Foreword ixIntroduction xi1. Who and/or What Is a Media Whore? xii1 Why Don't I Just Hire a Damn Publicist?(or, Why Do It Myself?) 11. Why Trust Us to Teach You How to Be aMedia Whore? 62 What's in It for Me If I Do It Myself? 73 Engaging the Media for the First Time 151. Who Am I Asking? 182. How Do I Seek out People to Ask? 183. How Do I Ask? 213.1 How busy are these people and why are youtelling me this? 22iv Media Whore4. What Exactly Am I Asking For? 234.1 Can you put this all together in a practicaland applicable way? 244 Writing Your Brilliant Press Release 275 The Big Send-off 371. Step One: The Sending Part 392. Step Two: The Email Subject Heading 406 When Is the Right Time to Send thePress Release? 431. Follow-ups 472. What If I Still Don't Hear Back? How ManyFollow-ups Is Too Many? 483. Note about Pitching Cover Stories 484. Thank You 527 What's a Press Kit? 551. So Why Is a Press Kit Not Necessary? 598 Social Media Whore: Steve's Guideto Social Media 619 Simple Marketing Tips for PromotingYour Thing Locally 671. Promotional Material (Posters, Flyers, Programs) 701.1 Beware of the Poster Mafia 712. Sponsorship 722.1 Media sponsors 732.2 Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) andlocal government sponsorship 74Contents v10 Friends with Benefits: Doing Media forOthers Benefits You 771. Assisting with Local Charities 802. Philanthropic Marketing 8011 Reviews: How to Welcome Solicited Judgmentinto Your Life 831. So I'm Just Going to Ask for People in theMedia to Come Review My Thing, Right? 871.1 Negative reviews 871.2 The positive from all this negative 8812 More on Why It Never Hurts to Ask(Or: Careful What You Ask for, or You Might JustGet the Front Page of the . Twice.) 911. Careful What You Wish For 932. GASH North America's Only Band 9613 The End and the Beginning 1011. The Monetary Value of Your Results 1042. Check Your Local Listings 1053. And in Conclusion 107Appendix One: But Wait! There's More!Interview Tips from a Real Publicist 111Appendix Two: Additional Press Release Samples 117Appendix Three: Sponsorship Letter Template 127Samples1 Introductory Email 252 Press Release 30