Is the art of bill and blurb writing dead?

Have we forgotten how to sell our content? Here are my tips on effective bill and blurb writing. Training tips

Can this byline in The Times be real?

Thanks to Cornwall and Devon editor Andy Cooper for alerting me to this byline. Andy says: "You would have thought The Times’ newsdesk might have thought twice about assigning this particular reporter to this story." Good point. Could be an incredible coincidence ... or it could be a rogue sub at large?

Ten thoughts about last night's Press Awards

Walter Greenwood accepts the Journalists' Charity Special Award from Amy Williams and John Humphrys

i) The Telegraph and Will Lewis deserve all they got. Clearest winners for years.

ii) The red tops should get a better deal - particularly in sport.

iii) Walter Greenwood has saved a lot of journalists' skins and made an understated contribution to the industry. A thoroughly deserved award.

iv) In another year Jacqui Smith putting adult films on expenses would have walked away with Scoop of the Year.

v) Nick Ferrari should have been on stage instead of sipping (he had a 6am show in the morning) white wine on the judges' table.

vi) Boris Johnson should be a full-time comedian ... perhaps he is. Listen to his speech. 

vii) What no women? Speakers included many middle-aged men ... Bob Satchwell, Chris Boffey, Boris Johnson, Dominic Ponsford, John Humphrys ... but  only two non-journalist women cameos. Lady Cudlipp and Olympic slider Amy Williams.

viii) Double blow for Andrew Rawnsley ... didn't win and his name was spelt wrong in the programme. Ransle?

ix) Had the best table mates I could have wished for. Two women ex-editors (how rare are they?), Eve Pollard and Anita Syvret. Also David Banks, ex-Mirror editor, who is good craic and a generous man. Four bottles of wine at the end of the night ... £170. I owe him.

x) Enjoyable night, well done to all. A good show. Makes me even more depressed that the regional awards have been shelved.

Full list of winners

Revenue ideas for newspapers

Twenty years ago businesses spent 70 per cent of their marketing budget on advertising. Now it's down to 30 per cent and falling. Bad news for those who rely on selling advertising space for their revenue - including newspapers. But are there other ways to bring in the cash? That was the question the editor of InPublishing asked, when he commissioned to me to write a piece on 'radical revenue ideas for newspapers.' I spoke to MDs, editors, advertising guru Jim Chisholm and Will Lewis, who has been charged with driving new revenue streams at the Telegraph. Not sure there is really too much that is radical out there but it is clear that national newspapers in particular are working hard to find new ways to chase the money. These were some that emerged:
Shopping
The Telegraph sells everything from shoes to holidays.
Commission-based partnerships
Loans, savings accounts and investment advice is reputed to have netted the Telegraph £1m per year in commission.
Marketing solutions
70% of marketing spend is on PR, campaigns, direct marketing, online etc. Local newspapers should offer marketing strategy services to every business on their patch.
Paywalls
Everyone from Tindle to Murdoch is giving it a go.
Online gambling
Sun's online bingo is UK's biggest. Mort Zuckerman reckons online gambling could save every US newspaper.
Mobiles
The Guardian's iPhone app sold 70,000 at £2.39 (£167,000) in first month.
Selling archives
Newspapers can charge for search passes and downloads, sell images, produce books and much more.
Broadcasting
Suntalk is broadcast in Spain. Trinity and CN bidding for funding to provide regional TV programmes.
Courses and events
US newspapers run everything from exhibitions to gourmet evenings.
Public funding
Government is funding Independently Funded News Consortia. There may be more.
Community funding
Website models where community pays for investigations.
Databases
Selling customer data to third parties can be lucrative.



The full article in on the InPublishing Knowledge Bank or you can download it from SMS articles.

Patrick Lavelle: astonishing instinct for news

I am saddened and a little stunned to learn of the death of journalist Patrick Lavelle today. I remember Patrick turning up to an interview for a trainee's job at The Northern Echo in the mid-80s and being bowled over by his determination. He had a young family and a day job but had put himself through nightschool to get the qualifications. He came armed with cracking story ideas and an astonishing instinct for news. He was sporting an earring and one of the editors asked if he would remove it if he landed the job. Despite having worked long and hard to get this far, Patrick said the earring was special to him so he wouldn't. It was typical of his stubborn nature, his values and his refusal to be brow-beaten by anyone. It probably cost him the job, but it did his long-term career no harm at all. Years later I offered him the position of a reporter in Sunderland and asked him where the earring had gone. "I've learnt a lot in the last few years," he said. And he had. He became a tenacious reporter, winning the region's top award for investigative journalism three times. He was also a news-editor for the Sunderland Echo, a lecturer at Sunderland University and is probably most famous for his relentless pursuit of Wearside Jack, the hoax Yorkshire Ripper. He was also an author, a film maker, businessman and a politician. He founded the Sunderland First political group to challenge the failings of party politics, and planned to field candidates in this year's General Election. 

I last saw him on a photography course, still with that appetite to learn new skills, still challenging everything, still with a great love for journalism and for life. Patrick died of cancer this morning. He was 50. A great journalist; a great loss.

A question of physics?

An all-too frequent cock-up from the Telegraph.

iPad is just an embryo

Just as we were getting all excited about the iPad (SMS, March 13) here are some more down-to-earth views on its impact on print in this video by the Association of Online Publishers. The key years, they say, will be 2012 - 2013. I guess we all understand that this is just another sexy milestone along the road to who knows where. Won't stop me getting my order in for next month though. 

April 1st already?

Is this the earliest April Fool ever by a local newspaper? The Halesowen News report that a Jessica Rabbit lookalike is looking for a man to carry her giant rabbit around the world - for a salary of £70,000 a year - looks too good to be true. But the revelation that the job will be awarded in 'an X-Factor style audition on Thursday April 1' suggests this may be a joke. If it is genuine it is a cracking tale (and job) if it is an April Fool joke it is fairly elaborate. And, published on March 10th, it has got to be a first.