DON'T LET THE DOOR HIT YOU ON THE WAY OUT

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BITCHING WITH JAMES EDSTROM

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 James Edstrom

We are working day and night to improve our site. There have been a lot of changes and more are coming.

As most of you can see, we added extra pages on restaurants, books and travel. And if you are submitting a interesting story, please read our submission guidelines. When you follow them, we can move real quick on just about any story. We have had a lot of problems with several PR people who insist on sending stories their way and we have told them to take us off their list. Our guidelines if followed, saves all of us time and this includes you. I do not want to have to e-mail you back and forth and I am sure you do not want to have me nagging you. I have decided to just delete any stories that do not follow our guidelines.

It has just become too much. There are several PR firms that insist on doing things their way, because they do not want to do the work involved for which they are being paid for. Not that we are The New York Times, but if they asked you to send something a certain way, I am sure you would.

We do not just throw a story together. The photos are the most important aspect of our site. We run some of the best images around and it really amazes me that certain PR people would want their clients to look so bad in a photo. I am always being told that this is the only photo they have. Well grow up, tell you client you need better shots and do your job. If your client looks bad, you look bad.

ONE HAND WASHES THE OTHER

We are getting really tired of trying to explain loyalty to people we have known for years. They hire us for photo shoots once in a blue moon and then expect us to do endless amounts of stories on them. They hire a high priced photographer and 80% of the time the photos stink, then they all bitch for me to run them. 

I am not even going to argue anymore. If the story is good and the photos are great, I will run. If you send me bad photos and then expect me to run them, because you hired us 4 months ago, I am just going to ignore your event. It is just so degrading that these people hire someone else, then they expect us to photoshop everything when the other guy is being paid. They act like I am not a real friend and that I am always a problem. I do not need friends like you. Please understand that I may love and adore you personally, but this is business and it is not right that you take advantage of me because you are a friend.

PROMISES PROMISES PROMISES

I recently lost a few good Publicist friends because they kept having me do stories for their clients, telling me that this client was great and they were going to hire me for photos. These certain friends sent me stories on places where they eat, on places where they drink and they were good stories. But they amounted to endless hours of work and I never got any photo jobs out of doing these stories. When I told these Publicist friends that I no longer wanted to do these stories, that I no longer wanted to do any kind of business anymore, they hit the roof. I told them that their friendship was very important to me, and our friendship should not be based on me doing stories for them. 

Imagine how I felt last summer when I had done so many stories for this one publicists accounts and they hired someone else for their big event.  I did not even get a invite for the event. The day after their event, I was speaking to this publicist and he bragged how great their event was. I said that was very nice, that I was also in the Hamptons filming with a TV crew and we had a great time. He started yelling at me that I was with a TV crew and did not show up for his event? How could I do something so awful as to not cover his event with my TV crew. I said I was not even invited, why would you expect me to cover a event who you  hired someone else for, after I did so many stories to promote you fete. You expect me to show up with my TV crew so you look good, when you hired someone else? He hung up on me. Where is the loyalty here?

THERE IS A LITTLE LOYALTY

Don't get me wrong. I do have some very good friends that are the best. They watch out for me and you all know who you are. Life is too short and I tell you how much I value your loyalty and your friendship. And you are the most talented Publicists in the business, this is why you have all the great accounts. You loyalty produces loyalty.

FINAL THOUGHT

I am done. If your friendship is based on me doing stories for you, then goodbye. Don't let the door hit you on the way out. I am perfectly willing to be the good friend I always was, but I do not want to do business with you when everything is so one sided. You would not like it if I told you I would get you a account if you did some work first and then I had someone else hired. Fair is fair and so many of you are not being fair and more important, you are not being loyal friends. Goodbye!

Photo By: John Martini