Lay My Hat

I did a search to see if this had been commented on before but didn't come across anything, so thought it may be worth a mention.

www.helpareporter.com is run by a US PR specialist in response to the demand by journalists for qualified sources for articles/books/blogs etc. Signing up to receive 'queries' is free, and after that, you will get a couple of emails a day listing the requests journos are making for sources. The subjects are wide and travel is just one of them, but I did see a query recently from a US newspaper journalist looking for providers of accommodation in Italy for a piece he/she was writing for a feature.

Thanks Heather - I've signed up - but rather tentatively, having read this:

This is really the only thing I ask: By joining this list, just promise me and yourself that you'll ask yourself before you send a response: Is this response really on target? Is this response really going to help the journalist, or is this just a BS way for me to get my client in front of the reporter? If you have to think for more than three seconds, chances are, you shouldn't send the response.

Just hope I can unsubscribe if it all gets a bit much!

Peter sounds an interesting guy!

All he is saying there is don't respond to a journalists request for information on Italy with a long spiel on a property in Florida, for example. A lot of PR companies subscribe to HARO to get their clients some air time and will go to any lengths to pitch.

I'm in the process of writing an article on people who use professional home stagers for getting their vacation home ready for rental. I put a query on HARO for either professional stagers or property owners who had used a stager. I got a couple of great responses, but some quite irrelevant ones - one from a cleaning company who clean vacation homes and wanted to tell me how important it was to have a spick and span property!

I haven't tried unsubscribing because the thing becomes addictive, but Peter Shankman is a very genuine bloke and I am sure you would be whisked off the list as quick as you got on.

Yes I agree, he does - and by "a bit much" I meant trawling through the daily emails, but we'll see. Good luck with your article Heather!

Thanks for the tip Heather. I have also joined. It sounds interesting

... and I unsubscribed after a few days when I saw the sheer volume of stuff coming through and (predictably of course) largely focussing on US interest-related topics.

There is the occasional gem - I did an email interview with a reporter for an English language newspaper in the Middle East about buying property abroad. We get expats from the Middle East holidaying here sometimes. Does no harm and may do some good.