Now that school is back in session, snowbirds are back in the city and traveling residents have returned to Sedona, our community returns to the relative busyness we experience through May when the summer flight empties town once again.
There are many more community events, festivals and activities per week over the next nine months than there were the previous three and that means residents need to be informed about what your organization, group, club, gathering and business have to offer.
We run two wesbites, redrocknews.com and journalaz.com. At the bottom of each page is a link for readers to answer all their questions about how to submit a press release. Knowing that not everyone is a media expert, both of those guideline pages include another link to a second page that offers tips to readers who may be submitting their first press release ever, including writing and formatting tips to craft a press release to catch readers’ attention.
In short, email is the best method to send us information because we can put the information directly into our production queue without having to retype the release from a hardcopy or search a website for the requisite information. Readers can email us press releases describing the Five W’s: who, what, when, where and why — as in “why should a reader want to attend?” Send press releases to me at editor@ larsonnewspapers.com.
Press releases don’t need to be intimidating to write — a 100-word press release can be just as effective as a 500-word release. Include a photo or a mugshot of a speaker, if it applies, but make sure the photo is large, at least 1 megabyte, preferably at 200 to 300 dpi. Otherwise they’re too small to print.
If you think a particular news story would be best covered by a particular reporter, their contact information can be found at the end of their individual stories. My reporters are always looking for interesting stories, so I’m often forwarding press releases to them.
If you see our staff out and about covering the news, introduce yourself and ask for a business card. We’re all down-to-earth and relatively friendly.
As the editor, I try to get in every press release and photo sent to me, but my available space is limited. If I have 600 column inches of space in an edition, but 900 column inches of copy and photos, not everything will get in.
Because we in the News Department are limited by the space available, we cannot guarantee where or when a press release will be published. If a release doesn’t appear, it may still be in our production queue for a later edition. Don’t let that deter you from sending another in the future. We prioritize events that are free, charge a nominal fee or benefit nonprofits, so if your for-profit event costs several hundred dollars, contact our Advertising Department at 282-7795 and purchase a display ad.
If your particular event or activity absolutely must get in the paper and you’d prefer not to wait for the free press release to run, contact the Advertising Department and buy an ad. The ad runs for certain because it’s being paid for. The press release may or may not also appear, depending on space available. If both run, you’ve reached our audience twice, but if the press release doesn’t, at least our thousands of readers have seen your event at least once. Since October 1963, the Sedona Red Rock News has been the small-town community newspaper covering Sedona. With deep ties to our community, we cover issues that directly affect our residents.
We also publish the Cottonwood Journal Extra, which goes to homes in Cottonwood, Clarkdale, Jerome and Cornville, and The Camp Verde Journal, which is published for readers in Camp Verde, Beaver Creek, Rimrock and Lake Montezuma. Some stories from Sedona are also published in these other papers and some of their stories appear in Sedona’s paper, while many press releases are published in all three. In addition to our websites and print editions, we also run two Facebook pages, two Twitter pages, two Instagram feeds and a YouTube channel, so you can follow us on social media in addition to subscribing to our print edition.
For me and my staff, news isn’t just a job. We know every story helps inform our residents about the goings-on in the community and the events, achievements and tragedies that happen to our neighbors. The NEWS isn’t just our newspaper — it’s yours.
Christopher Fox Graham
Managing Editor
