR Pipe Dreams
7. Blogger Relations: I don’t need a new best friend.
8. The Caring and Feeding of the Press: If you read nothing else, start and finish here. Best article on the topic from the wonderful Esther Schindler.
9. Dear Nasty Reporter/Blogger
10. Die! Press Release, Die!
11. Dueling Blacklists: Bloggers vs. PR Firms
12. An Email Blacklist of Technology PR Agencies
13. Flacks Need Manners
14. For Immediate Release Podcast #345: Discussion on the topic about 8 to 10 minutes into podcast. [Link: Eric Eggertson]
15. The Growing Backlash against PR Spam, and the Rationale for MicroPR from Stowe Boyd.
16. How Do I Get Placement on Blogs?
17. How to Pitch to Bloggers
18. How NOT to approach JV partners and bloggers
19. How Not To Help a Reporter: Yeah, go right ahead. I dare you.
20. Making Mistakes and Amends in Blogger and Media Relations
21. Matt Haughey on How to Pitch to Bloggers
22. Meet Lois Whitman, the Poster Child for Everything Wrong with PR
23. Not Short, Not Sweet, but to the Point…
24. PR Blacklists: Treating the Symptoms
25. PR blacklist won’t fix imperfect system
26. PR industry crisis and a lovely weekend
27. PR Bludgeons Itself Again
28. PR Lessons of a Clueless Blog Pitch
29. The PR Rolodex Myth
30. PR vs. the Bloggers part XXVII
31. Quelle surprise: Another PR Blacklist
32. Social media will not kill PR, but it does expose industry weaknesses
33. Sorry PR People, You’re Blocked
34. Stupid PR Watch: Reporter pet peeves
35. To Blacklist, or Not to Blacklist
36. Top Ten Lies PR Agencies Tell Their Clients
37. Twitpitch is the future
38. Twitter PR
39. Value of PR for Bloggers
40. Won’t Anyone Think of the Phone Calls?
41. Where Do We Go with Blogger Relations?
42. Why PR Folks Should Blacklist Bloggers
43. A Young Pro’s Take: Media Relations and the New PR Blacklist

And tons more… oi.

Resources

1. AngryJournalist: Journalist share what they really think of PR.
2. Art and Science of Blogger Relations eBook
3. Blogger Blacklist: Requires permission.
4. Global PR Week
5. Internet Press Guild
6. PR Spammers Wiki: Watch out for these PR folks… they spam bloggers.
7. Twitter Blacklist
8. Twittering Journalists Wiki: Lists journalists, reporters, and media outlets on twitter. PR folks, please don’t spam these nice people.

Blogs

1. Bad Pitch Blog
2. Beyond PR
3. Blinn PR Report
4. Blogging Me Blogging You
5. Common Sense PR
6. Corporate PR
7. Engage in PR
8. First Person PR
9. HighVizPR
10. Hispanic Marketing and PR
11. India PR
12. KD Paine’s PR Measurement Blog
13. Launch PR
14. Online PR Thoughts
15. Naked PR
16. POP! PR Jots
17. PR 2.0 Blog
18. PR Blogger
19. PR Communications
20. PR Disasters
21. PR Interactive
22. PR Meets Marketing
23. PR Squared
24. PR Voice
25. PR Wordsmith
26. PR Works
27. Pro PR
28. PRoactive
29. PitchEngine
30. Publicity Hound
31. rajesh@blogworks
32. Corrine Weisgerber’s social media PR class
33. The Straight Pitch
34. Strategic Public Relations
35. Valley PR

Updated: December 17, 2008

With book coverage in print and newspaper sales declining, authors and publishers must extend their reach to the Internet if they want to boost book sales and publicity. Furthermore, authors are more involved in marketing their books than in the past as publishers can’t or won’t do enough.

Print publications still play a valuable role in books’ lives though the Internet offers many other advantages for promoting books:

• No need to rely on battery power, electricity, or a working Internet connection to read print.
• People leave finished copies of printed resources in doctor’s offices, coffee shops, and other public places for others to pick up.
• No shut down needed upon flight take off and landing.
• No taking it out of your carry on or briefcase to get through airport security.
• Fewer distractions and information noise as you don’t have links and animation enticing you away from your reading.
• Knowing where something starts and ends. The Internet consists of connected pages making it easy for someone to jump from page to page endlessly.
• Just open and read. No booting up, waiting for loading applications and pages, signing on…

Authors and publishers need to make the Internet their partner in marketing books. The Internet offers the following benefits:

• Cheap: It costs as little as $5 a month to have a Web site and $0 for a page on sites like MySpace, Facebook, and Bookhitch. Plus, add the book to your e-mail and discussion board signature for noticing when people read your e-mails and posts.
• Search: Search engines and Web sites help people find books on topics of interest.
• Access: Contact reviewers and bloggers who cover your book’s topic offering to send them a review copy. Also contact sites that publish book reviews like BlogCritics. The Internet also provides a great way to connect with reading groups. Many reading groups invite members to submit questions for the author to respond or hold a conversation online through chat or a Web-based application.
• Network: Forums, online groups, and social networks allow you to connect and interact with potential readers and reviewers.
• Link: Contribute articles to article libraries, online magazines, and other online resources where you can have a byline that links to your Web site or book ordering page.

Start or boost online book marketing with help from the following resources:

• Steve Weber, author of Plug Your Book!, walks the talk with his blog and Myspace page on this topic.
• Christopher Diggins’ Marketing Your Book Online guide
• 101 Book Marketing Sites
• BookSistah Blog often covers book marketing. Sophfronia Scott also has book and writing articles in EzineArticles.
• SalesRankExpress has a tool for checking a book’s Amazon sales rank.
• Future Perfect Publishing blog often covers book marketing.
• 27 ways to sell more books doesn’t focus on online book marketing, but authors can integrate its tips with online marketing.

• The Hot Button Theory: Maximizing Media Response to Your News Releases.
• 5 tips for giving feedback on creative work.
• 50 sites for book lovers.
• 8 Easy Ways to Remove Tough Stains [I need all the help I can get!]
• The Art of Writing: 10 Tips from the Masters
• Wanna be book authors: Submit a book proposal and work with a real writer. AND help your favorite nonprofit organization.
• Four types of tasks that should not be on your to do list.
• Media Request — What to do now that you have media nibbling on the line.

How’s this for irony? I watched The Shipping News a couple of days ago before reading this book. One of my favorite parts of the movie was the main character learning how to write strong headlines. Instead of the dull “Horizon Fills with Dark Clouds,” his co-worker suggested, “Imminent Storm Threatens Village.”

The main character, an honest man, asked, “But what if no storm comes?”

“Village Spared From Deadly Storm.”

Writing attention-getting releases isn’t about lying, but about putting a creative twist on the truth. Free Publicity is unique in that it’s written by a person who is typically on the receiving end of the releases instead of someone who has spent years writing and submitting them. I’m more interested in what the recipient wants than what the person who has written a ton of them thinks they want.

Crilley is a TV news reporter in Dallas who shares his experiences in book that takes about an hour to read because it’s fast-paced, grabs your attention and keeps it. That’s how good these stories are and why they got Crilley’s attention. Each chapter provides a few key points and those points are reiterated at the end of the chapter for easy referencing.

The author is on target when he suggests honesty even when things are bad. If Clinton had come clean from the start of it, the whole scandal involving him and “that woman” might not have been the big deal that it came to be. The media is going to keep nibbling until it gets what it wants or arrives at the truth.

Within moments of reading the book, ideas started floating in my head on how to bring more attention to a few things needing spotlight. This simple book has it all: it’s fast, easy, useful, and humorous.

VITAL STATISTICS:
TITLE: Free Publicity: A TV Reporter Shares the Secrets for Getting Covered on the News
AUTHORS: Jeff Crilley
PUBLISHER: Brown Books Publishing Company
PUBLICATION DATE: December 2002
ISBN: 0972647406
FORMAT: Paperback
PAGES: 128
PRICE: USD: 12.95
CDN: 13.65
UK: 6.34

Lois Carter Fay brought this week’s Global PR Blog Week to my attention. More details are also available in TheNewPRWiki.

I look forward to seeing what information is gleaned each day. Today’s topic is PR in the Age of Participatory Journalism with Trevor Cook, Don Crowther, Dan Forbush, and others.

I am interested in seeing how effective this event is especially since it is more accessible to me than a typical conference. As a person with profound hearing loss, I get exhausted trying to lipread the speakers and miss a lot of information. Plus, with the huge amount of blogs out there — how many people are going to find out about this one and take the time to visit it? I only find out about it because I happened to be in recent contact with Lois.