How to Get Your Press Release Picked up by Nua

Profile #35 in Our Continuing Series on Marketing Journalists

Charlie Taylor
Editor
Nua.com
Prospect House
3 Prospect Road
Dublin 9, Ireland
Tel: + 353 1 882 4417
ctaylor@nua.com
http://www.nua.com


-> Circulation:

Nua's weekly email newsletter has more than 80,000 subscribers,
plus 120,00 more visit the site weekly from 140+ countries.

-> Taylor’s background:

Taylor describes his foray into journalism as an accident, even
though he knew he wanted to write when he was young. “It was
always my ambition to be a journalist - in fact, I used to design
and write my own newspapers - but for some reason I never
actively pursued it after finishing school.”

Instead, after getting a BA in History and Sociology at the
National University of Ireland, Taylor got his MA in Film and
Television studies Dublin City University. His first job after
University was as a researcher/production assistant on a
terrestrial TV series called Tech TV, broadcast on RTE Television
(Irish national broadcaster).

The series served as an introduction to technology and the Net.
“It was the first series of its kind broadcast on Irish TV,” says
Taylor. “I didn't particularly have a techie background but
because we had a very small staff, I ended up writing a few
scripts for the show.”

>From there Taylor accepted more writing assignments, until a year
later when he took the plunge and became a full-time journalist.
For the last five years he has worked as a technology journalist
based in Ireland. He was Assistant Editor of PC Live! (an end
user personal magazine similar to PC World) and as a Staff
Journalist with ComputerScope (a corporate IT magazine). In
March 2002 he became Editor of Nua.

-> Current Editorial Coverage:

“Nua.com is considered to be the authoritative online source for
information on Internet demographics and trends,” says Taylor.
“Our database contains over four years of freely accessible
information gathered and collated by Nua. And, the weekly
editorial articles, which have put topical events into context
since 1997.”

In essence, Nua is a news aggregator. “We go out there and
collect all the important news and statistics that others don't
have time to look for. If someone's wondering where the hell
they'd look to find out how much the Indian B2C market was worth
last year, we're the site they'd come to.” Nua covers around 25
news stories a week from a wide range of sources - press
releases, news organizations, research companies, etc.

Each issue starts off with a feature essay covering new trends
and developments. These articles tend to go into a certain theme
in detail such as emarketing or egovernment.

“When writing a feature, we tend to look back over the stories
we've covered during the past week and find something that we can
then expand on,” says Taylor. “However, sometimes we'll just
pick a big theme and rant about it.”

-> What Taylor looks for in a story pitch:

The best pitch is often your article itself. Send Taylor a link
to the article or press release you'd like included, along with a
pithy statement about why it makes the Nua grade. Email subject
lines with metrics (percentages, numbers, survey results) get his
attention the best.

-> Submitting prewritten contributions:

Taylor prefers that writers submit pre-written articles because
it saves a lot of time and hassle. Length-wise, Nua never prints
more than 600-800 words so anything submitted has to be short and
punchy.

Taylor is interested in studies that reflect the Net community,
cover who's online, and what they're using the Net for. The
scope is pretty wide Taylor says. “One moment we'll be reporting
about how Marketers are using email to get their message across,
the next we'll be reporting on attempts to close the digital
divide.”

First, read over past editorials to get a flavor of the house
style. Second, make sure the subject is relevant to Nua.com
readers. “Overall, our readers want facts not speculation - so
it has to be backed up by hard statistics,” says Taylor.

“In deciding what is suitable content we look to see whether the
source is reliable, whether the content contains plenty of
statistics (again, our readers want plenty of figures!), and
whether the report is objective.”

-> Best way to contact Taylor or his staff:

Email is by far the best way. “I'm based in Dublin and I'm
pretty much desk-bound so email is best way of getting hold of
me,” says Taylor.

-> Deadlines:

Submit at any time.

-> Becoming a regular columnist:

Taylor is always open to the idea of bringing in guest writers to
cover the weekly articles. Yet, most editorial content comes
from in-house and he’s not desperately looking for writers at
present.

-> Where you can meet Taylor of his staff:

Again, email is the best way to get in touch with Taylor.
“Besides, we’re in Ireland. We’re probably too far away,” he
says.

-> What Taylor looks for in an online pressroom:

“I can't state how important it is to make sure that any releases
sent to us are also put online. A lot of organizations’
pressrooms leave a lot to be desired - press releases, etc.
aren't put up quick enough and in many cases not at all.

"This is a nightmare for us because we like to link back to the
original so that interested readers can check out the whole
report if they wish.”

-> What Taylor looks for in print press materials:

“With any material we receive, there's more chance of it being
taken seriously if it's short, sharp, and to the point - express
what it is you're selling (be that a product or a story) in a few
paragraphs, rather than in a few pages.”

-> Taylor’s favorite professional publication:

Taylor spends a few hours each day just looking for possible
stories online. His favorite news sites are The BBC, The
Guardian, CNN, and Reuters. For technology news he looks at
ZDNet, ENN and The Register and for marketing data he goes to
emarketer and cyberatlas.