eReleases Review Best Press Release Submission Service

What have you done lately that you need people to know about? Did you finish a novel? Will you be appearing at a charity event? Or maybe you’re visiting the local high school to talk to kids about what it’s like to be a writer. You need a press release. There are a lot of PR companies available to help you both write and distribute a press release, but we’ve been asked nicely by a few of our readers to put together an eReleases review. You ask, we deliver. Let’s first look at the basics of press releases, and then we’ll give you a more detailed eReleases review (you can signup to eReleases here). Why you Need a Press Release Every day something goes viral. And if you have a Facebook or a Twitter account, you know that it’s usually something stupid. A mommy blogger makes expressive faces while she rants about her husband’s hygiene or a baby squirts toothpaste in his face. It can be discouraging to see so much drivel seeping through the pores of the internet, when you’ve got a quality product you’d like to introduce to the planet. There are over a billion websites now, and your author page is just one. Hundreds of clickbait articles are going viral, and you’re not. To make a long story short, you need a press release. A press release is simply information that you pass along to the media to let them know that you have a story for them. The media will then decide if they want to cover your news. How Does eReleases Help You? Press releases are difficult for some people to write. There’s a certain format you must use, and they’ve got to be somewhat formally written. Even the most talented writer can have trouble coming up with just the right words to say about himself. Even after you’ve written your press release, how do you know where to send it? If you’ve ever sent a query, you know the research that it involves. You won’t send your romance novel to a sci-fi publisher. Nor should you send your press release to a catch-all address (think news@dailydispatch.com). eReleases offers two critical services to writers. The first is that they’ll actually write your press release for you. They’ve got a team of people who do just this for a living and have experience with all different kinds of news. We challenge you to attempt to write a press release announcing your new book. It’s extremely difficult, regardless of your experience. The second service they offer is distribution. But before we talk about distribution, we just want to point out that if you choose to write your own press release, the team at eReleases will look it over. eReleases reviews what you’ve written, and will provide suggestions or feedback if you request it. Free of charge! All of the employees over at eReleases are paid a salary. They don’t earn a commission on the press releases they â€Å"sell†. That means that if you send them a press release and they don’t think it’s newsworthy, they’ve got no problem telling you it’s crap. The website explains this best. eReleases cites two reasons why your press release might not work. First, you’ve got a great story but you hire a terrible distribution team. Or secondly, you’ve got a great distribution team but your story isn’t newsworthy. eReleases reps will be honest with you if they don’t think you’ve got anything to write about. So once you’ve determined that you’ve got a good story and the press release is just the way you want it, let eReleases review your options with you, and choose the right package. eReleases Distribution Packages We’re going to keep this as simple as possible. There are four distribution packages you can sign up for with eReleases, and you can find out specific details from the website. But in summary, here’s what they can offer to you. Newswire lite This basic package is $249, and includes 2 photos, PR Newswire distribution, and 400 words. This includes an eReleases review of your news, but theyll only send it to a target industry at their discretion. BuzzBuilder This package is $299. It includes all the above features, plus one guaranteed industry target. They’ll add SEO enhancements to your release, and guarantee that your press release will reach 75 media sites and subscribing journalists. Newsmaker For $399, they’ll add Associated Press outlets to the above packages. They’ll also increase your industry targets to 2, and your word count to 500. They’ll guarantee that your release will reach at least 100 media sites. PR Pro This is the largest package. It’s $499 and includes all of the above, but increases your target industries to 3. They’ll guarantee that you’ll reach 150 media sites, and you can include up to 600 words. This package also includes PRTrue Send. If your press release seems like it may be of interest to a publication in an industry you didn’t target, eReleases will send your release to that publication. Our eReleases Review We checked out a few things for this review.  We talked with a few customers about their experience and most were satisfied with the speed with which their press release was turned around. They were also impressed with the quality of the press release. Customer service was another big seller for eReleases. They offer both a phone number and a chat. Each of the representatives we talked to were knowledgeable about the products eReleases offers, and response time was extremely fast. We got answers within minutes. Here’s what we didn’t like. If you choose a package, and it doesn’t work for you, you can’t upgrade. For example, you choose Newswire Lite, which doesn’t include a target industry. You order a PR package, but then sleep on it and have a wild dream that maybe you’d like to target the architecture industry. Too late. You have to buy a whole new package. Now, we’ve mentioned that you and eReleases review your options together  prior to your purchase, but if there’s something you just don’t think of until later, you’re screwed. So be sure to review the options you’ve got carefully, and choose the right package. What stands out about eReleases is that they send your press release to actual individuals who have subscribed to the service. They wont send your release  to the catch all address, or the obituary editor. It’s going to go to an actual journalist with an actual interest in the subject. This feature left us with a feeling that our news wouldn’t disappear  in the billions of webpages. All in all, eReleases seems like a nice service for those of us who are confused about press release process. They’ve got a variety of products to suit all sorts of needs, and they’re affordable,  at a middle of the road price point. You’ll find cheaper PR services out there, but they won’t customize your distribution like eReleases will. Our suggestion to you, should you choose this company, is to have eReleases review your news story. Let them help you determine which package might work best for you, and take advantage of their honesty. You want to spend money on a useful package. As long as you buy a package that’s suitable for you, eReleases seems like a good bet for getting your story out.

Tutor Spotlight Meet Jimmy, Cambridge LSAT Tutor

This week, we're spotlighting Jimmy, one of our wonderful test preparation and admissions coaches! Jimmy Biblarz is a doctoral student in Sociology Social Policy at Harvard University. Originally from Los Angeles, Jimmy is a 2014 magna cum laude graduate of Harvard College (Social Studies and English) and the resident LGBTQ tutor in Eliot House. His research is funded by the National Science Foundation Graduate Research Fellowship and the Inequality and Wealth Concentration Scholarship. Jimmy is interested in links between equity-focused public policies, features of neighborhoods and schools, and children’s chances of upward intergenerational mobility. His current project traces the rise and fall of racial integration as the ideological focus of social policy, and the subsequent emergence of competing ideologies. More generally, he is interested in stratification and inequality including discrimination processes, urban poverty, race, immigration, social networks, and continuity and change in values and attitudes. Let's get started with the basics, Ashwin. Where are you from? I grew up in sunny Los Angeles, and still sometimes wonder how I’ve managed to stay on the east coast for seven years! I went to a humanities magnet high school where I got interested in inequality and education policy. The school drew students from all over the city, so I was exposed to the types of inequalities that exist in our education system. Those were were formative in helping launch my current interests. I grew up in West LA and West Adams (just a couple miles from the beach), but now my parents are resident faculty at USC, so we live in a house on campus. I’m a resident tutor at Harvard, so we joke in the family that I just shuffle from dorm to dorm. What did you decide to study, and why? As a long-time Court TV junkie, I had long wanted to go to law school, either working in criminal defense or civil rights litigation. My coursework in college, in Social Studies, really cemented my interests in constitutional law and social theory. My senior year, I took a phenomenal class called â€Å"Culture and Social Structure in the Study of Race and Urban Poverty,† with Professor William Julius Wilson. This class exposed me to the depths of stratification in the United States, and the various theories that explain how it developed, why it persists, and its consequences. This class made me feel like I had a lot more to learn about the world, and coupled with how much I loved writing my senior thesis (I wrote about school resegregation in Jefferson County, KY), I decided to pursue a PhD as well. What are you up to now? How did you decide to pursue this? Right now, I am in the second year of my PhD program. I’m working on two main projects. The first is a qualitative text analysis project that analyzes how the courts have defined equal opportunity from 1890-now, looking at changes in what the state must do to guarantee equal opportunity for all, and how that has changed over time. The second is an interpretive project looking at how legal and social scientific conceptions and measures of segregation differ. What do you imagine your life will look like in 5-10 years? I hope to be a professor, likely at a law school, who also does public policy/criminal defense work on the side, either through clinical work or as pro bono work. I also hope to get back to California! What’s a lesson you’ve learned from teaching? From teaching, I’ve learned just how many learning styles there are out there, and how important it is to tailor lessons to specific learning styles. For instance, visual learners appreciate being able to draw things out, and work out problems, even on things like the LSAT, with diagrams and mental maps. Some learn best aurally, and improve their writing most when they read their essays out loud to themselves and others. Some struggle seriously with motivation, and I work hard to find particular concepts or themes that they can connect with, even if they are seeking tutoring out because they despise a subject. I find it important to learn about what works for each student (in terms of lesson planning, communication styles, priorities), and to never assume two students will react well to the same things, even if you are tutoring them in the same subject. Given the choice of anyone in the world, living or dead, which 3 people would you invite to your dinner party? What do you imagine you'd talk about? Thurgood Marshall, the Supreme Court Justice who also litigated the Brown v. Board decision;Bryan Stevenson, the founder of the Equal Justice Initiative, an organization that promotes criminal justice reform; andGina Raimondo, the Governor of Rhode Island who has a PhD in sociology. I am very concerned with social justice and realizing social progress. I am also focused on conducting rigorous academic research. I’d hope to talk with these three about the best strategies for making change. How much can the political system accomplish, versus working outside the system? What role can and should academic research play in public policy? What strategies are there to change hearts and minds about charged issues like inequality, opportunity, and justice? Each of these three people brings a different perspective - one from the legal world, one who has spent his career outside the system as a social reformer, and one in elected office. Describe your perfect weekend morning. I'm a morning person, so I'd probably wake up around 8 and ready for a couple of hours. I really like long form journalism, so I'd probably read a couple of articles on Longreads.org. I'm a sucker for the New York Times Sunday Routine blog as well. I'd go to the gym around 10:30 - I'm trying to learn more about weight lifting, which has been really rewarding the last six months. I'd then go to breakfast with a couple of good friends and probably order something on a biscuit (my senior thesis really cemented my southern culinary sensibilities). Ideally, if I don't have a lot of work to do, I'd go see a new movie with some friends or family, and talk about it over a walk afterward. Maybe a late afternoon swim would be included too! What are 3 non-generic things that you’re grateful for? 1. HBO Go's Archive; 2. Being funded to read, write, and think during graduate school; 3. Being surrounded by people who care about learning and believe that the liberal arts are valuable; 4. Carnitas What’s the best gift you’ve ever received or given? When a dear friend finished her PhD, we took her on a day of activities. We started at a great brunch spot, followed by a tour of restaurants where we had called ahead and ordered all of her favorite food and drinks. We picked up various friends along the way. The day culminated in a big party in my apartment, where a friend from Australia surprised her. She studies Ethiopian history, so we had a cake shaped like Africa with her name in Amharic (the Ethiopian language) written on it. It was so wonderful to plan this day with our core group of friends to help someone feel celebrated and loved in the wake of a major accomplishment. What does your daily information consumption diet look like? I start with the New York Times and usually read all of the articles on the homepage (or at least skim). I also love the Washington Post 202 and the Politico Huddle, and usually read those in full. That's about it for my news consumption, other than what I read on Longreads.org. I usually spend an hour before bed reading interesting long-form articles on that site. One thing I love about the article curators is that they select on variety. I've read articles ranging from the Syrian refugee crisis to the world's largest pumpkin growing competition. What would you consider an amazing feat from your field (or any field)? Matt Desmond recently published a book called Evicted, for which he was awarded a MacArthur Genius Grant and a Pulitzer Prize. I was lucky enough to have him as a professor for contemporary social theory. Matt's work does what great qualitative research does - it identified a phenomenon few knew was happening, proved its existence in a systematic way, and brought to light new theories about the causes and consequences of a major social phenomena (her, eviction of low-income Americans). I think his book is deeply inspirational, for it is both academically rigorous and helpful for social policy-making. Are you interested in working with Jimmy on the LSAT, GRE, SAT, or ACT? He's a Cambridge standardized test preparation tutor and admissions coach, but is also available online! ; Want to learn more about our incredible team of tutors? Check out some of our previous tutor spotlights below! Tutor Spotlight: Meet Mac, Test Preparation Tutor Tutor Spotlight: Meet Liz, Economics and Finance Tutor Tutor Spotlight: Meet Yilma, Physics Tutor