How is it that some companies manage to pump out a steady stream of news and press releases 52 weeks of the year? What’s the secret?  Simple…all it takes is a little planning, a budget and some know-how.

Join our mailing list to get your free eBook “99 Press Release Ideas That Work,” which includes a calendar year of great ideas tied to seasonal and holiday events.

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1) Always double space your documents. It makes reading and proofreading easier because you can write above and below the sentences.

2) Never rely on screen reading and software-assisted grammar checkers to proofread or copy edit your documents. Remember that grammar and spell checkers don’t catch homophones/homonyms (words that sound the same but may have different meanings and spellings e.g. hear and here) or words with letters that typists frequently transpose such as form and from.

For error free results use electronic tools AND print a hard copy of your document–no matter how many pages it is. To save money, recycle your printer paper by turning over the sheets and reusing them for subsequent revisions. Don’t scrimp by skipping this step.

3) Unless you are a teacher or professional accustomed to grading or proofreading chances are you’ll work best after a good night’s rest or when you’ve given your eyes and mind a break from working on the document. In a perfect world this can be a day to several weeks. The author’s eyes and mind often fill in words that are not on the page because of familiarity to the work. You know what you’re saying but it’s easy to miss obvious breaks in logic or continuity without taking a rest from the work. Sometimes logic breaks are illuminated during the proofreading phase as you encounter an awkward phrase or clumsy word usage.

4) Use a red pen or one that isn’t close in color to the text for marking up errors. Changes should be clearly written and easy to understand. Professional proofreader’s marks can be found online or simply circle the error and write the correction next to it or above it.

5) Read aloud as you follow along with a red pen. Or do a separate out loud reading after you read silently with the pen. Say each word slowly and carefully and be sure to read the punctuation marks too. While reading aloud may seem tedious it’s a great way to catch mistakes and missing words that the eye glosses over. And it gives you the opportunity to reconsider poor or lumbering word choices. If you’re an author, it’s also great practice for when you’ll be reading in front of audiences.

6) Be sure to check and re-check proper nouns for capitalization and spelling. Keep a list of proper names, places, and dates that you’ve already fact-checked so you don’t have to repeat this process each time you proofread.

7) Take a break between steps.

8) Total any numbers, equations or calculations to make sure they work. Make sure graphics are correctly oriented and that captions match the images they tag.

9) Never take spelling for granted. Check with at least two dictionary sources in print or online for both the correct spelling and correct part of speech. There are many websites with tips on the proper usage of verbs like lay and lie. When in doubt an easy cheat is to check The New York Times and one other daily newspaper or magazine. Pay special attention to foreign words and the correct use of hyphenation.

10) Beware of mixing up possessives and contractions. Even if you know the difference between it’s (the contraction) and its (possessive) your fingers may not. Using the “Find” function of your word processor run a search just for apostrophe marks to help locate and catch errors.

11) Besides punctuation mistakes, take time to review for consistent use of verb tenses, variety in verb choices, and use of the active voice by removing verbs with the ‘ing’ ending. An easy trick for ferreting out –ing verbs is the “Find” feature in your word processor with just the letters “ing” typed in the search field. Many writers advocate the “Find” feature to mitigate the use of “ly” adverbs as well as tamping down pet words and phrases.

12) In addition to the document text, be sure to proofread all headers, footers, footnotes and other annotations for spelling and style format errors. In some cases it’s best to proofread these areas as what editors call separate “pass” or a read just for those sections.

13) Once you’ve fixed the error in your document, overwrite the area on the hard copy with a highlighter to indicate it’s complete. Or come up with your own method for indicating that you’ve fixed the error.

14) Longer works such as novels have special considerations when proofreading or copy editing as you’ll need to perform multiple selective read-throughs and outlines. Very often authors and book editors will keep separate document files containing critical and accurate information such as the character’s proper names, dates (make your novel its own calendar), timelines, and supporting research to avoid making mistakes in continuity and logic. If you are proofreading or copy editing a novel it is a best practice to perform these as separate reads with an eye toward continuity and timeline breaks—particularly if the book is a mystery.

15) Take a break between steps.

16) Have one last glance to make sure all your end punctuation is included and that questions end with a question mark and that dialog begins and concludes with quotation marks.

Tricks and Cautions for Computer Screen Reading and Format Conversions

The remaining functions and techniques will help improve your chances of producing an error-free document. Run your spell checker and grammar checker and then check the checkers.

17) When proofreading by screen reading you’ll want to turn on the show/hide feature which is indicated in the toolbar by a paragraph mark. This tool will highlight extra spaces between words and paragraphs that need to be removed or made consistent. Most documents use only one space after periods.

18) Many publishers and educators require that the author follow very specific stylebook guidelines that vary depending on if the writing is commercial or academic. Be sure to follow any guidelines to a “T” or risk rejection or a lower grade.

19) If your document will be converted from Microsoft Word to another publishing platform (e-book) you should proofread it again after it’s been converted and before it’s published. Always ask to proofread again after someone else modifies the work for reproduction to another platform if you can.

20) We know you love your mom, wife, husband or boyfriend but don’t trust them to correct your documents unless they are a professional editor.

Got a tip you think we should include? Send it along.

Our client’s press release announcing the “World’s Largest Chanukah Menorah” earned mentions from CNN, USA Today and even David Letterman–among many others. How’d they do it? With a memorable visual and hook that was irresistable to the media–including that the menorah was certified by Guinness World Records .

In this example, the client’s press release was issued 10 days before the start of the holiday event. An image was provided to the press. Local and national public figures, as well as celebrities, were scheduled in advance to participate in the nightly lighting of the menorah. In short, the press release and event had all the ingredients that make a winning story for the media: a record-winning and supersized menorah; a local and national angle; and a connection to a worldwide celebration.

     And while on the subject of big stuff, news about Starbucks’ 31-ounce iced Trenta had everyone Twittering–and jittering a bit too. NPR and Morning Joe both mentioned the new drink. NPR even sent a humorous survey about the drink to readers. A quick search using the words “Starbucks Trenta” turned up 221 million search results in Google. Google News returned 692 articles. That’s publicity supersized!

     So here’s your challenge. Is there a local, national, or worldwide event that can be associated with your product or service? Can you make the story larger than life or entertaining in some way? Will you only launch your product if the groundhog ventures out of its burrow on Groundhog Day, February 2nd? Can you cobble together an app that shoots arrows at its users like cupid for Valentine’s Day? Does anyone have a Blarney Stone they’ll be kissing in March? (Yes, there is already an application for that. We checked.) Members of the media love informative and entertaining press releases. Where is it written that press releases must be boring? Be smart. Be clever. Have fun.

     Got a tip you’d like to share here? Us the contact form to inquire about participating as a guest blogger if you’ve got a POV and tip for leveraging PR and technology.

Email’s been the whipping boy for all things bad about business communication. That may change soon with help from an unlikely new friend.

IS EMAIL SEXY AGAIN?  In August, Google introduced Gmail Priority Inbox, a new feature that learns to identify your important email for you. Imagine, just the email you need right now, right in front of you.

Then in November Facebook announced a major messaging rethink. Facebook Messages will be a “modern messaging system” that unifies email, Facebook messages, chat and SMS in a single application. Like Google, Facebook also recognizes that some emails are more important than others. What’s important for Facebook? Email from Friends of course. Non-Friend emails will side-step the Inbox and land in the “Other” folder.

Two new but very different takes on an old email effectiveness challenge: how to bring your important email forward.

GMAIL, FACEBOOK? … BUT I USE OUTLOOK!!   Yes, at work we all do, and like most other business email users you too might be wondering how these and other social developments affect you.  

As for highlighting important email, don’t expect help from Microsoft anytime soon. While Outlook excels as an email program, it’s the Outlook add-in market we look to for productivity automation. On the social front there is hope. Outlook 2010 includes a Social Connector feature for passive awareness. A good start.

WHAT’S SOCIAL GOT TO DO WITH BUSINESS? WHY NOW?   In case you are inclined to dismiss social communication and its tools as only for younger generations (or to use when not at work), I challenge you to consider that our interactions at work couldn’t be more social. Email is often awkward and too formal in our social world of business.  That these emerging social tools better handle it outside of email , and in a complementary way to email, is now a re-defining opportunity for email, and for you. Read on to learn how.

THREE INDISPUTABLE EMAIL TRUTHS    To better understand how social media can help email, let’s be up front about what we all now know to be true.

Truth #1 – Email doesn’t do social.  An asynchronous medium, email fails us for communications requiring real-time back and forth, discussions, emotionally sensitive issues, and urgent matters.

Truth #2 – Email is for the keepers.  Emails to  set meetings and interim updates are annoying.  In contrast, we like and want to keep emails that contain (1) information to do our jobs with colleagues and clients, and (2) external information like e-newsletters that keep us informed.  

Truth #3 – Email is the world’s most popular business information system. Surprised? Where does your most important business information reside?  Many haven’t noticed, but with automatic sorting and browsing tools, vastly improved searching and cheap disk space all converging, email now rocks as a way to manage your information.

THREE WAYS TO UP YOUR EMAIL GAME
Your first surprise may come when you notice people who are unresponsive via email often respond quickly to your text (SMS) messages. And you’ll find chat surprisingly effective for clarifying things in quick Q&A sessions. It’s easy to set up free accounts.

1 – USE SMS & CHAT FOR THROW-AWAY EMAILS

Is it professional? Absolutely, when used appropriately. You’ll see rapid and broad uptake of these tools this year. For your team, consider Yammer, a social networking product designed specifically for internal communications. Either way, start with those you communicate with most, and you’ll soon enjoy correspondingly fewer emails.

2 – SEPARATE OUT YOUR IMPORTANT EMAIL
When helping clients we look to see how many newsletters they receive. If just a handful, Outlook’s Rules feature can handle the job. For more, we recommend Nelson Email Organizer, an Outlook add-in that separates correspondent (important) mail from bulk mail that can be read later.

3 – KEEP ALL THE OUTLOOK EMAILS YOU WANT
People who work hard deleting email and religiously file to folders may feel efficient, when in fact they’re stuck in old ways. The trend today is to email less but save more of it, and find it using new browsing & searching technologies instead of filing.

We help shift people into the new ways. For many, improving their workflow and how they use Outlook is just what’s needed. For those managing many external relationships, more is needed. Nelson Email Organizer has its own version of “friends”—it puts all email (sent and received) from each person you correspond with into automatically-created NEO virtual folders. It makes it easy to browse to any email you need.

For those who just want to improve on Outlook’s search, X1 or NEO Find can be a great fit.

CAN SOCIAL MEDIA REALLY SAVE EMAIL?  Not entirely. But increasingly it will take over the social exchanges email is poor at. Then email programs can do what they do best – manage the information we all need to better do our jobs.

Guest Blog By Tom Gibson

Tom is principal trainer for Slipstream Advantage Group. He coaches busy professionals and trains companies in the new ways to manage email. Contact Tom at SlipstreamAdvantageGroup.com.

All of the sites mentioned below require that you register before posting an event. Be sure to keep track of your registration logins should information about your event change as well as for future postings. For security reasons I’m not a fan of using the same email and password for multiple logins but there are advantages to doing just that.

1. Daily and weekly newspapers. Most daily and weekly newspapers have event databases online so be sure to navigate through local media websites including business weeklies. Preference is given to free or very low cost events sponsored by not-for-profit organizations. And watch your timing, many news organizations require information two or three weeks in advance even though it’s posted online. Businesses can sometimes get an event listed at no charge if the event itself is free.

2. ShawGuides.com is an event directory with a focus on the arts and learning. Among the ten or so categories listed are tennis schools and camps, photography workshops, cooking and wine schools, language vacations, workshops for writers and cultural travel. I visited recently to help promote a writer’s conference at which I’m a presenter. There was no fee to have our conference listed and the site is visited by thousands of visitors each day.

3. You may not need this reminder but Craigslist.org and .com  is still one of the fastest and easiest interfaces for posting events. One caveat is that the website won’t let users cross-post to other markets. If you have an event that is being held in separate cities, be sure to revise your copy for each event and don’t rely too much on a boilerplate.

4. Use your personal Facebook network or build a page for the organization being promoted and ask members to join. Facebook’s event interface is quick and relatively intuitive. Once you’ve created an event you can blast it out to your page’s fans/subscribers.

5. Eventful (www.eventful.com) is a powerhouse for advertising paid concerts and sporting events and is very useful if tickets will be sold to an event. Click the “community” tab to list your event. There’s no cost for a listing.

6. Along the same lines is Eventbright (www.eventbright.com) which lets promoters list events, register attendees, sell tickets and then promote it through social networks. According to a sales representative there’s no charge to advertise your event—even if you’re charging a fee. The company charges fees if online ticketing services are used.

7. EventSetter (www.eventsetter.com) – This site has an international focus with the goal of publicizing events and finding things to do in cities around the world. All event listings are free of charge. EventSetter makes no restrictions on the number of events you can post but limits you to one category in the city where the event takes place.

8. Promote your event in Google Places . Daily SEO Tips has a great suggestion for promoting your event and business locally. Visit this link to learn how to update your local Google listing to include an event. http://dailyseotip.com/how-to-promote-your-events-in-google-places-for-free/881/

9. Mycommunitytickets.com helps the non-profit and arts community get the word out on events. There’s no charge to list the event but the site takes a fee from the consumer when the event is ticketed through my communitytickets.com. The site requires that organizations submit a form which usually takes 24 hours to verify. Non-profit events featured on the site include: art festivals, ballets, museum exhibitions, concerts, political events, theater, balls and galas, church events and more.

10. Events.org is another community service-oriented website that helps promote and publicize local events.  Posting your event is completely free. Like other online resources, the site offers services for ticketing and event management for a fee.

And this bonus!

Get a group going and promote its events through Meetup.com where meetings and workshops can be searched by zip code and interest. South Florida had some great postings for an upcoming drumming workshop as well as meeting for fans of the movie Rocky Horror called the South Florida Social Geeks. What I love about Meetup.com is that you can easily upload a photo plus the site shows trending meetups (those that are popular). It also allows visitors to search by zip code without joining. Yahoo Groups only offers a search by topic without geographic breakdown (a barrier to entry).

Have an event site that you love? Let us know and we’ll consider adding it to this list.

Merriam-Webster announced its top ten list of most looked-up words for the year 2010 stealing the thunder from LinkedIn which issued its list of most overused buzzwords just three days ago.

Topping the MW list is austerity, which the dictionary defines as “enforced or extreme economy.”

Lookups for the word remained strong all year, a trend that Merriam-Webster, Inc. hypothesized was tied to the U.S. economy and debt crises in Europe. Editor at Large for Merriam-Webster, Peter Sokolowski, said, “We often hear it (austerity) used in the context of government measures, but we also apply it to our own personal finances and what is sometimes called the new normal.”Number two on the list is pragmatic which the company said rose steadily throughout the year.  Other words included:

3. moratorium

4. socialism

5. bigot

6. doppelganger

7. shellacking

8. ebullient

9. dissident

10. furtive

Curious about previous word lists? Visit the Word of the Year Archive.

What were LinkedIn members’ most overused words and phrases?

1. Dynamic2. Innovative3. Extensive experience4. Team player5. Motivated6. Proactive7. Proven track record8. Value add9. Skill set10. Out-of-the-box

The Associated Press has revised its Stylebook usage rule from the clumsy two-word “Web site” to the more common usage “website” – the way many techies have spelled it for years. The change now conforms with Webster’s Dictionary.

According to the AP Stylebook website: “Correct AP style is now website (one word, lowercase), in line with Webster’s preference. The dictionary also takes note of the two-word spelling, which some may elect to use.”

Readers and writers are cautioned that “web page” remains two words.

AP Stylebook hosts a free weekly “Ask the Editor” forum at: http://www.apstylebook.com/?do=ask_faq

HOLLYWOOD, Fla., March 23 /Xpress Press/ – Xpress Press News Service, the Florida-based public relations and press release distribution company, has launched a new website interface for journalist and media members that’s designed to make subscribing for press releases and news alerts easier and more user friendly.

Journalists can access the new interface by navigating to www.xpresspress.com and clicking on the “Journalist Subscribe” link above the main menu. Registration takes less than five minutes and requires email confirmation. Journalists and media members have over 50 beat classifications to choose from when they register. Additional beats may be added on request.

Registration is open to journalists working in the U.S. and internationally. However, Xpress Press distributes media alerts and press releases in the English language only.

There is no charge for members of the media to receive news alerts and press releases from Xpress Press. All press releases and news alerts are delivered by email to subscribers based on a profile provided to Xpress Press. RSS options are available (which do not require registration) but beat categories are more limited. For information on RSS feeds visit: http://www.xpresspress.com/xpress-press-rss

For the purpose of vetting media subscribers, journalists are asked to provide a few details about where they work. Freelancers must list at least one outlet where they frequently contribute. Press releases and media alerts are delivered as they are published to the XpressPress.com website. Subscriptions can be filtered by state or country (in some cases). Information provided to Xpress Press is for the purpose of news distribution only. Media subscriber information is used only by Xpress Press staff to distribute news.

Reporters and members of the media have several options for viewing press release and media alerts. The full-text HTML option sends a complete version of the press release by email. The HTML summary option is a 200-word summary of the content. Stories are also distributed as Full plain-text email or plain-text excerpt (both have minimal coding and are best for ease of delivery). Each press release or media alert is sent individually as it breaks. All emails contain a link so that journalists may view the entire press release or media alert or link to the story online. Emails also contain login, subscribe and unsubscribe options. Journalists can change their viewing preferences and beat preferences at any time.

In addition to email delivery, all client press releases and media alerts are archived at the XpressPress.com website. Journalists may conduct a news search from their online dashboard or the XpressPress.com website home page. Client assets, including logos and images available for reproduction, are included as .jpg files or hyperlinks with each press release as part of a client newsroom initiative.
The journalist dashboard is currently in beta stage and we welcome your feedback and comments to mediasupport@xpresspress.com.

About Xpress Press
Launched in 1995, Xpress Press was the first company to distribute press releases to journalists via opt-in email. The company partnered with PR Newswire in 2000 to distribute press releases to journalists via satellite and other emerging technologies. In addition to press release distribution, Xpress Press provides writing and editorial services to its clients via the XpressEDIT service (www.xpressedit.com) as well as training in social media delivered through its Social-U ™ platform.

Contact: Tina Koenig, 954-989-3338, mediasupport@xpresspress.com

SOURCE: Xpress Press News Service – www.xpresspress.com

My grandmother grew up in a home with dirt floors in the village of Caserta, near Naples. She came to America through Ellis Island in the 1930s and settled in Washington Heights, New York City where she worked in the garment district for 30 years. Cooking was a a necessity and a passion. She baked round, thick crusty breads, cut homemade noodles and prepared melt-in-your-mouth ravioli. There were always an abundance of simple sugar/flour/butter cookies and my favorite of her desserts, ricotta pie. Ricotta pie is also sometimes called Easter Pie as it’s a popular holiday tradition. I like to use a ceramic pie pan with crimped edges that make it easier to affect a fancy crust edge.

Baking time: 1 ½ hours

Serving size: one 9″ pie

Ingredients:

1 pound whole milk ricotta cheese

3 cups flour

1 ¼ cup sugar

8 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 stick salted butter (8 oz.)

salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees.
2. Lightly grease a 9″ deep dish pie pan.
3. To prepare crust,  mix 4 eggs, 1 stick softened butter, 1/2 cup sugar, a dash of salt, and three cups of flour in a large bowl.
4. Blend the dough until it is smooth and then divide the dough into two separate balls. If the dough is too tacky add a small amount of flour so it will roll out easier.
5. In a separate large bowl, combine 1 pound ricotta, ¾ cup sugar, 4 eggs (yolks only at first), 1 tablespoon vanilla extract, and ¼ cup chopped semi-sweet chocolate chips. Fold in the slightly whisked egg whites after adding the chocolate chips.
6. Lightly flour a flexible plastic cutting board and roll out the first dough ball. Use this as the bottom shell of the pie.
7. Pour the ricotta mixture into the pan and trim the edges of the dough neatly.
8. Place in oven and bake until the mixture is slightly firm (30-45 minutes depending on your oven).
9. Roll out the second dough ball and cut into one-inch long strips. At this time you can try and create a lattice with the strips on your cutting board or wax paper and slide it onto the pie later.
10. When the ricotta surface appears slightly solid, remove the pie and either slide your prepared lattice on top of the surface, or quickly create the lattice after removing the pie from the oven. The reason we create the top layer halfway through the cooking is because the crust simply sinks into the liquid if we place it before the filling has firmed up a bit.
11. The crust should still be soft enough to blend the lattice with the edges of the pie pan. Place crust trimmings on a baking sheet and cook for 7-10 minutes for a quick buttery treat while you wait on the pie.
12. Increase the oven temperature to 325 or 350 and bake until the center of the pie comes out dry when tested with a toothpick.  This is often another 30-45 minutes depending on your oven and the temperature. Low, slow cooking yields the best results.

For dessert, this pie is typically served chilled with powdered sugar or sweetened cocoa powder sprinkled on top. I also like it as a breakfast pastry served without the extra sugar sprinkled on top.

 

“The objective of this recipe was to create a pie that tasted like one of my favorite childhood treats, Scooter Pies. I was convinced that instead of a graham cracker crust that’s used in most “moon pie” recipes, the Nilla® Wafers would better simulate the flavor of the cracker. I’m not sure my experiment was entirely successful but this variation is a wonderfully delicious gooey pie experience. The lumpy looking surface made me think it was still moon-like because the bumps burst when you dig in to eat, thus achieving a crater effect.”

~ Tina

Baking time: 25 minutes

Serving size: 1 nine inch pie

Ingredients:

Nilla® Wafers mini size (12 oz. box)

Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie Mix (10.25 oz package)

3/4 stick (6 oz.) salted butter.

1 egg

2 tablespoons water

1/3 cup vegetable oil

1 cup miniature marshmallows

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. In a blender or food processor, grind 2 cups of Nilla® Wafers until there are no large pieces.

3. Add ¾ stick (approx. 6 ounces) of softened butter to the wafers. Mix by hand until the butter is distributed evenly.

4. Lightly grease a 9″ glass pie pan.

5. Press the Nilla® Wafers mixture firmly into the bottom only of the pie plate. The crust will be about ½” thick.

6. Follow the mixing directions on one package of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownie Mix  (10.25 ox. package) containing Dutch cocoa.

7. Evenly spread one cup of mini marshmallows on top of the wafer crust.

8. Pour prepared brownie mix over the marshmallows making sure to cover all the marshmallows.

9. Bake for approximately 25 minutes at 350 degrees. Keep an eye on the surface of the pie to avoid burning the surface.

Cool before serving.

The pie’s texture will be solid on the bottom with a dark gooey filling when cut. For the most delicious experience, serve slightly warm topped with vanilla ice cream.

Copyright 2010 The Pie Report at  the PR-Pi blog www.pr-pi.com. Pie recipe by Tina Koenig. All Rights Reserved.