3) Slugging to Sell

A slug is a bit of information that allows an editor to easily identify your piece. If the organization you’re writing for is holding a fundraiser for needy families in the community, then the slug, which would appear in the upper left-hand corner of your paper, would read: Corporation XYZ Fundraiser. Nothing more. Nothing less.

Editors are bombarded with a barrage of press releases every day. They have to be able to quickly identify and sort through the items in order to rank them in order of importance for possible publication.

Obviously, a slug reading “Cash Found” will garner more interest than “New Lawn Company.” Finding the best possible slug for your story will allow the editor to add your piece to the higher-ranking items, but it’s important not to lie in order to trick the reader into continuing their time with your piece.

Not only will the editor call you on it if you attempt to make your story into something it’s not in your slug, headline, or lead intro, but assuming it does make it into print, past the watchful eye of the publication’s staff, the audience won’t be too happy when they think they’re about to spend time reading one thing, but find out it’s actually something completely different.

It might help to think of your lead as a summary of your entire story. Your press release is actually two items – the lead, and the body. The body is a fleshing out of the lead, which states the most important factors of the news piece itself.

As you write your press release, picture a pyramid. Many established reporters will tell you to use the pyramid as a method of developing your content. The lead is the first block on top. Everything after that follows on its way down in order of importance.

When the editor decides to use your press information, but learns that he only has a limited space to devote to your topic, he or she will tell the editorial staff to cut it from the bottom up. Therefore, put any information, which is expendable in the last paragraph of your press release.

Some editors might be wary of your work if your lead does not reflect the most important items in the rest of your press release. Make sure that you include those bits and pieces of greatest value in the lead, followed by a more in-depth explanation in the body of your content.

Things to Avoid

There are a variety of ways to form the intro to your press release. Aside from the guidelines already mentioned, it’s best to avoid ever starting your piece with a question. An interrogative lead is never a professional way to write news.

Although you might feel that it piques the reader’s curiosity, all it will do is waste the reader’s time, and that will cause them to skip your item altogether. Don’t say “Will the PTA raise enough funds to buy new computers for the school” when you can say “The PTA will hold a fundraiser Monday night in an attempt to provide the school with all new computers.”

Additionally, don’t try to cram everything into one sentence if it seems to overload the information. If the five W’s won’t fit gracefully into the first sentence, then cut out the least important information, and save it for the second sentence. There is no need to practice deliberate overkill just to follow news formatting.

Just as you shouldn’t lead with a question, you also should never lead with a negative sentence. If the PTA meeting was rained out, don’t write “The PTA did not have its meeting Monday night due to bad weather.” Say, “Rain spoiled the fundraising efforts of the PTA Monday night…” Or, even better, if something is going to replace the thing that did not happen, mention that first: for example – “The PTA will hold a meeting Tuesday night to take the place of Monday night’s meeting, which was rained out.”

Checklist for Intro

Everyone is different when it comes to developing his or her own leads. Some prefer to write the lead first, and then flesh out the story so that it’s centered around the lead. And some prefer to write the story first, including all of the relevant facts, followed by writing a lead that is all-inclusive of their prewritten information.

Whichever method you choose, try to follow the basic rules in leads, headlines, and slugs. Include the most important facts, write with clarity and value in mind, and try to target as many people as possible with your intro sentence.

The wider your appeal, the more likely an editor will be to want to include your work in his publication. The more people you cater to, the more people that will purchase his publication.

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