Tag: books

Penning Ink PR books now available from VitalSource

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Textbooks on public relations available from Penning Ink are now available from VitalSource.VitalSource offers more than one million ebooks for purchase and rent to students and professionals in a variety of fields.

The books include Media Relations Writing, Corporate Communications Writing, and Public Relations: A Management Function. Published in 2019, and 2020, the books have been available from Amazon, Apple, and Barnes & Noble. The books are an affordable at $15 for a paperback and $5 for an e-book.

They have just been added to the catalog at VitalSource after an author acquisition representative from the company reached out because they had been receiving requests from people searching for the books on their digital platform.

For more about the books, see the books page on the Penning Ink website.

‘Public Relations: A Management Function’ now available

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Penning PR Management Front Cover AppleThe book Public Relations: A Management Function is now available from Penning Ink.

The book is written and self-published by Timothy Penning, PhD, APR, Fellow PRSA, a public relations professor and consultant. It follows his previous books Media Relations Writing and Corporate Communications Writing.

Affordable and available as a paperback or e-book, the 90-page book stresses that public relations is a management function, and not merely a function to be managed. That means the purpose, practice and impact of public relations affects the entire organization and its overall goals, not just communications.

The first part of the book lays down foundations with chapters on public relations as management, integrating business knowledge and PR, and reviewing the accepted standards of the PR process. Part 2, the core of the book, drills down on the specifics of public relations work with six key publics–employees, community, government, investors, consumers and international. The final part of the book addresses crisis communications and integrated communications.

“Public Relations: A Management Function” can be used as a textbook for public relations management and case studies classes, supplementing it with cases from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) Silver Anvil Awards winners, PR Week Awards winners, or cases from academic journals and trade publications. The practically written book is also useful for PR agency professionals and those who work in-house on communication teams.

The book sells for $4.99 as an e-book and $14.99 as a paperback and is available at Amazon, Apple, or Barnes and Noble. Links to all outlets are on the books page of the Penning Ink web site.

 

A Reading List for People Making Transition to PR

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A local broadcast journalist recently contacted me via social media and asked if I could recommend a book on PR because they were considering making the transition into the field.
OK, first of all, never ask a professor to recommend “a” book J But I have to say the instinct is good to do some research and not make assumptions about the field. I have written before on this blog that journalists do have some assets they can carry over into PR: http://gr-pr.blogspot.com/2012/01/assets-laid-off-journalists-can.htmlBut there is also a lot to learn.
So to answer the question, here is a list of several books—and some other resources–by category and some other resources useful to potential and current PR practitioners. This is only partial (I just ordered another book today that is not on this list). So, anyone else who has suggestions feel free to note them in the comments. To be concise I list titles and last names of authors only, but they should be easy to find at any online book site.
Introductory PR Books
There are several introductory PR books used in college courses. The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA) also has a list of recommended texts for those thinking of studying to take the exam to become accredited in public relations (APR): http://www.praccreditation.org/resources/recommended-texts/index.html. Here are some intro texts that I recommend.
  • THINK Public Relations. By Wilcox, Cameron, Reber and Shin.
  • Today’s PR. By Health and Coombs.
  • PR Strategies and Tactics. By Wilcox and Cameron.
  • The Practice of PR. By Frasier Seitel.
  • Strategic Public Relations: An Audience-Focused Approach. By Diggs and Brown
  • PR: A Values-Driven Approach. By Guth and Marsh.
  • Cultip and Center’s Effective Public Relations. By Broom and Sha. (an update of a classic)
  • This is PR: The Realities of Public Relations. By Newsome, Turk, and Krukeberg.

Research
Research is a fundamental skill of PR professionals. It has to be more than basic interviewing skills that a journalist has. There are several possible texts, but the one standard I would recommend is:
  • Primer on PR Research. By Stacks.

Writing
Journalists know how to write, and how to write in AP style. But PR writing is varied, and includes persuasive as well as objective writing. There are several good books on PR writing.
  • Public Relations Writing and Media Techniques. By Wilcox and Reber.
  • Becoming a Public Relations Writer. By Smith.

History
Every day in the blogosphere I read some bloviating blowhard carry on about some “new” vision in PR. And I grin, shudder, and roll my eyes. If only they knew their history. Several books and resources can help a new practitioner—or a veteran one—understand PR’s past to make better sense of the present and future.

Crisis
Journalists may have reported on a crisis or two, but that does not mean they know how to handle one as a PR person. Several good books on crisis communication offer practical and theoretical information:
  •  Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication. By Lukazsewski  Ongoing Crisis Communication. By Coombs
  • Crisis Communications. By Fearn-Banks
  • Crisis Communication. By Zaremba

Evaluation
Measuring the results of PR efforts has long been advocated and taught, and more recently it has been asked for by clients and management. But it still is not done w
ell or completely by many. There is one great book I would recommend on the subject, this one updated to included social media measurement.
  • Measure What Matters. By Paine

Social Media
Social platforms have been around a while, and lots of people assume they know how to use social media. But using them for personal communication or as a journalist is different than managing social media for a brand or organization. There are many books on social media use, but these are the ones to start with. I’ll also add some online links that are helpful.

Law
There are many areas of law that affect the practice of PR. You don’t need to be a lawyer, but you do need to be informed.
  • Digital Media Law. By Packard
  • Advertising and Public Relatons Law. By Moore, Maye and Collins


Ethics
The PR profession gets a bad rap in the news and entertainment media, as I’ve written about countless times. Ironically, some of the big ethical blunders are made by former journalists. To be a “professional” PR practitioner means to practice ethically. PRSA offers a helpful Code of Ethics http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/Ethics/#.VQIaTSkmXeM. There are also several good books on PR ethics.
  • Ethics in Public Relations. By Fitzpatrick and Bernstein
  • Legal and Ethical Constraints on Public Relations. By Gower
  • It’s Not Just PR. By Coombs and Holladay (This is a good one to give friends who criticize PR as only “spin”)

Consider searching major publishers for additional books on topics of interest or relevant to a specific area of practice. For example, here’s a shameless plug for a book I wrote a chapter in called Public Relations in the Nonpfofit Sector http://www.amazon.com/Public-Relations-Nonprofit-Sector-Routledge/dp/1138795089
You can also go directly to publishers and search for public relations books, such as Routledge, which has a special series on public relations: http://www.routledge.com/books/series/RNDPRCR/; or Sage http://www.sagepub.com/home.nav There are several other academic publishers as well.
In addition to books, several academic journals are available for free (vs through association membership or an academic library). These include:

Finally, there are various trade publications and reports that are useful to practitioners (some content requires subscription or membership; but some email newsletters are free):

Whew! That’s a lot. But there’s a lot to know.

New Book on Crisis Communications Offers Deep Practical Insights

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James Lukaszewski was kind enough to send me a copy of his new book “Lukaszewski on Crisis Communication: What Your CEO Needs to Know About Reputation and Crisis Management.” I was happy to receive it and having read it can strongly recommend it.

Lukaszewski is a seasoned PR consultant who has counseled CEOs of many major organizations. I remember that his workshops at national PRSA conferences are often standing-room only. He doesn’t disappoint with this book either.

In a nutshell, this book is a detailed, practical, how-to guide that would be a useful reference for any PR practitioner to have handy. The table of contents is indexed for quick access to specific crisis communications information. There is also a detailed glossary of terms. The 10 chapters are replete with bullet lists of considerations, specific tasks, and other overviews. But each chapter gets into management-level strategy and the philosophy behind them, as opposed to mere tactical advice. I also appreciate the emphasis on prevention and responsiveness to all stakeholders, which is consistent with the academic literature on the subject.

Here is a quick take on the most practical contents of the book:

  • a detailed outline of what should be included in a crisis plan;
  • savvy overview of how reporters ask questions to illicit emotional quotes, and how to respond;
  • sage advice and if, when, and how to hold crisis-related news conferences;
  • the important consideration of using and responding to social media in times of crisis;
  • a very thorough explication of the tactics of activist groups, and how to respond;
  • how to handle crises that involve litigation, with a refreshing downplay of attorney as spokesperson and crisis manager in favor of a professional with actual communications education.
The book could be useful for practitioners and as a companion textbook for classes on crisis communication. I know I may require or recommend it the next time I teach a graduate course in crisis communication as a companion to the academic theoretical works on crisis communications, such as “Ongoing Crisis Communications: Planning, Managing and Responding” by Timothy Coombs, noted for his development of the Situational Crisis Communications Theory (SCCT), “Crisis Communication: A Casebook Approach” by Kathleen Fearn-Banks, or “Crisis Communication: Theory and Practice” by Alan Zaremba. 

Two Books Offer Insights to Investor Relations Pros

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I recently caught up on some reading, and on my stack were two short books about investor relations. Investor relations, or IR, is a growing specialty within the broader public relations field. Some consider IR to be distinct from, rather than part of, PR. That may be why there is a National Investor Relations Institute (NIRI) that is separate from the Public Relations Society of America (PRSA).

Either way, there has been an increase in the number of communications professionals who work full-time or at least in part in investor relations–and it’s not all about numbers as the books I read show. One book is by a PR practitioner and the other by a PR professor. Both offer a helpful insights about investor relations.

“Managing Investor Relations: Strategies for Effective Communication” by Alexander Laskin gives an interesting history of investor relations, its current practice, and projections about its future. Laskin, a PR professor at Quinnipiac University, does a good job of giving the big picture about the subject.

“Investor Relations: The Art of Communicating Value” by Jeffrey Corbin takes a practitioner’s approach with steps to communicate specifically in the investor relations realm. The practical advice includes breaking down the typical types of investors and what they look for as well as the tactics to reach them.

Both books were a helpful read, confirming some things for me and adding some perspective and savvy in other areas. I have refreshed some lecture notes for the next time I address investor relations.