Chapter 13

Templates

Fill every bracket before sending. Nothing here claims a member, a result or a testimonial, because none exist yet, and the honest version converts better than the invented one. Where a template needs a fact this guide does not have, the bracket says so.

Before any of these are used: confirm with Sam which client names may appear in membership marketing, and confirm with the artist's management before any live client's name is used at all. The safe default in every template below is a link to samanthaholderness.com rather than a list of namesS1.

1 · The email to the ten clients

Ten separate emails, each with a real first line about that person's year. Never a group send. The ask is for names, not introductions.

Subject: A favour, and a question [Name], [One real sentence about their year. The recording, the tour, the thing that went well or the thing that did not.] A question, and it is genuinely a favour rather than a pitch. I am putting together something for musicians who cannot afford a publicist: a membership with my media list in it, a monthly review of their press material, and a live clinic. Not representation, and nothing that competes with what I do for you. Can you think of two people, artists or ensembles you have come across who are good and who are getting nowhere with press? I do not need an introduction and I will not use your name. Just two names so I can go and ask them what they actually need. If nothing comes to mind, that is a completely fine answer. Sam

2 · The twenty conversations

Twenty minutes, on a call, no slides, no selling. Ask these six questions in this order and write the answers down verbatim.

1. What is the next thing you want people to know about? 2. What did you do last time you wanted press? Walk me through it. 3. What did it cost you, in money or in time? 4. What happened? 5. Have you ever asked a publicist for a price? What did they say? 6. If there was a thing that fixed this, what would it have to do? Then, only if they ask what you are building, describe it in two sentences and stop talking. Count, afterwards: how many asked, unprompted, when they could pay. Six or more of twenty is a green light. Two or fewer means reshape the offer.

3 · The founding-member email

Goes to everyone from the twenty conversations plus any names the clients gave. One email, no sequence, no countdown timer.

Subject: The thing I asked you about, now open, 30 places [Name], Thank you for the twenty minutes in [month]. What you said about [specific thing they said] shaped this more than anything else. The Press Room opens today. It is for musicians who have something real coming up and no route to a publicist. What is in it: - My classical media list, for the UK, France, Germany and the US. Who covers what, which desk, how long their lead times are and how they want to be approached. I keep it current because I use it every week. It is updated monthly and you can see what changed. - One thing of yours read by me every month. A press release, a bio, a pitch email, a season announcement. You send it by the 5th, I write back within five working days with what is wrong and how to fix it. - A live 90-minute pitching clinic on the third Tuesday of every month. Bring a pitch, I rewrite it on the call, everybody watches. - Every template I use: press release, bios at three lengths, tour and album announcements, pitch emails by outlet type, follow-up wording. - A twelve-module course you can work through at your own pace. - Once a year, a one-page dated plan for your next twelve months. What is not in it, so there is no confusion later: - I do not send anything on your behalf, and I do not introduce you to journalists. My relationships are what my clients pay me for and it would not be fair to them or useful to you if I spent them here. - Nobody can guarantee coverage. Anyone who tells you otherwise is selling you something. It is normally £299 a month. The first 30 people pay £199 a month, locked for twelve months from the day you join. When the 30 are gone the founding rate closes for good, and there is a live count on the page. Founding members also get a 30-minute call with me in their first month, which nobody else at this tier gets, because I want to hear what you need before I build the rest of it. [link] If it is not right for you now, that is genuinely fine. I will not send you a second email about it. Sam

4 · The conservatoire partnership email

To a careers, professional development or enterprise department. Never to a principal. The offer is free, and the ask is a mailing list.

Subject: A free session on press for your final-year students and alumni Dear [Department name] team, I am a classical music publicist. I work with [either: "artists including those listed at samanthaholderness.com" or, if Sam approves specific names, name two]. I trained as a pianist before I did this, so I am not talking to musicians from the outside. I would like to offer [institution] a free 60-minute session, online or in person, for final-year students and recent graduates. It is called "What the editor actually wanted" and it covers the three things that stop almost every artist's press material from working: sending it at the wrong point in the publishing cycle, sending it to a reviewer instead of a commissioning desk, and leading with the wrong sentence. There is no cost, no follow-up sales call to your students, and nothing to sign. I run a paid membership for working musicians and this session is how people find out I exist, which I would rather say plainly at the start than have you discover halfway through. Two things I would ask in return, and either alone is fine: 1. That the session is offered to alumni as well as current students. 2. That a note about it goes in the alumni newsletter. I can run it any time in [term], including the awkward slots. Would [month] work? [Name], [phone], [email] samanthaholderness.com

5 · The column pitch

To The Strad, Classical Music magazine, Gramophone and one of Bachtrack or Slipped Disc, in the same week. Pitch a named recurring column with three sample titles.

Subject: Column idea: what the editor actually wanted Dear [Editor], A column proposal, 800 words a month. Working title: What the editor actually wanted. Each month I take one real, anonymised press release or pitch from a working musician and mark it up: what a commissioning editor sees, why it did not get used, and what it should have said. Practical, specific, and about the reader's own next announcement rather than about publicity in the abstract. Three to start: 1. Why your press release arrived four weeks too late and nobody told you. 2. The reviewer cannot commission anything. Here is who can. 3. The first sentence is not your name. I have been a classical music publicist since 2014, working across the UK and France, and my client work is listed at samanthaholderness.com. Before that I was at EMI and Albion Media. I trained as a pianist, which is why the column is written for musicians rather than at them. I should say plainly that I also run a paid membership for musicians on this subject. The column would carry a one-line biography and nothing more, and I am happy for that to be a condition. Sample column attached, written in full, so you can see the voice rather than take my word for it. [Name]

6 · The monthly review format

The fixed rubric. Same six headings every time, in the same order, so it takes twelve minutes rather than forty and so the member can compare month to month.

MEMBER: [name] ASSET: [what it is] FOR: [what they want it to achieve] DATE OF THE THING: [the event, release or announcement] 1. TIMING Is this being sent at a point in the cycle where it can be used? [One or two sentences. If the timing is wrong, stop here and say so: nothing else matters and rewriting the prose will not help.] 2. THE FIRST SENTENCE What a busy editor takes from line one. [Quote their first line back to them, then write a better one.] 3. THE STORY Is there one, and is it the one they think it is? [One paragraph. This is where most of the value is.] 4. WHO IT GOES TO Right desk, right outlet, right person's job? [Name the desk types, not individuals. Point at the list.] 5. TWO FIXES The two changes that would make the biggest difference. [Exactly two. Never five. Five gets ignored.] 6. ONE THING TO DO THIS MONTH [One action, with a date.] Returned within five working days. No exceptions, ever.

7 · The testimonial request

Sent at the moment something good happens, never at renewal. Ask for one specific thing, not for praise.

Subject: That [outlet] piece [Name], I saw the [outlet] piece. Genuinely pleased for you, and the [specific detail] in it was exactly the angle you worked out on the clinic in [month]. Two small asks, and no is a perfectly good answer to either. 1. Would you write me two or three sentences about what changed for you? Not about me being lovely, but about what you did differently and what happened. I would use it on the page where people decide whether to join, with your name and instrument, and I would send you the exact wording before it goes anywhere. 2. Is there one person you would tell about this? One name is plenty. Either way, congratulations. Send me the next one when it is ready. Sam

8 · The upgrade conversation

Private, once a quarter at most, and only where a trigger in Chapter 11 has actually fired.

[Name], You have been in the Press Room for [n] months and you have sent me something every single month, which almost nobody does. What you are describing for [the project] is not something a monthly review can carry. It needs someone who knows those three editors picking up the phone at the right moment, and holding an embargo. That is representation, and it is a different thing at a different price. I have capacity for one more client from [month]. If you would like me to put a proposal together for [the project], I will. If the number is wrong for you right now, nothing changes at all and you stay exactly where you are. I would rather say that at the start than have you wondering. Sam

9 · The sales page

The full copy is in Chapter 14 as a publishable HTML file. Its structure, and the reason for each part:

  1. The one-line promise, which is the price comparison, not a benefit claim.
  2. Who it is for and who it is not for, with the "not for" list first. It disqualifies fast, which is what a capped product needs.
  3. What is in it, six items, the media list first.
  4. What is not in it, stated plainly, including that nobody can guarantee coverage.
  5. Who Sam is, with a link to samanthaholderness.com rather than a name-drop.
  6. The price, all three tiers, with the founding counter.
  7. The honest paragraph: that this is new, that there are no testimonials yet, and that founding members are shaping it. Keep this paragraph even when there are testimonials. It is the most credible thing on the page.
  8. The refund line: first month back on request, no argument.