How to Write a Press Release
So, for example, the top of your release might look like this:
Of interest to editors and journalists covering: Consumer electronics, telecom/telephony, automobile products, and general business
New Innovative and Economical Hands-Free Companion for Cell Phone Users Makes Driving Safe and Legal
From Boulevard to Boardroom, Cell Users Can Converse Easier Than Ever Before
Also note that the headline and sub-headline should be title-case (first letter of words capitalized). Wire services used to do headline ALL CAPS, particularly during the days when faxes were still relevant. The sub-head should never be ALL CAPS.
UPDATE: After 2005, the industry pretty much switched entirely to title case for all media. One very important change since this article was originally written is the guideline to keep main headline to 20 words or less, to avoid being skipped by Google News, and better compatibility with social media to avoid truncation. -cs
A Good Body
Next, we get to the body of the release. This is the story you want to tell and should be everything a potential editor/writer at a media outlet needs to know to decide to consider your story for possible use. Some smaller newspapers (and most online news outlets) print elements from it as-is so it should be direct and to the point.
Remember that your news is not being read by your audience/customer in most cases, so you must avoid phrases like “come on down to Bob’s house of pancakes for the best deal you’ll ever get…” because it’s not an advertisement, and you must be careful to avoid the appearance of an “advertorial” as those of us in the publishing business call them. So-called “advertorials” will be dismissed immediately, unread. A press release is a news announcement, and must actually announce something considered “newsworthy.” It’s not a classified advertisement or a flier announcing your services.
The first sentence of the first paragraph of the release must contain the city in all caps and then the state abbreviation (i.e., Calif. in AP Style), unless it is a major market like “NEW YORK” or “LOS ANGELES” which are unique. This method is per Associated Press (AP) formatting and is followed by wire services like Send2Press Newswire. The wire service will modify this as needed, but you should always include the city and state, as this indicates where you’re located regionally. If you are in a suburb or outlying area in a major city/county, you may wish to skew this to the major city. For example, if you were located in Redondo Beach, California, you would likely put “LOS ANGELES” instead, unless there was some compelling reason to include your small city (in this example, perhaps beach-related news).