How your corporate PR can help you create a sexy book proposal promotion section

How your corporate PR can help you create a sexy book proposal promotion section

The marketing section of your book proposal is crucial to getting picked up by a mainstream publisher. If you’re part of a company you’ve lined up help from the company’s public relations and promotions department, you have a huge advantage. Here’s how to describe that asset in the proposal. Making the most of a corporate…

Slimeball PR/legal ethics: The Lisa Bloom letter to Harvey Weinstein
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Slimeball PR/legal ethics: The Lisa Bloom letter to Harvey Weinstein

Attorney Lisa Bloom, known for representing victims of sexual harassment, also proposed to work with Harvey Weinstein when the harassment accusations against him were just beginning. The new book She Said tells the inside story of what exactly went on during that time — and raises some challenging ethical questions. For the purposes of this…

How to get that executive case study interview

How to get that executive case study interview

Business books include case studies and perspectives from executives. Executives live in impenetrable corporate fortresses. How can you get them to go on the record? I’ve already written about how to find the stories — through your own experience, existing vendor case studies, and news articles. So my starting point for this post is that…

Everything United Airlines did wrong in the Denver Leggings Incident

Everything United Airlines did wrong in the Denver Leggings Incident

When several teenage girls wearing leggings attempted to board a United Airlines flight in Denver, the airline blocked them for “inappropriate dress.” As the airline explained on Twitter, the girls were “pass riders” — dependents of employees using free standby tickets — subject to a more stringent dress code. United’s policy is wrong, and it…

5 good reasons that you can’t outsource being a good writer, no matter what job you have
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5 good reasons that you can’t outsource being a good writer, no matter what job you have

If you’re a technical writer, marketing copywriter, or analyst, your job revolves around writing. Of course you need to write well. But why does it matter for the rest of the working world? I was recently at an innovation-focused gathering and got into a conversation with a public relations professional. When I explained what “Writing…

United Airlines spin: awful “Basic Economy” means “more choice”
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United Airlines spin: awful “Basic Economy” means “more choice”

United Airlines announced Basic Economy, a new class of travel that lets you pay less and suffer more. In their press release, it sounds like a win for travelers, but as a frequent traveler, I predict a very different outcome. And it raises a question: where are the limits of a PR person’s job of making…

The remarkable candor of Taylor Huckaby, voice of @SFBART

The remarkable candor of Taylor Huckaby, voice of @SFBART

Taylor Huckaby, who posts on the Twitter account of the San Francisco Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART), just turned honesty into a full-fledged funding debate. I’ll show you what’s special and effective about his tweets. Here’s what Huckaby tweeted in response to a complaint. @shakatron BART was built to transport far fewer people, and much…

Apple gets half of America to take its side — and it’s not done
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Apple gets half of America to take its side — and it’s not done

Apple has already convinced half of America that it has a case to defy the FBI. Now Tim Cook has extended the company’s clear, jargon-free communication to its own employees, and to the public with an Answers page. According to a survey of over 1,000 people from the Pew Research Center, 51% of the respondents think Apple…

SAP’s jargon-filled hybris press release: why bother?

SAP’s jargon-filled hybris press release: why bother?

Why are you still doing press releases? And why are they so awful? In 20 years as an analyst, I received 10,000 press releases. I acted on four of them. But PR pros still craft releases and send them to wire services to clutter up everybody’s inboxes. They’re not just poorly read but poorly written, like this delete-provoking…