What details need to be in your news release? Make sure you have a contact person and contact information, and these days, it doesn't hurt to have a main phone number that they can call and maybe your cell phone. Remember that they're going to be on deadline. Never, never just send them to your website. Make sure that you have the phone number and the email address. Some people forget to put their email address in, and it's true, if they're sending it by email, then the email is there for the recipient, but if somebody then forwards it on to somebody else, sometimes the email contact address gets lost, gets dropped off, so you want to make sure that you have all that contact information in the press release. You want to make sure you have the price in there.

A lot of people have this idea that if you're announcing a new product, then you want to hold back on the price. That's one of those details that people want to know, so just put it in there, and if there's a range of prices, then put the range in there. That really helps. And also, being an author, I have discovered that most people don't have a clue that you can actually order any book in print from almost any bookstore. They think they have to go to the bookstore and look at shelves, and if they don't find it there, they're totally bewildered about how they can get it. You're right. It's good to say that this book can be found at Barnes & Noble, Borders and other real-live bookstores as well as at Amazon and other online bookstores. For more tips on how to write fantastic press releases, read "The Do-It-Yourself Press Release Makeover."