Doesn't it amaze you that media continues to report on every move Elizabeth Taylor makes? She hasn't made a movie in what, 25 years? And yet, every time she sneezes, its news.

Here, in India, Priyanka Gandhi-Vadra hogs headlines. What has she ever done, apart from marrying a non-entity and producing babies? And yet, press follows her around on a daily basis.

The point is -- if media can make space for someone who hasn't really done anything interesting, they sure can give you a plug or two.

Almost any event can be turned into news if you craft a compelling press release. That means your press release must be "newsworthy", not promotional material. Editors do not like promotion; they like news. You have a good chance of getting a plug if your press release can convince editor that:

· You are offering timely and newsworthy information · Your company is new and different · You are doing something unique or are specialized in nature

Editors want news, a "different angle". They want to publish something that their readers will like to read. Always remember this and you will never go wrong with your release.

Here are a few tips to get you going.....

Develop a News Hook Not every event is earth shaking. But even ordinary happenings can be turned into a "newsworthy" affair. All you need to do is create a "hook" - something unusual, maybe even bizarre that hooks reader's attention and keeps it. Often such hooks are a simple stunt; e.g. day "Turok 2: The Evolution" was launched, gaming company released large ads with a proposition for public. Parents of a child born on that day would get a $10,000 savings certificate as a gift if they named their baby Turok. The ad had its intended effect as numerous newspapers devoted thousands of column inches to debating ethics of this offer.

The Big Picture Tie in your activities with a larger concern. When a considerable number of people are affected by something, it automatically becomes news. A veterinary pharmaceutical company needed publicity for its mastitis care product. It sent out a press release that stated, "Mastitis costs dairy sector Rs. 6053 crores ($1.26 billion) every year" Having grabbed editor's attention with sheer magnitude of this problem, it then offered its product as a solution. You can be pretty sure all editors carried this news.

"Everyone has a talent. What is rare is courage to follow talent to dark place where it leads." - Erica Jong

Funnily enough, I don't believe there are any magic 'secrets' to writing success. If so, I'm still trying to discover them. So I'll cover this subject very briefly, because I don't know answers. It's really all common sense, following your basic instincts and having a bit of fun at same time. Just BE YOU and write what your heart, your imagination tells you to write. The writer or author is a puppeteer, moulding clay through words that you choose. You weave strands of article or story together, through use of your creative imagination.

You start your article, short story or novel with an idea. You decide HOW you will start: "Once upon a time". (This could be little child emerging from depths of your soul). Sounds very "airy-fairy" that, like many "arty farty writer types"!

You perhaps got plot from a television programme or a newspaper article. The plots of some of my novels came from newspaper articles.

Then you make choices as you go along: to base your story upon fact or fiction, or faction (a mixture of fact and fiction - I like that genre (impressive word that - must use it more often!). You choose track. You are director, producer and actor: YOU set scene, decide whether it is to be local or foreign. It's up to you HOW you describe landscape or surrounding environment.

You decide on characters and how you will describe them. To let them live or die? What immense power you have to determine destinies! Whether to have a happy or sad ending? "And they all lived happily ever after...."

A few short words of advice to end off this lesson... Make your writing FUN and get readers (and editor) "hooked" with a good opening paragraph and an even better opening line.

What do you think of this example by Charles Dickens from "A Tale of Two Cities"?