Public Relations Month

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Back in January I volunteered at a Manchester-based public relations company. I gave up 2 weeks to learn about the field of PR- of taking a company or organisation, looking at their data, looking at positive aspects, turning select data into a press release and pushing it out to relevant publications. The experience taught me a lot, one of the main aspects being that, in the 21^st century, PR isn't just bashing out an article and 'selling in' to a stream of editors: social media is changing the face of the industry and digital outlets are now providing a much bigger reach than print. That, plus expanding radio and TV networks are also offering platforms on which brands can be noticed by the public.

The placement ended and I went back to admin. Not only am I totally unsuited to the role of business support, but I now have both the 'carrot and the stick' in my career- a job that makes me deeply unhappy, but a different field that I'm focussed on moving into. I expect this isn't as easy at the best of times, but short term memory difficulties on top of minimal experience make for somewhat of an uphill struggle. The PR company were understanding, supportive, and great fun to work with. Typically, it was the more routine admin tasks that I struggled with the most- updating the coverage book used to record where articles were published, for instance- rather than the more creative elements, like brainstorming sessions or researching cycle safety campaigns. I left convinced that PR is the right field to enter.

After this, I found this house and started the process of buying it. Now that I'm living here, and the decorating is 90% done, it's time to get back into the swing of PR.

I can think of at least one company that were ready to offer me work experience. I've got a list of the top northwest PR firms, most of which I've already approached. One of these were ready to at least meet me. I'll re-contact a few of these, plus I'll look for bar launches, shop launches and other events and see who is handling their PR, then approach them. Being a little ballsy and offering to cover events got me into the Mirror Image Style launch last month. It got me onto Go:PR's books. Go understand that bloggers are looking for opportunities to cover ideas and events, and will write positively on your project if you invite them. Although bloggers may not have the same reach as a local news outlet, scattering a message via a cluster of smaller writers, without spending anything, is going to get your name in people's mouths, so to speak.

Deadline: 22^nd June!

Published: Retired Genetic Engineer: A Confession

I'm back in the publishing game, people! This Speculative Fiction piece started life as a homework exercise for feedback group Writers Connect. We agreed we'd write a 500-or-so word SF flash on the theme of 'designer babies', with the focus being on looking at current technology and abilities and extrapolating them to show what we may be capable of in the future.

The group seemed to like my story, so I did a second draft after digesting their advice and sent it out to publications I found on the Poets and Writers database.

The Peeking Cat Poetry Magazine accepted it! Issue 13 came out this month with my poem in it. See here. Back issues are here. You'll need to set up a free account to access it- it only takes a few moments.

#tbt My Name in Print

July 2005. Just before the London bombings, before the recession and when I was fresh out of university (if you overlook the 6 months of fruitless jobseeking) I was trying my hand at media sales at The World's Fair, a publishing house in Oldham. It was an ill-suited job, and not one I particularly enjoyed at all. Being told no from hundreds of wholesalers who aren't interested in your ad space because of the credit crunch, or whatever other excuse they could muster, was awful. Some people can handle that kinda thing. Not me.

It was interesting, though, being around people who thrived off that environment. When you've just spent nearly 7 years studying media, you generally don't meet that many sales-type people. It's a completely different character- vain, competitive, thick-skinned, a little arrogant, but overall incredibly confident- not the type of person who'd be happy nonchalantly sitting behind a camera all day, or hidden away in solitude on an Avid edit suite. (Most of the people I was at uni with were that type.) I was neither of those types of person, admittedly, but I didn't have a clue what kind of person I was at all back then- hence finding myself in a sales job.

The manager would have frequent meetings with me because, despite phoning and phoning all day, I just couldn't sell. My concern, she'd say, is that this job just isn't for you.

At the time, I couldn't get my head around it. Previously I'd been sacked from a few jobs due to my memory- not being able to work a till, or memorise restaurant table layouts. But this time, it was purely character. I just wasn't the selling, persuasive type.

This is what the manager made clear to me. Then, I asked, what was? What should I be doing if not sales?

You tell me, she asked. What is it you've always wanted to be?

Screenwriter, I replied without a second's hesitation.

Is this job getting you any closer to that?

Not really.

I wouldn't have a clue how to do that, she said. I wouldn't know how to write a screenplay. But what I do know how to do is to sell, and I consider myself to be able to do it very well.

So I left. Or, I was being pushed, so I jumped. Sales wasn't going to happen. She was a good manager, but, in retrospect, that was the warning that I failed to heed. Stick to your strengths.

Anyway. Long story short. July '05 was the first time I got my name in print, for what it was worth.

#tbt Arena Magazine

Arena magazine was one of the best men's lifestyle magazines in publication in the naughties. Articles were aimed at a mature, intelligent audience with insight and wit. There were no exposed breasts, no immature smutty stories and their jokes were actually funny. The clothes they reviewed looked good and the features original and refreshing.

One such article involved an actor giving up his glam lifestyle to travel on horseback through Patagonia, and witnessed his team member catch an armadillo by jamming a finger up its back passage. Okay. Another feature asks “Is your girlfriend doing too much coke?” whilst another interviews the female cast members from US TV show My Name is Earl.

This article portrays said actresses as glamorous professionals, unlike their humorously-trashy fictional counterparts. And yes, they're pictured in underwear, but the women are eloquent and the journalist is actually interested in their background. Jaime Pressly (Earl's “fidelity-challenged” wife Joy) describes learning joke-telling skills from her dad, While Nadine Velazquez- sidekick and Hispanic maid Catalina- discusses her boxing training. It's made clear that both women are in relationships, and the questions never get too personal, but it's an interesting insight into what the actresses' lives are like on a successful comedy series.

The final issue was released April 2009. I spoke to someone in publishing who claimed that the publishers had sacked the editor and the advertisers lost faith. No money, no magazine. Can publishing people confirm / deny?

And which out-of-print publications do you miss?

Thanks for the book, Vintage!

This unexpectedly dropped through the letterbox Friday.

The Vagenda is a book based on the blog of the same name by London journalists Holly Baxter and Rhiannon Lucy Cosslett. Apparently a runaway success in the blogging world, The Vagenda was founded in 2012 getting 7 million hits in its first year. Jealous.

Publishers Vintage have now given the ladies a book deal. The Guardian described it as “a brilliant expose of women's mags and marketing- laugh-out-loud and painfully funny.” I've read the first chapter and it's certainly drawn me in. I'll make a few notes as I go along and will review it ASAP.

So, thanks Vintage- I'm assuming you've seen the blog and noticed that I review books. Happy to oblige. This is a first!

If you're a publisher and want me to review your book, hit me up at matthewtuckey@hotmail.com.

The first thing I ever had published...

...was this pair of wedding write-ups in the Oldham Evening Chronicle.

The first two weeks of 5^th form were, for all pupils in my school, spent on a work experience placement. I made a point of making sure my placement was at the local newspaper, writing in during term time the year before. The placement was confirmed and I started to shadow people in the office. The first week I spent in design, the second week in journalism. It was with this team I was taught how to turn an information form into an article.

Newly-married couples wanting to appear in the paper would fill in a sheet featuring names of the bride, the groom and the church, the style of dress, the date of the wedding and other details. The editor would give me the sheets and an example of the wedding write-ups, and it was my job, at 15 years 1 month, to put the text into article form. These went out into the Oldham Evening Chronicle the same night. I managed to hang onto a few from 12th September 1997.

The #tbt hashtag on Facebook prompted me to put this up. Get involved with Throwback Thursday and see what old pictures you can find in your cupboards and drawers!

Published: Take Note

This story started life as a warmup exercise at Writers Connect. Leader Oz asked us to close our eyes. Imagine we're stood in a country garden. We follow a garden path through the estate. We enter a large house through the back door. We find ourselves in a kitchen. On the work surface, there's a note. Oz then suggested we continue the story.

The story went through a few drafts, again through advice from Writers Connect, then ended up in the form you will see it / hear it in now. The Open Road Review is an audiovisual magazine. The editor asked me to record a readout of the story to go alongside the text, which was fun to do. I hope you enjoy it whether you read or listen! Check it out here.

Poets and Writers Let Me Down

Poets and Writers is a non-profit organisation serving writers, and their site offers a free online database of fiction and poetry markets. If you're a writer looking to see your work in literary magazines, it's possible that this website could be a brilliant place to start...

But it wasn't for me. I used to use Duotrope, a similar literature resource, before they started charging a membership fee. And using this site I got a string of written pieces accepted into a range of literature magazines. (See the section on the right of this site.)

Poets and Writers offers a similar search tool to find magazines that are looking for the type of story or poem you're looking to get published. I used this site, as mentioned here, to send out a number of finished pieces that have been sat on my hard drive waiting to be seen by publishers. Here were a few initial pros and cons I found whilst using the site:

PRO

You can filter your results to show magazines that accept simultaneous submissions, and to cut out those that don't.

The same goes for unsolicited submissions- i.e. you're a writer like me with no agent.

The same also goes for submission type: I only wanted magazines that would accept electronic submissions- by email or through their own site.

You can choose to filter out magazines that only accept a certain smaller percentage of from a number of percentages of unsolicited submissions published. 

 

CON

You cannot arrange results by most likely publications to accept work.

You cannot filter out publications not accepting submissions.

You cannot filter out publications that will not accept multiple submissions.

You cannot filter out publications that charge a reading fee.

The biggest con, the most important let-down for me, was a big problem: I didn't receive a single acceptance from any of the magazines I approached. I made over 50 submissions. After sending out each piece 10 times, I made a note of the date and waited a month. I figured that would give enough time for editors to make decisions.

That month has passed, and I've so far received 9 rejections and no acceptances. That's a fairly average ratio, although there are still over 41 submissions unaccounted for. This is a problem with the individual magazines more than anything, but this still doesn't reflect well on the Poets and Writers site. I quickly started to wonder whether I was doing anything wrong.

Have you used this site? What kind of experience did you have? Comment below...

Published: Managing Director

I've had my fourth definition published by The Urban Dictionary. Check out "Managing Director" here.

Have You Used Poets & Writers Website?

Poets & Writers is a free online fiction and poetry resource. They describe themselves as “the nation's largest nonprofit organization serving creative writers.” If you've got a story or poem you want to get published, I believe this is a good place to start.

I'm going to have a trawl around the site this week to see how it works, and to see if I can find some potential homes for my newest poems.

Have you used P&W? What did you think of it?

Duotrope Goes Paid

Online literature resource Duotrope, once a free haven to find markets for your poem or short story, has now gone subscription-only. There's now a $5 monthly fee to get access to the thousands of magazines looking for submissions.

The site has been surviving for many years through donations, but a circular went out explaining that these targets had not been hit for a number of months, and the site admins had no choice but to start to charge users.

It's been great having the site to find markets for stories, and I owe a hat-tip to Duotrope with regards to the majority of my published work. It was also a good place to search for free short literature, if you had a spare half hour. I used the site sporadically to find markets so a $5 monthly fee wouldn't really work for me now.

I've found a small closed group on Facebook that is sharing information about publishing markets, but I'm keen to see what else there is out there to help the struggling scribe. Can you advise?