28. July 2008 by DSJC.

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One of my favorite clients, the Outdoor Education Center of Orange County, Calif., contributes a bi-weekly column called “Seeds to Sprouts” in the Home & Garden section of the Orange County Register.  The column runs every other Thursday online and every other Saturday in print.  I assist with editing and, in a pinch, with photography.  Because the Outdoor Education Center provides educational programming that focuses in part on environmental stewardship for local youth organizations, our photography goal is to provide images of Orange County children in nature.

I am excited to report that my daughter, Sabrina, was the model for this week’s “Seeds to Sprouts” article entitled, “Mini-Gardens For Kiddie Chefs.” 

The article, written by Christine Kirk, talks about herbs that grow naturally in Orange County and ways to get kids interested in growing their own herb gardens at home for use in the kitchen.  It also suggests what herbs to grow and how best to grow them.  To read the article, go to: http://www.ocregister.com/articles/herbs-garden-kids-2104773-kitchen-seeds.  Speaking of growing your own food at home, my son, Alex, was the photo feature of another of Christine’s articles, “Time to grow greens in the garden for salad making,” (not my first choice for a headline).  See the article here:  http://www.ocregister.com/articles/garden-tomatoes-summer-2062960-plants-salad. 

I love sharing through public relations!  DSJC.

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17. July 2008 by DSJC.

If you’re in public relations or are a journalist looking for expert sources, and you haven’t yet heard of HARO or Help a Reporter, well then you are in for a treat.  HARO is great!

And here’s what the HARO man, Peter Shankman (http://shankman.com/), himself asks everyone to post:

As you know, reporters are constantly looking for sources. They’re always writing stories, reporting on something, and always need experts in the field of whatever they’re reporting.Problem is, they don’t often know how to find them.On the flip side, if you’re an expert at something (And come on, everyone’s an expert at SOMETHING,) how do you let the media know you’re available to talk and be quoted when they’re writing a story?

Well, I joined a free mailing list that solves both problems.Basically, reporters send the list owner queries about what they’re working on. (”I’m writing a story on farming, and I need someone in NYC who’s grown a windowsill garden,” or “I’m doing a story on General Electric, and need a financial analyst who covers them.”)

Peter (a rather high-energy, but seemingly decent guy, puts these all queries together, and emails them out, three times a day. There are usually anywhere between 10 and 25 queries per email, organized so you can read all of them in about five seconds. If any work for you, simply scroll down, and email the reporter with your details and why you’re an expert. If they don’t, simply delete them.It’s that incredibly simple. Like most brilliant things are.Oh yeah - it’s all free. The list has over 12,000 members that have joined since it launched three months ago, why not be one of them! Members have been quoted in everything from the NY Times to CNN to the Washington Post to the NY Daily News to Fox News to TV to radio to bloggers around the world.

Sign up here: http://www.helpareporter.com

If you’re a journalist and want to submit a query: Submit it here: www.helpareporter.com/press

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