My moment of weakness came at around two in the morning one winter night when I girded myself for the real world. I googled “jobs I can get with a degree in writing.” The truth was, I had no idea what I wanted to do. Thankfully, most of the articles I read were generally optimistic and pointed me towards an area of expertise called copywriting.

Copywriting is basically ad writing, and one such function was writing press releases. In order to apply for the many different copywriting jobs I found, I needed to know how to write them, but there were so many different kinds. There were articles on how to write a fashion press release, a music press release, an express press release, and tons of other kinds. The one that really caught my eye, though, was the post event press release.

The easiest kind would have to have been this one, the post event press release. These were basically feature articles about an event written in the standard format of a regular press release. You include the five Ws and the H (Who, What, When, Where, Why and How) in the lede and provide a generally positive and informative body that highlights the selling points and best features of the event while following AP standards and the inverted pyramid method.

Writing a post event press release, even if fictitious or unsolicited, is a good way to practice and hone your copywriting skills. Trust me. You are going to want to write an unsolicited post event press release. Many companies want a book, or a portfolio of your work, and this is the most essential part in landing a copywriting gig. If you are without this, then, basically, your hopes are crushed.

It is not a total catch 22. As I pointed out above, that practice post event press release can constitute your book. These are known as spec ads (an abbreviated form of speculation ads).

If anyone else has any copywriting advice on a post event press release or have any other opinions, tips, tricks or expertise on the subject, I cannot encourage you enough to please share in the comments.