Rights: Press Release, Article Submission

KBD85

I want to advertise my business and will write up a press release and see how that goes.

I also want to write an in-depth article in the area of my business and send it to many news publications.

While planning this I went to a couple of news websites that have an article submission form and both required me to give them the rights to my article so that only they could print my article (if they choose to, they own the rights if I agree).

Giving the rights to an article that will take me a long time to research and write to one publication in the hopes they print it does not seem to be in my best interest at all and I'm surprised that this is apparently a requirement.

Can anyone explain to me what is the standard practice for article submissions?

Gloomtastic!

A press release should be news-worthy, you/your company has done something that the media owner may find relevant to their readers. There is usually no charge to you to carry this news or are you paid for it.

An article may the published outside of the news pages and if the media owner finds it relevant then you may be paid for it. That is why they want exclusive rights.

If it’s a press release make sure you cover the 5 w’s In the first paragraph - who, what, when, where & why. You can expand on it in further paragraphs.

If it’s an article, call the features editor beforehand and ask if it’s relevant and would they be interested in it. Unless it’s very well written/researched expect to be turned down.

KBD85

Gloomtastic! wrote: »

An article may the published outside of the news pages and if the media owner finds it relevant then you may be paid for it. That is why they want exclusive rights.

I would mention my business in the article which is my main aim so having it published in many publications would be much more beneficial to me than having it printed in one and being paid a couple of hundred euro at best.

Will mainstream newspapers print articles they don't have exclusive rights to generally?

Gloomtastic!

KBD85 wrote: »

I would mention my business in the article which is my main aim so having it published in many publications would be much more beneficial to me than having it printed in one and being paid a couple of hundred euro at best.

Will mainstream newspapers print articles they don't have exclusive rights to generally?

But why would a publication allow you to use their very valuable pages to publicise your company for free and then see you doing the same thing in all their competitors?

Publishing has been around for a very long time, they see this kind of thing all the time and will just bin it if it’s not relevant. What can you tell their readers that they don’t already know?

If you want to advertise your company then you’ll have to pay for it like everybody else - either as Advertorial or as an ad.

If you do pay for an ad a lot of publishers will also run an editorial on your company as part of the deal. Very frowned upon in high brow magazines/newspapers but a commercial reality in the smaller world.

KBD85

Advertising rates in print media are out of the reach of small companies. It's some risk to take to pay in the region of €10k for an ad in a national newspaper so I was hoping to add value to them in terms of content in exchange for having my business mentioned.

So in a nutshell I would have to agree to give one of them the rights to the article.

The problem is they ask for the rights to be transferred when I submit the article. At that point they own the rights to that article and if they choose not to publish it I can't just send it to another publication I presume so that puts me in a bad spot.

Gloomtastic!

KBD85 wrote: »

Advertising rates in print media are out of the reach of small companies. It's some risk to take to pay in the region of €10k for an ad in a national newspaper so I was hoping to add value to them in terms of content in exchange for having my business mentioned.

So in a nutshell I would have to agree to give one of them the rights to the article.

The problem is they ask for the rights to be transferred when I submit the article. At that point they own the rights to that article and if they choose not to publish it I can't just send it to another publication I presume so that puts me in a bad spot.

Yes, advertising in mainstream media is only for those with deep pockets I’m afraid. But if you are a business selling to other businesses then maybe you should look at trade publications. Their rates are much lower and probably negotiable.

If you are selling to consumers then you need to play the PR game. Free products to all the newsroom. Competitions/give aways. Sponsorship.

What business are you in?