7.2 Publicity and Publications
We need to highlight the meanings of four related issues: publicity, publicists, publication, and publication cycle.
Publicity
Publicity is the deliberate attempt to manage the public's perception of a subject. The subjects of publicity include people (for example, politicians and performing artists), goods, and organizations of all kinds, and works of art or entertainment.
From a marketing perspective, publicity is one component of promotion which is one component of marketing. The other elements of the promotional mix are advertising, sales promotion, direct marketing and personal selling.
Examples of promotional tactics include:
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Arrange a speech or talk. |
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Make an analysis or predication. |
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Conduct a poll or survey. |
7.2 Publicity and Publications
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Take a stand on a controversial subject. |
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Arrange for testimonial. |
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Announce an appointment. |
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Invent then present an award. |
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Organize a tour of your business or projects. |
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Issue a commendation. |
The advantages of publicity are low cost, and credibility (particularly if the publicity is aired in between news stories like on TV news casts). New technologies such as weblogs, web cameras, web affiliates, and convergence (phone-camera posting pictures and videos to websites) are changing the cost-structure. The disadvantages are lack of control over how your releases will be used, and frustration over the low percentage of releases that are taken up by media.
Publicity draws a several key themes including birth, love, and death. These are of particular interest because they are themes in human lives which feature heavily through life. In television serials several couples have emerged crucial ratings and important publicity times, as a way to make constant headlines. Also known as a publicity stunt, the pairings may not be according to the fact.
7.2 Publicity and Publications
Publicists
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity for a product. Public figure, especially a celebrity, for a work such as a book or movie or band. Publicists could work in large companies as in little companies.
Though there are many aspects to a publicist's job, their main function is to persuade the press to report about their client in the most positive way possible. Publicists are adept at identifying and pulling out "newsworthy" aspects of products and personalities to offer to the press as possible reportage ideas. Publicists offer this information to report in the specific format of a magazine, newspaper, TV or radio show, or online outlet. The third aspect of a publicist's job is to shape "stories" about their clients at a time that fits within a media outlet's news cycle.
Publicists are most often under a marketing arm of a company. Marketing is anything that a company does to get their product (goods, services, ideas, etc.) into hands of a customer who will pay for it. Publicity, specially, uses the objective opinion of a reporter to tell that story. Seasoned publicist knows how to present a newsworthy story in a way that suggests editorial coverage in a certain direction. This is generally referred to as "spin"; through it is not a negative connotation, only a very keen ability to present a story in a way that fits for a media outlet at the right time.
7.2 Publicity and Publications
Publication
To publish is to make content available to the general public. While specific use of the term may vary among countries, it is usually applied to text, images, or other audio-visual content on any traditional medium, including paper (newspaper, magazines, catalogs, etc). The word publication means the act of publishing, and also refers to any printed copies.
"Publication" is a technical term in legal contexts and especially important in copyright legislation. An author of a work generally is the initial owner of the copyright on the work. One of the copyrights granted to the author of a work is the exclusive right to publish the work.
Publication is defined -in the US- as: the distribution of copies or phonorecords of a work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or rental, lease, or lending. The offering to distribute copies or phonorecords to a group of persons for purposes of further distribution, public performance, or public display, constitutes publication. A public performance or display of a work does not of itself constitute publication.
To perform or display a work "publicly" means: (1)to perform or display it at a place open to the public or at any place where a substantial number of persons outside of a normal circle of a family and its social acquaintances is gathered: or (2)to transmit or otherwise communicate a performance or display of the work to a place specified by clause, (3)or to the public, by means of any devices or process, where the members of the public capable of receiving the performance or display receive it in the same place or in separate places and at the same time or different times.
7.2 Publicity and Publications
Furthermore, the right to publish a work is an exclusive right of the copyright owner, and violating this right (e.g.by disseminating copies of the work without the copyright owner's consent) is a copyright infringement, and the copyright owner can demand (by suing in court) that e.g. copies distributed against his will be confiscated and destroyed.
Publication Cycle
Publication cycles in the process through which authors take their ideas and put them into viewable form. This includes all forms of publication, from initial research reports, to articles posted on websites, and the commonly recognized magazine articles and books.
Publication Process:
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Idea. The cycle begins with the authors deciding on what topic they wish to publish about. This can be a |
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very quick step for some authors, who decided on a topic and develop it more lately in the process, or the |
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author can take a large amount of time fully developing a complete idea. |
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Research. This is when authors take their ideas and find out all the information that is readily available. |
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For scientific publication, this includes previously done experiments as well has conducting more |
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experiment that focus mainly on the chosen topic. For literary authors, this step includes reading previous |
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publications and to see if any other authors have published work similar to theirs. |
7.2 Publicity and Publications
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Informal communication. Informal communication is when authors get together and exchange ideas |
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without being any formal purposes or any structured agenda to guide them along. This includes dinners, |
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going the cafeteria, phone calls, parties, and small gatherings. |
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Idea protection. Idea protection is when authors formalize their ideas and reserve their rights to them. |
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This includes patents, copyrights, trademark, registered trademarks, and creative commons. It is |
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important for authors to protect their work so that authors do not take credit for their work. |
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Report findings. This can be done in many different ways. There formal reports, such as lab reports, |
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research documents, and other white paper publications. Informal versions include posts on person web |
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pages, blogs, and new forms like facebook posts. |
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Conferences. These meetings include both formal and informal forms of communication and are great |
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ways not only to present your finding but also begin the cycle. Presentations and discussions are held to |
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Magazines and newspapers. One of the more public and common types of publications, these are one |
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of the most popular types of printed publications. These are used at many levels such as small towns, |
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college campuses, and regional or national levels. |
7.2 Publicity and Publications
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Journal articles. These vary a lot throughout their process, but they generally have the same objectives in |
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mind: to present an idea or position. These can range from a personal to corporate journal and have many |
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various subjects. Depending on the level, the journal article may be peer-reviewed by others in the field or |
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a dedicated editing staff. |
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Book publication. This is possibly one of the longest processes due to the many levels of review that go |
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into the production of a book. There are usually many editions because each must be reviewed and |
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revisited before it actually goes into production. Also, many revisions to manuscripts may be made |
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because of grammatical errors or a focus that needs to be fleshed out in more detail. |
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Government documents. There are many varieties of these documents. They can range from bills, |
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deeds, constitutions or government contracts. These carry the most complexity with them because it must |
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be kept updated regularly to reflect the current version of the document. Amendments to government |
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documents make these documents have a longer publication cycle than most other documents because |
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they must constantly be revised and it has to publicly are known that an amendment has been added and |
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usually there are a series of checks these documents must pass through before their publication cycle has |
7.2 Publicity and Publications
Types of Publication
We will illustrate here a number of written publication types. So, the other kinds of non-written publications are demonstrated in the next section.
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Research reports. These are published when authors do experiments to help support their topics. |
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Reports are generally a formal type of publications, but is depends on the author. Some authors simply |
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publish research findings, without any detailed explanations or formal papers. Other authors will write up |
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full reports, with all the findings, calculations, and conclusions drawn from the information found. |
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Conference papers. Conference papers are published following conferences. Authors find these helpful, |
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not only for reviewing what happened during the conference, but also finding out what happened at |
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conferences they were unable to attend. |
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Magazine and newspaper article. Magazines and newspapers are some of the most commonplace |
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publications that people think of. They are the main source of resent, up to date information that affect |
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everyday life. These types of media are generally published from a day to a week after the event being |
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Journal article. Journals are slower to publish information, but are more reputable that magazines and |
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newspapers. Journals go through a much more formal and strict review process to ensure that the |
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information is authenticated and trustworthy. |
7.2 Publicity and Publications
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Book. Books are the key publication type, used not only for information, but also telling stories, listing |
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facts, and sharing opinions. Books go through a very long revision process which makes sure not only that |
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all errors in the writing have been fixed, but also that there are no copyright infringements. |
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Encyclopedia. Encyclopedias are similar to books because they have a complicated revision process, |
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but because of the information contained in encyclopedias and because they are periodicals, they are |
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different in how they function. When encyclopedias are published, all that changes is the information that |
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has been proven wrong or has altered since the last publication. But even so, they are not normally |
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published more than once a year. |