Helping a Reporter Out has Never Been Easier through HARO

Do you ever find yourself in that situation where you’re working on an article and you need to get a hold of an authoritative resource? Have you searched endlessly in the search engines for what you need only to be sorely disappointed with the results? And what happens when you do find a resource? Now you have to take an extra step and contact them which–depending upon how quick their turnaround is you might miss your deadline.

Started through a Facebook group by PR guru Peter Shankman, HARO is a great solution to your “need for resources” woes. I’ve used HARO for this blog, an upcoming five day marathon of articles about the most common questions I hear from writers. Up until that point, I found it very difficult to get agents to respond to me, but through HARO I got so many responses I’m still sifting through them!

One of the reasons why I like the group so much, is because of the way that Peter manages this free service. He’s transparent, he’s real, and he advocates “being nice.” Just this morning, he mentioned to subscribers to do one nice thing every day in his introduction which is part blog, part “welcome to the community.”

This morning I thought of you, my readers, because there was a call for “Diet, Health and Cookbook Authors.” If you fit the bill, please contact me and I will be happy to send you the listing.
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How the Media You Surround Yourself With May Affect Your Writing

Take a moment to think about what information sources you have access to. On a very basic level, you gather information from people or media created by people. Now, if we stop to think about where that media is coming from it’s usually from a group of people focused on a particular belief or a person who is regurgitating their interpretation of that belief. Beliefs that underlie information may (or may not) be transparent; try cross-referencing news sources sometime to see what I’m talking about.

Most people are shaped by the world around them, and there is no greater influence than what information they absorb. If someone only gets their insight into society from a select group of sources that has, at their core, the same set of beliefs, then really that person is only getting one view of the world. Great examples of this concept can often be found by researching the origin of superstitions, holidays, and modern myths: Did you know that frightening gargoyles were once created on the sides of buildings to scare away evil spirits and protect people from harm?

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