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 | This page in a nutshell: This essay provides publicists with tips on how to legitimately report clients' achievements and how to make it more likely that articles about their clients will not get deleted. |
Probably most of what publicists create in Wikipedia does not qualify for inclusion, and editors spend a lot of volunteer time deleting plenty of it. Hundreds of pages are deleted daily, including articles. Many a publicist can create an article full of effusive praise and hand a laptop to a client to show them the article. The client is happy, and maybe, a day or a week later, when the client's staff can't find the article to update it, they won't tell their boss or you (the publicist). You and your client may look good at first, but the article will soon be deleted and forgotten.
A publicist is a person whose job is to generate and manage publicity, usually positive or promotional, for a public figure, especially a celebrity, a business, for a work such as a book, film, or album, or for a commercial product. A publicist may be an employee of a company or organization or work in private practice, handling one or multiple clients.
The most common errors by publicists include:
- creating an article about a non-notable subject, contrary to Wikipedia's notability guideline, which requires that multiple reliable sources report on the topic.
- copying a client's words without having a copyright release (the originator being your client is not enough)
- filling an article with glorious praise (e.g.,"highly acclaimed", "one of the world's top actors", or "England's premier comedian")
- writing promotional content without balance, contrary to Wikipedia's Neutral Point of View policy, or writing an article like an advertisement
- listing or describing minor details or awards
- including personal material about the family
These are further explained below. If you avoid these traps and write a fine, balanced article, you'll provide readers what they want to learn and avoid violating Wikipedia's rules.