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September 02, 2005
PR Vultures
Every disaster creates a promising PR opportunity in its wake and Katrina is no exception. It may be a long time before New Orleans and other hard-hit areas get all the help they need. But media types, bless 'em, will have no problem filling column inches with all manner of (loosely interpreted) Katrina-related copy. Yup, the PR vultures are circling and ready to drop in for a meal at a moment's notice. First, read this passage from "I'm Living Your Dream Life," a book by Michele VanOrt Cozzen.
...During the time I lived in California, there was no mistaking the crushing feel of an ever-expanding population. If my own personal circle of transplanted friends was any indication of what was happening to the millions of other people in the Bay Area with New York, Baltimore, Atlanta and Chicago accents, I felt that pretty soon the bridges would collapse from the weight of the populace. Adding to the mix the earthquake of 1989 and the Berkeley and Oakland Hills fire two years later, a fire that claimed the homes of many of our neighbors, the terra was anything but firma. I shouldn't forget to mention the seven-year drought we lived through where I not only learned to turn off the water while brushing my teeth, but also the catchy slogan used in the bathroom: "if it's yellow let it mellow; if it's brown, flush it down." So, after one long party I was ready for some quiet.
(We had that notice posted in my college dorm as well.) Now compare that lively prose with the press release below:
Cozzens Shares With Survivors of Hurricane Katrina How to Reinvent Yourself in the Wake of DisasterPopular San Francisco journalist and author, Michele VanOrt Cozzens survived the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and the 1991 East Bay Hills Tunnel Fire.
To: National Desk
Contact: Kathleen Campbell, Campbell Public Relations, 877-540-6022, kcampbell@thecompletesolution.com
NEWS ADVISORY, Sept. 1 /Christian Wire Service/ -- AVAILABLE IMMEDIATELY: Popular San Francisco journalist and author, Michele VanOrt Cozzens survived the 1989 Loma Prieta Earthquake and the 1991 East Bay Hills "Tunnel Fire". She is a published expert on the effects of surviving disaster.
"After we survived two catastrophic events that Mother Nature threw at us, I gave up my career as a journalist and my husband, Mike, left his successful business as a stock broker.
"We learned first hand how to reinvent ourselves in the wake of disaster by deciding to live our 'dream life.' As a result, Sandy Point Resort and Disc Golf Ranch in the Northwoods of Wisconsin was born.
"Today we are successful innkeepers, living the 'dream life' and living far away from Mother Nature's latest rampage, Hurricane Katrina. We watch with trepidation as more and more people are evacuated from their flooded homes.
"Many survivors will return to find their homes and businesses--their lifestyles--completely gone. Some will rebuild. Some will flee. Some will choose to take this opportunity to reinvent themselves. The choice is up to you.
"Living your 'dream life' isn't easy. It takes hard work and determination. There are lots of do's and don'ts if you are going to be successful. The key here is to resist the victim mentality. In times like these your dream may be all you have. Only you can turn that dream into reality."
Notice any disconnect between the book's actual content and the dishonest PR tactic to publicize it? (I survived the earthquake and tunnel fire, too. Along with roughly, oh, 99.9999 percent of the state's population. Maybe I should have cobbled together a reinvention gig as well.) The release is a disservice to an apparently good book that readers seem to adore. (Of course, the Amazon reviews could be imaginary as well.) Marketers have learned that news releases are valuable these days not because they spark media coverage--that happens rarely--but because they attract search-engine traffic, which can be even more valuable. Maybe that's why so many press releases seem less like news and more like the trackback spam for cars, porn and casinos that stream into this blog daily.
So here's a message to Alan Gould: Listen up to VanOrt Cozzens and get rid of that victim routine, it's so Monday. Time to move on.
Posted by Deborah Branscum at September 2, 2005 03:43 PM
Comments
To Deborah Branscum,
I have a few questions for you:
1. Have you ever tried to sell a book?
2. Have you ever felt incredibly uncomfortable after producing a volume of work because in order to fulfill a publishing contract, you have to jump up and down and say "look at me! look at me!"
3. Ever try to get media attention for an important cause, something that could mean the difference between life and death and be completely ignored because you're not someone more "talented" as say . . . uh, Paris Hilton or the latest fat actress or singer or reality show whatever turned author?
This is why some of us hire publicists to take on this burden. (To have the doors slam in their faces so we can keep doing what we do best . . . sitting alone in a room with our computers and our thoughts.) Call them vultures if you must, but they're just doing a job they were hired to do.
Most fellow authors I know are not only asked but required to sell their souls to the devil to publicize their books. I have had to face this fact with both my books, I'm Living Your Dream Life and The Things I Wish I'd Said, and the only way I can live with myself is to dedicate the few dollars I've managed to earn due to book sales to the cause of herb awareness. Each time I do a radio show or an interview, I tell the story of how my 20-year-old niece died from a heart attack, caused by the herb EPHEDRA, which I write about in my second book. (The Dream Life book is dedicated to her, as she died during the editing phase). I encourage consumers to educate themselves on the potential dangers of unregulated herbs and to check with their physicians before taking herbal dietary supplements. In your opinion, does this make me a vulture, trying to capitalize my my dear niece's death? Do you think it's easy debating the deep-pocketed herbal industry apologists who want to keep their unregulated and potentially dangerous products on the shelves next to the vitamins at all costs?
It's not about avarice for all of us, Ms. Branscum.
Posted by: Michele VanOrt Cozzens at September 24, 2005 02:26 AM
Your book is funny, and your cause (fighting deadly herb peddlers) is just. But as I said above, "the release is a disservice to an apparently good book that readers seem to adore." You don't agree, and you don't have to. (Just for the record, I'm all in favor of honest, effective publicists.) Good luck stomping the bad guys and good luck with your current and future books.
Posted by: Deborah Branscum at September 26, 2005 10:37 AM