I have relationships with editors that you probably don’t. I know journalistic style guidelines and what editors are looking for. Editors are more likely to publish your article if you make their lives easy. I know how to grab readers’ attention and search engine optimization techniques. Thus, I can maximize the potential for your article to turn up in search results and go viral.

I have access to research from well-respected financial and research firms such as Credit Suisse, S&P Capital IQ,  Bank of America Merrill Lynch and others. Quoting at least three sources in your article gives you credibility. It shows that your arguments are based on solid research and that you didn’t just pull your conclusions out of thin air.

You give me a topic to write about, your target audience and how long you want it to be and where you want to see it published. We discuss the key points on the phone or via email. You send me a check. I write your story. I send it back to you for approval. Once you approve it, I email it to the editors or submit it through the news outlet’s contributor platform. I send you an invoice at the end of the week. The world rejoices.

I guarantee that your story will be published somewhere although it may not be your first choice. That’s because I only agree to write articles that are useful to readers and therefore will be published by the news outlets. I have turned down many assignments because the client’s premise was either false, pointless or self-promotional. I always ask: how will readers benefit from knowing this information? Does it offer them an actionable idea? News outlets will not publish anything self-promotional because no one wants to read such swill.

Readers only care about themselves and your potential solutions to their problems. If you want praise and acknowledgment for something, post it on your Facebook page or refrigerator.

Most outlets require that your contributions be unique and exclusive to them because that’s how they add value to their readers. But I can re-write your article over and over again so that it’s completely different to publish on multiple sites.

Unless you’re Bill Gross, it all depends on what you’re saying in your press release. If you’re announcing that you discovered the cure for Ebola or AIDS, your phone is going to ring off the hook. Unfortunately, 50% of the time sending out press releases is like pissing in the wind. The story pitches are usually outside of the reporter’s beat because public relations agents spray everyone in their database without considering their target market.