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This Is How You Pitch: How To Kick Ass In Your First Years of PR
So you want to work in PR? Does the idea of glamorous parties, open bars
and rubbing elbows with the rich and famous sound like an exciting career
for you? Then neither this book or a career in Public Relations are for you. This book will teach you all you need to know about public relations, from
what to do on your first day at your desk to how to start your own PR
agency or run in-house for another company. You’ll learn the core skill of the pitching. It’ll also
tell you how to avoid becoming a buzzword-spitting automaton that the media
will hate. Written by a PR veteran who has done it all – and made every mistake along the way – This Is How You Pitch is an honest, direct guidebook to Public Relations and how to survive your first years in the business and how to turn it into a prosperous, fulfilling career.
166 pages, Kindle Edition
First published September 13, 2013
105 people are currently reading
217 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
November 24, 2014
Decent information but not much that you can't already find online. Would have liked it more if the book spent more time on the nuts and bolts of pitching, including examples. The social media part was pretty weak. I did like the last chapter on running your own firm.
January 30, 2014
As a blogger, I'm very interested in the world of PR. Working with a nice PR person is always enjoyable and rewarding, but you also often get some awful pitches that you just want to delete straight away. In this little book, Ed Zitron teaches aspiring PR people how to create a great pitch and send it to the right people so that the message your client wants to convey can smoothly reach its desired audience.
PR isn't easy. And it is not glamorous. Forget parties, freebies and exclusive events. PR takes a lot of hard work and determination. And you will face many nightmares in your careers. Sooner or later, some of your clients will make a mistake and it will be your job to help them fix it, as well as their tarnished reputations. Easier said than done. The key to success, though, is to be nice to people and care about them. PR, after all, is the business of public relations, and it is the relationships with your clients, your audience, your colleagues, and reporters that you will have to nourish to succeed.
Although very informative, the book is written in a very colloquial and entertaining way. You'll feel like you're talking with a friend or colleague about your jobs over a glass of wine. And at the end of the conversation, you'll leave with a better understanding of the PR world and lots of new ideas of how to get better at your job.
Overall, this is a great book about PR and I highly recommend it not just to those who are starting out in this field, but also to those who have worked in it for some time with only average results, and to anyone else who wants to know about this world.
PR isn't easy. And it is not glamorous. Forget parties, freebies and exclusive events. PR takes a lot of hard work and determination. And you will face many nightmares in your careers. Sooner or later, some of your clients will make a mistake and it will be your job to help them fix it, as well as their tarnished reputations. Easier said than done. The key to success, though, is to be nice to people and care about them. PR, after all, is the business of public relations, and it is the relationships with your clients, your audience, your colleagues, and reporters that you will have to nourish to succeed.
Although very informative, the book is written in a very colloquial and entertaining way. You'll feel like you're talking with a friend or colleague about your jobs over a glass of wine. And at the end of the conversation, you'll leave with a better understanding of the PR world and lots of new ideas of how to get better at your job.
Overall, this is a great book about PR and I highly recommend it not just to those who are starting out in this field, but also to those who have worked in it for some time with only average results, and to anyone else who wants to know about this world.
September 4, 2018
The book gives you a good high-level introduction to the field of PR and for me, as a potential buyer, it gave me a better understanding of what I need to figure out in order to be a good buyer. I liked the list of questions that he worked with for new clients.
Why do you need PR services?
What PR tools have you used in the past?
How is your reputation working for you?
How is your reputation not working for you?
Where do you want to be seen or written about?
What are your current PR needs?
What do you want to see as a result of PR?
What marketing tools do you already use?
How is the company seen in your market?
What will make you happy with our relationship?
What are your goals?
What is your current PR strategy?
What have you already done to promote yourself?
What other PR people have you worked with?
How did that work well for you?
What didn’t work well for you?
Who is your audience?
Who is your target audience?
Do you have a brand?
How would you characterize your brand?
What do you feel you bring to your market?
How do you feel you can improve your services?
What services do you offer?
What do you do that no one else can do?
What is your story?
How have you succeeded?
What mistakes have been made?
Do you think you are connecting with your audience?
Many of these questions I had no clue how to answer so it started an interesting process in me that forced me to articulate this regarding my company.
There is a lot of nice stories from his time in PR and a lot of good advice. In general, I think it might be too high-level for people working in this field but for me, it was a good introduction.
Why do you need PR services?
What PR tools have you used in the past?
How is your reputation working for you?
How is your reputation not working for you?
Where do you want to be seen or written about?
What are your current PR needs?
What do you want to see as a result of PR?
What marketing tools do you already use?
How is the company seen in your market?
What will make you happy with our relationship?
What are your goals?
What is your current PR strategy?
What have you already done to promote yourself?
What other PR people have you worked with?
How did that work well for you?
What didn’t work well for you?
Who is your audience?
Who is your target audience?
Do you have a brand?
How would you characterize your brand?
What do you feel you bring to your market?
How do you feel you can improve your services?
What services do you offer?
What do you do that no one else can do?
What is your story?
How have you succeeded?
What mistakes have been made?
Do you think you are connecting with your audience?
Many of these questions I had no clue how to answer so it started an interesting process in me that forced me to articulate this regarding my company.
There is a lot of nice stories from his time in PR and a lot of good advice. In general, I think it might be too high-level for people working in this field but for me, it was a good introduction.
March 9, 2014
After being pitched by a dozen PR firms, I was looking for a book like this so that I could understand PR firm's perspective and ask more intelligent questions of them. While Ed Zitron's book is written for people who are considering a career in PR, it went a long way toward helping me to understand what they do and the challenges that they face.
More importantly, if you expect to someday look for a job in any field, it occurred to me that Everyone should read this book! If you follow his guide on how to "pitch" you'll be much more successful when you make your own personal pitch for a new job.
More importantly, if you expect to someday look for a job in any field, it occurred to me that Everyone should read this book! If you follow his guide on how to "pitch" you'll be much more successful when you make your own personal pitch for a new job.
January 21, 2019
The chapters on pitching should have been more detailed, and the chapter on social media wasn't too good.
Plus at least 2-3 sections of the book seemed to have been used in Ed's other book Fire Your Publicist.
I read the audio version of the book and while Fire Your Publicist's narrator was awesome, this book's narrator wasn't. He kind of sounded like Sylvester Stallone, to be honest.
Still, it's a good read for absolute beginners in PR (which I am not). But the author should do a review of the book and come up with a new and improved version of it.
Plus at least 2-3 sections of the book seemed to have been used in Ed's other book Fire Your Publicist.
I read the audio version of the book and while Fire Your Publicist's narrator was awesome, this book's narrator wasn't. He kind of sounded like Sylvester Stallone, to be honest.
Still, it's a good read for absolute beginners in PR (which I am not). But the author should do a review of the book and come up with a new and improved version of it.
November 11, 2018
A Timely Reminder for PR Pros
I read this book over the course of a week. I took my time so I could adjust. The more I read, the more I was reassured that my PR agency is on the right track! Oh, Ed also reminded me that this industry is for rebels who love challenges...and here I was thinking I was crazy! I recommend this read for EVERY PR pro or anyone who wants to understand the PR industry better.
I read this book over the course of a week. I took my time so I could adjust. The more I read, the more I was reassured that my PR agency is on the right track! Oh, Ed also reminded me that this industry is for rebels who love challenges...and here I was thinking I was crazy! I recommend this read for EVERY PR pro or anyone who wants to understand the PR industry better.
August 19, 2018
Great for juniors
I’ve gotten this for our bookshelves in Hunter & Bard. It gives junior people a good backdrop of what they can expect.
I’ve gotten this for our bookshelves in Hunter & Bard. It gives junior people a good backdrop of what they can expect.
February 26, 2019
immediately ate shit in my first year of PR.
book was pretty good though, funny — and ed related all of his tips to real-world experiences. not bad for someone starting out
book was pretty good though, funny — and ed related all of his tips to real-world experiences. not bad for someone starting out
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July 25, 2025flat fields
June 11, 2015
I downloaded this book on a bit of a whim as I wasn't sure what to expect but I have to say this was one of the books I'm glad that I decided to get. The book is very thorough and the first thing you notice is that the author really knows what he is talking about which was great. You get everything you need to know about PR if you are starting out. The book has a lot of information but is very straight forward and put together in a way that made it easy to go through. I found this to be really helpful but it definitely isn't for everyone as it's very blunt at times and has some very weird/fun stories as you go through it. I appreciated the honestly from the author. I actually found this to be pretty motivating and I'm glad I found this.
November 13, 2016
Succinct but at the same time a bit too general. Though the book does give a really insightful intro into the PR world and everything a PR pro could "run into" on a daily basis, I expected to find more clear-cut tips, especially on the mechanics of the social media. And, yes "just because you've posted a few things and your friends have posted a few things doesn't mean you really know what it does"; quite evident. Also, it's written for those working in a PR agency but not in-house, and this is what I found missing here. Overall, quite a nic read with useful general tips. Will definitely use them!
March 24, 2014
A lot of practical advice. Most of it I have already discovered and I agree with (I highlighted a lot of passage because I was say yes, this in my head). While meant for people who start in an agency and have clients that are more of a company than an individual, I still found some useful information. I wish there had been more about actually finding contacts and how to make your client stand out from the crowd in a pitch. Read the full review at Girl Who Reads
April 10, 2014
Funny and practical book of advice. I recommend it HIGHLY for anyone in the early years of their career in marketing or PR who wants funny stories and valuable perspectives on the industry as well as concrete, actionable steps you can take. I've already consulted this book once since I finished reading it when I was stuck on sending out a press release, to get some advice on how best to do it, and it was very helpful.
Heard about it through a HARO ad and very glad I bought it.
Heard about it through a HARO ad and very glad I bought it.
September 5, 2014
I picked up this book to learn more about PR, while working at a magazine and having these pitches in my inbox daily. I felt like it was more geared to the "I just graduated from college and I'm clueless on how to be a professional" person than someone genuinely interested in learning more about another facet of journalism. Very basic information that was on a intro college course/18-year-old level. My mistake.
July 3, 2016
This is a short and entertaining look at the world of PR, both within an agency and running your own show. I would have liked more deep details, such as: how does he develop media lists, how does he keep those lists organized, how does he measure success, how does he set goals, etc. That said, it is a good overview and fun to read. I came away with a better understanding of PR.
September 25, 2016
This book did offer good advice for those interested in PR; however, a lot of it was too general. I did expect more advanced tips based on the years of experience that the author had in this field. I would recommend this book for people who don't have any experience or education in media or PR. For others, it simply serves as a reminder of why you got into the field, and what it stands for.
January 13, 2016
Insightful and entertaining
The first book I finished on being in PR. An industry that I have always been fascinated with. There are just so many directions you can go, but I love the direction that Ed is going. Honesty is the best policy.
The first book I finished on being in PR. An industry that I have always been fascinated with. There are just so many directions you can go, but I love the direction that Ed is going. Honesty is the best policy.
June 24, 2014
Snarky but intellectual, and incredibly helpful. The chapter on pitching.
April 2, 2014
Good and informative. At least I know that I definitely have no personal interest towards PR in general after reading this book - that is the value I got.
September 17, 2014
Fun intro to world of PR. Reminded me of "let's all get awesome jobs" with its tone and simplicity.
October 16, 2014
Mostly hype. Bosses suck. Work is hard.
Meanders like a poorly written blog post (with as many spelling, grammar, and formatting issues). One or two good points. Worth a skim at most.
Meanders like a poorly written blog post (with as many spelling, grammar, and formatting issues). One or two good points. Worth a skim at most.
September 19, 2015
A great guide for PR newbies. Recommended for reading during the first year of undergrad studies to nail your internship and start building your PR career.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews