Some artists seem to have all the luck. You see these lucky artists in the local newspaper every week, time and time again. They are always getting ready for this or that exhibition, or have just secured a major grant to tour their work, or are pictured standing beside a photo-flash stunned celebrity, the lucky artist, grinning from ear to ear as if to say ‘hey I hang around with cool and famous people all day, therefore I am famous too!’.

Yes indeed, Mr lucky artist is very lucky indeed. Lucky to be successful, lucky to be a little bit famous, and lucky to be in the newspaper, or are they?

In actual fact its easy to get yourself in the newspaper. Its easy to get the kind the kind of attention from the local press that Mr Lucky is getting. The only difference between you and Mr Lucky artist is that Mr Lucky knows something that you dont. Its a secret so stunningly simple that you will be shocked and amazed, and I am about to reveal it to you. When you know and understand the implications of this secret then you too will easily find yourself staring out from the the pages of your local lifestyle glossy magazine.

So what is it?

Okay, here it is.

Journalists are busy.

Yes, you read it right. Journalists are busy, and this is the key to your dreams of local publicity.

“What?” I hear you say. “Surely if journalists are busy this means that its harder to get in the newspaper”. This isnt the case at all. It actually works in your favour. Let me explain further.

Just like you and me journalist like to get their day jobs done as quickly as possible, meeting their deadlines quickly, so they can get on with their real dreams of being famous novel writers or going down the pub early to meet all their other aspiring writer friends, and therein lies your opportunity.

You see journalists have very tight deadlines. They have to fill a certain amount of space in the newspapers before the printing press is ready to roll. Anything that makes their life easier, and helps them fill all those column inches quickly and efficiently is going to be appreciated, especially if its a ‘slow news day’ or an interview with a Hollywood superstar falls through and they have some last minute space to fill.

So all you have to do to emulate Mr Lucky’s local publicity success is supply a well written, ready to print press release about the absolutely fascinating news in your life and career, something with an interesting ‘angle’ and a whole heap of ‘human interest’. Oh and it doesn’t hurt to add in a nice photo at a suitable print ready resolution to illustrate your story just for good measure.

When creating your press release, write it ‘pyramid style’ so that all the most important attention grabbing stuff is in the top paragraph and less important stuff is in the subsequent paragraphs. Design it in such a way that the journalist can take as much or as little as they like, so that if they only have a little bit of space to fill they can still use your story, or if you get lucky and they have a whole half page feature to fill then they have enough content to showcase your story along with your photo.

Make sure you also include your contact details at the end of the press release, and weave other details such as your website address into the copy. Do these things carefully though as journalists are not in the business of giving you free half page newspaper ads. They want a real story that is absolutely rivetting for their readers.

Start out by sending your press release to local newpapers as they are usually the easiest to get into, then take it from there as your press release writing skills improve, expanding out to metropolitain newspapers and glossy magazines. If over time you regularly supply interesting stories then journalists will get to know you, and eventually they may start contacting you personally for a story just because they know you always have something going on or an interesting point of view.

For more tips on writing press releases just google ‘how to write artist press release’. There’s tons of useful information out there.

So now you know Mr Lucky Artists publicity secret what are you waiting for?