Media Whore: A Shockingly Simple Guide to Becoming Your Own Kickass Publicist

by Daniel Shehori, Stephen Shehori

Overview

Nobody can sell your idea to the media better than you!
 
If you’ve ever needed to garner media attention for a product, a project, an event, or anything else, you know it can feel daunting to take on the task of self-promotion — but no more!
 
With more than 15 years as publicists and comedy writers, Daniel and Steven Shehori are here to prove nobody can sell the idea of your creation better than you. If you’re a performer, athlete, entrepreneur, charity, small-business owner, or entertainer of any kind, Media Whore lays out precisely how to acquire the kind of media attention you assumed only went to wealthy celebrities and obnoxious industry insiders.
 
This book will get you to embrace a simple mindset of how to amass media attention for yourself and your creations — in newspapers and magazines; on television and radio; and through infinite possibilities available online — at zero cost.
 
Media Whore is an insightful, humorous, and yes, totally kick-ass book that teaches shockingly simple (and shockingly effective) ways that self-publicizers from all walks of life can engage the media without having to hire a publicist.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781770402959
Publisher:	Self-Counsel Press, Inc.
Publication date:	09/12/2017
Series:	Business Series
Pages:	144
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 9.00(h) x 0.30(d)

About the Author

Daniel and Steven Shehori have secured media coverage for hundreds of clients, including the legendary The Second City Toronto, Louis C.K., Paula Poundstone, 30 Rock’s Judah Friedlander, Evil Dead: The Musical, numerous charities, and several WWE Hall of Famers. Between them, they have earned three Gemini Award nominations (Canada’s Emmys), a Dora nomination (Canada’s Tonys), plus 15 Canadian Comedy Award nominations (and three wins!) as writers, directors, and producers. They’ve written for several national TV programs, including This Hour Has 22 Minutes, The Hour, Naked News, and 11 award shows; produced more than 100 live comedy shows; and served as producers for Just For Laughs’ Sarah Silverman & Friends. They are the founders of Sweat Equity Publicity (www.SweatEquity.ca).

Table of Contents

Foreword ix

Introduction xi

1 Who and/or What Is a Media Whore? xii

1 Why Don't I Just Hire a Damn Publicist? (or, Why Do It Myself?) 1

1 Why Trust Us to Teach You How to Be a Media Whore? 6

2 What's in It for Me If I Do It Myself? 7

3 Engaging the Media for the First Time 15

1 Who Am I Asking? 18

2 How Do I Seek out People to Ask? 18

3 How Do I Ask? 21

3.1 How busy are these people and why are you telling me this? 22

4 What Exactly Am I Asking For? 23

4.1 Can you put this all together in a practical and applicable way? 24

4 Writing Your Brilliant Press Release 27

5 The Big Send-off 37

1 Step One: The Sending Part 39

2 Step Two: The Email Subject Heading 40

6 When Is the Right Time to Send the Press Release? 43

1 Follow-ups 47

2 What If I Still Don't Hear Back? How Many Follow-ups Is Too Many? 48

3 Note about Pitching Cover Stories 48

4 Thank You 52

7 What's a Press Kit? 55

1 So Why Is a Press Kit Not Necessary? 59

8 Social Media Whore: Steve's Guide to Social Media 61

9 Simple Marketing Tips for Promoting Your Thing Locally 67

1 Promotional Material (Posters, Flyers, Programs) 70

1.1 Beware of the Poster Mafia 71

2 Sponsorship 72

2.1 Media sponsors 73

2.2 Business Improvement Areas (BIAs) and local government sponsorship 74

10 Friends with Benefits: Doing Media for Others Benefits You 77

1 Assisting with Local Charities 80

2 Philanthropic Marketing 80

11 Reviews: How to Welcome Solicited Judgment into Your Life 83

1 So I'm Just Going to Ask for People in the Media to Come Review My Thing, Right? 87

1.1 Negative reviews 87

1.2 The positive from all this negative 88

12 More on Why It Never Hurts to Ask (Or: Careful What You Ask for, or You Might Just Get the Front Page of the Toronto Sun. Twice.) 91

1 Careful What You Wish For 93

2 GASH - North America's Only Band 96

13 The End and the Beginning 101

1 The Monetary Value of Your Results 104

2 Check Your Local Listings 105

3 And in Conclusion 107

Appendix 1 But Wait! There's More! Interview Tips from a Real Publicist 111

Appendix 2 Additional Press Release Samples 117

Appendix 3 Sponsorship Letter Template 127

Samples

1 Introductory Email 25

2 Press Release 30

Editorial Reviews

The Shehori Brothers are highly respected in the industry as publicists and writers/producers of live theater and television. And in addition to working with established artists, they take a lot of time to help up-and-comers with their careers. Besides being talented, they're generous as well, which I find a rare combination in this business.” – Richard Ouzounian, theatre critic, The Toronto Star & Variety 


"Daniel and Steven Shehori have the business and art of comedy in their blood. They are devoted advocates of young aspiring comedians, writers and actors, and they have the innate ability to understand what it takes to promote, produce and develop a career in the entertainment biz. They have done an extraordinary job publicizing the Second City." —Andrew Alexander, CEO, The Second City


“In my 25 year career in the media, I received thousands of pitches, via email, phone, video and other methods too bizarre to relate. But I knew when I saw the name ‘Daniel Shehori’ attached to one, that I could count on certain things being guaranteed. It would be interesting, it would be witty, it would be worth my time and it would be positioned in a way that managed to be simultaneously persuasive yet unintrusive. People frequently asked me how come Daniel’s projects got such thorough coverage from me and I would tell them ‘It’s a secret.’ Well now the secret is out. Daniel tells all in this book and I can assure you it’s worth its promotional weight in gold to buy a copy and follow the advice between the covers. —Richard Ouzounian, writer, director and quarter-century veteran of CBC, TVO, Variety and The Toronto Star


"First and foremost Daniel is a great guy. His communication skills are top notch and he knows the right media outlets to get the best exposure for what you are trying to promote. He's my go to guy for PR in Toronto." —Jay "Christian" Reso, two-time WWE World Champion


"Media Whore is a worthy companion to good-humored, DIY how-to guides like Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant's Writing Movies for Fun and Profit, and a welcome pulling back of the curtain on the machinations that go into delivering a passion product from its creators hands into, hopefully, the warm embrace of a consumer base. It's a cynical business, but Daniel and Steven Shehori's indefatigableness and ultimate optimism pack their book's pages and should both inspire and allow countless innovators and industry professionals to feel like somebody gets it." —Kenny Herzog, writer, Rolling Stone, Vulture, New York Magazine

From the Publisher