I Was Refused To Be Published. What Should I Do?

11 mins read

Here, we’ll tell why media can refuse publication and how to solve the situation, in the situation when the material has been already written, you’ve already paid the fees and the PR campaign is about to happen any moment.

Why might the media refuse to publish your work?

Text Size

Before ordering a publication in any written edition, you need to carefully study the conditions. A significant part of the media accepts texts which are no bigger than a certain volume. The editorial board may ask for a reduction in the text, even if the maximum size of the publication is not stated in the requirements: not are ready to post longreads.

There are as well those that limit only from the minimum side. According to their requirements, the publication can not be less, for example, than 2000 characters with spaces.

It is important to pay attention to the units in which the edition determines the volume of the text: whether it’s thousands of characters with spaces, without them, or simply the limits on word count.

Heading and lead

The same applies to the length of the header and lead.

Mass media are just as interested in the number of readers and page visitors. After all, their popularity depends on this. Readers pay attention to capacious short headlines, written inactive form – with verbs and nouns. They tend to choose exactly them when deciding what to read. Long and complex headings will not be read, unless it is a highly specialized publication for a particular circle of readers, for which the message itself is important, and not the style of presentation.

Here is an example of an overly long headline, the author of which was trying to “present” a maximum of information: “SuperNasos-78, a manufacturer of pumping equipment, introduced a new generation of submersible pumps operating in wells up to 50 meters deep.”

Instead, you can go for a heading of no more than 60 characters with spaces: “SuperNasos-78 Company introduced a new submersible pump.”

Other information about the new submersible pumps can be removed and open the entire message – in the main text of the news or press release.

A long title is not indexed in Google entirely. The normal length of the header with spaces is 70-71 characters in the desktop and 78 in the mobile output. Well, if this number of characters fit the entire title.

The editorial staff may ask you to shorten the title.

The normal length of the lead is 150-160 characters. This is due to the fact that many media tie its size to the length of the snippet (search) in the SERP, so it is better to limit the news, press release, or articles to such a volume. Well, if the lead and the title fit into the Google search engine completely.

Too long lead: “SuperNasos 78, one of the leading pumping equipment in Europe, Central Asia, and South America, has significantly updated the range of submersible pumps for wells up to 50 meters deep. A new line of submersible pumps “Supernasos-50/120/80″ appeared in the company’s catalog. All the models presented in it have proved themselves well in operation in wells of the standard depth, regardless of the quality of the supplied water and the presence of mechanical or chemical impurities in it.”

The normal size of lead: “In the catalog of the company” Supernasos-78 “there was a line of submersible pumps for wells with depth up to 50 meters. Pumps are suitable for water with a lot of impurities.”

All that concerns the authority and experience of the company, you can make a reference to the company in the final release. Information on the technical characteristics of the pumps and the environments in which they operate will be relevant in the main text.

Most media are loyal to the size of the lead, but some limit its length. The lid should fully fit in the Newsline of the publication. The editors may demand that it be reduced.

Links

One of the main requirements of publications to clients is the types of links that are allowed in the text.

Possible requirements for links:

  • Links can be anchor or non-anchor. Some media limit the length of the anchor – for example, up to 5 words. There are clear requirements for the form of the anchor, for example, “Click here for further information” or its location – at the end of the article.
  • Sometimes links are not allowed in the text at all.
  • A number of links. If the conditions are 2, then there should be 2 – this is the limit. The publication will not publish a press release for 2000 characters if it contains 28 links to the profiles of the conference participants, and all are very important.

How to correctly use links in the text, you can learn from the article in the blog PRNEWS.IO.

Images

Carefully follow the requirements of the site to the pictures. The publication can “wrap” the publication in a number of cases:

  • The size of the image is smaller than necessary, or a low-resolution picture. Usually, media strictly monitor the quality of images.
  • Images are differently oriented (landscape or portrait). In most cases, pictures should have a landscape orientation – and this is a strict requirement.
  • Some require confirmation of the rights to illustrations, sometimes in writing.
  • Many publications require that the illustration does not have text and logos (and this can be considered a rule of good tone). Others in addition to the illustration request a logo.
  • A number of media requests several illustrations of a certain size: one small for the announcement of the publication on the main page of the site and one or two more – to be placed in the text itself.

Edition’s topics

Do not try to publish your article on the site just because 100500 million people visit it every day. Look for a publication whose subjects are close to information. So you will not be disappointed when the editorial office of the site, which is dedicated to electrical equipment, will refuse publication of an article about electronic cigarettes.

The content must be up-to-date. Do not publish the news about the New Year campaign in April.

The localization of the media is important. A regional publication from the Dominican Republic with 99% probability will not publish a press release from Namibia.

Specialized editions will gladly accept content that corresponds to their subject, generally informative one will publish something that will interest a wide audience.

The language of the publication

Always pay attention to the language of the site. In many countries, for example, in Germany, there are publications that publish materials in English and do not accept the text in German.

How to Avoid Refusals

A number of questions arise:

  • How do find out about the requirements of publications and where is the guarantee that everything will be without errors?
  • And if you want to publish the material in the top ten media? Is it necessary to customize the article under the conditions of each site?
  • And if you need a publication in foreign media? Suddenly there will be difficulties with the translation?
  • And you can not just pay someone and stop worrying?


PRNEWS.IO, an international platform for managing PR-activity of companies, will relieve these problems. Each of the nearly 10 thousand publications presented in our catalog has a detailed description with the following features:

  • Type and number of links in the material.
  • The presence or absence of a note about advertising.
  • The ability to broadcast the publication on the main.
  • A number of illustrations.
  • Duration of placement.
  • Requirements for the volume of the text.
  • Ability to post a video.
  • Is the page open for indexing in search engines?
  • Whether the material is sent to the subscribers of the site.
  • Does the material appear in the aggregators?
  • Is repost available on social networks?
  • Will the editors make changes to the text.

For example, here is how the description of Themerkle.com looks like

The information is not limited to the description of the conditions. Here you can study the subject of the publication, see the cost of additional options. The existing text can be adapted to the requirements of the media, order its translation, or rewrite.

Some media allow for a number of changes. For a surcharge, you can publish more material, order a repost on social networks, increase the number of links or open them for indexing.

Additional services include writing material, preparing an information occasion, drafting a media plan – a plan for placements in the media.

Especially for SEO-specialists in the description of publications included SEO-metrics. They will help evaluate the possible effectiveness of the publication.

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