PR Web is now offering a Free Guide to Writing Great Online Press Releases, just for signing up for a free account there. Good PR can be invaluable to authors and that starts with a great author press release. You need to be able to tell a buzz-worthy story about your books or yourself as an author. And you’ll want to optimize your news for search engines with links, images and video.

Free Guide Topics Include:

• Creating An Online Press Release
• Before You Write Your Release—A List of Do’s and Don’ts
• Topic Ideas
• The Headline
• The Summary
• The Dateline and Lead Paragraph
• The Body Copy
• Boilerplate Statement
• Submitting Your Release To PRWeb
• A Final Checklist for Formatting Your Release

You can register for your free account and get your free guide at this link: CLICK HERE. Meanwhile, here’s a sneak preview of some of PR Web’s best Do’s and Don’ts from their free 19 page guide!

The Do’s

• Start Strong: You only have a matter of seconds to grab your readers’ attention, so you want to capture it with a strong opening. Your headline, summary and first paragraph should clarify your news. The rest of your release should provide the detail.
• Identify Yourself: If your release does not identify the source of the information within the first few paragraphs, you may lose the promotional value your release can provide.
• Write Professionally: If your release contains hype, slang, excessive exclamation points or some other common mistakes chances are it will be viewed as an advertisement rather than a news release, which may hurt credibility. Or worse, a media outlet may pick up your release and publish without modification, opening any sloppy writing to a larger audience.
• Limit Jargon: The best way to communicate is to speak plainly using ordinary language. Using an abundance of technical language and jargon limits your reading audience.
• Make sure your Information is Informational and Timely: Think about your audience. Will someone else find your story interesting? Answer the question, “Why should anyone care?” Make sure your announcement contains information that is timely, unique, highlights something new or unusual, and provides useful information to your audience. In other words, don’t make it an advertisement for your business.
• Avoid Clichés: You don’t listen to clichés. Neither will your audience. Avoid phrases like “customers save money” or “great customer service” to announce or describe. Focus on the aspects of your announcement that truly set you apart from everyone else.
• Pick an Angle: Make sure that your release has a good hook. Tying your information to current events, recent studies, trends and social issues brings relevance, urgency and importance to your message.
• Don’t Be Afraid to Toot Your Own Horn: Online news or press release distribution is a successful way to create expert status.
• Don’t Give Away All the Secrets: If you’re running a new promotion this season, tell readers where they can go
• to learn more. Provide links in your press release directly to the page on your Website where readers can learn the specifics about your news and then act upon it. If you give your readers no reason to click through to your site, they’re not necessarily going to.
• Stick to the Facts: Tell the truth. Avoid fluff, embellishments, hype and exaggerations. If you feel that your press release seems sensational, there’s a good chance your readers will think so too.
• Use Active Voice: Verbs in the active voice bring your press release to life. Rather than writing “entered into a partnership,” use “partnered” instead. Do not be afraid to use strong verbs. For example, “The committee exhibited severe hostility over the incident” reads better if changed to “The committee was enraged over the incident.”
• Economize Your Words: Be concise. News search engines sometimes reject news releases with overly long headlines, excessive lists and high overall word counts. Eliminate unnecessary adjectives, flowery language or redundant expressions such as “added bonus” or “first time ever.”
• Proofread: Write your press release in a Word or other text document instead of writing it directly on the online submit page, so you can print it, proofread, rewrite and proofread again. The more time you take to do it right, the better your company’s impression to the world.