LAYOUT

Always double-space the lines on all editorial copy, to give the editor space to mark up amendments if necessary – certainly not less than 1.5 spaces. Single spacing between lines is one of those major irritants which says ‘amateur PR’, very loudly. Leave uncluttered one-inch left and right page margins for the same reason.

If the release runs to more than one page (try to keep it to no more than two pages), then at the bottom of the page you print ‘/more .. .’ At the top of the second page, print an ellipsis ‘...’ followed by the release heading, followed by ‘cont 2/’. For example: ‘... Harrisons appoints new sales director cont 2/’. The reason is that if the pages get separated, the editor can match them up again. And when he hands over your release to be typeset, the typesetter knows not to set words between slash marks.

At the end of the release copy, put ‘-ends-’ or ‘/ends/’ (no need to explain why!). After that, quote a contact name, phone number, fax number and email address in case the editor wants to query anything: ‘For more information, please contact...’

And finally: Never, ever, print on both sides of a page, e.g. print page 2 of a press release on the back of page 1. It may help to save the rain forests, but unfortunately editors never turn pages over and look at the back...