Interview with Public Relations Counselor Nicole Singer from Write Me a World

Today I'm interviewing Nicole Singer from Write Me a World regarding her job as a public relations counselor. This is an rewarding and creative field for those who are interested in jobs for English Majors and Writers.

Wow! Nicole is currently offering her ebook of short stories for FREE through the middle of next week (Nov. 7 2012 to be exact). Thanks Nicole. See her blog for details.

Thank you for the chance to interview you, Nicole. I'm interested in learning more about what you do. Can you tell me what is your job title? I'm a public relations counselor for a small public relations agency.

What are your job duties? One of the nice things about being a small agency is that I get to work in a lot of different areas. The vast, vast majority of what I do is writing (of all kinds). I also do media relations, crisis communications, help design brochures, websites, etc., and act as a project manager for our clients.

In what ways are you using your writing and creative skills? SO many awesome ways! One of the most creative projects we did was a year-long comic strip for a hospital system. We wrote each episode and worked with the illustrator to design the characters and how they interact. We also just wrapped up an animated video, which we wrote the script for.

We’ve done quite a few brochures as well, which are always fun to develop. My favorite was a brochure we did for a local school – the writing and photos worked so well together. That’s part of what I like most about my job. I get to take someone’s ideas, put it into words and then see it come to life.

Some of the coolest stories I’ve written have been for our client newsletters and magazines. The people I interview are so amazing. They’re average folks who have overcome some incredible challenges, and those are the days I really, really love my job. These people are so grateful that someone is willing to tell their story!

Creativity is key because 1) we work so closely with designers and have to make sure our words match their vision and vice versa, and 2) we write for so many different audiences, we have to be masters of all styles.

Do you have an English degree, and if so, what ways has it helped your job/career? Technically, no, I have a Public Relations degree, but English and writing were a huge part of it! I’ve also been able to use my interest in writing and publishing on behalf of my clients on more than one occasion – whether I’m helping them launch their own books, or steering someone away from a pesky vanity publisher (I swapped emails with Victoria Strauss on this one – very cool!).

What do you love about your job?
I love the variety and the fact that I play a role in all different aspects of a project. Writing, strategy and creative. I also truly love telling people’s stories. Every individual or company comes to PR with a story to tell, and they’re not quite sure how. I get to help them tell it!

That sounds great. So, what would you say are the challenges of the job?
Edits. Haha! I never worry about getting critiqued on my own writing, because I’ve built up such a buffer working in PR. Our client teams often include multiple people, and they usually have multiple opinions about what’s important and how something should be written. Without fail, everything we write gets changed multiple times before we send it out.

Working in PR provides a great perspective, because it teaches you to listen to the client edits and then balance that with what you know the client is actually trying to accomplish through the writing.

PR can also be quite intense. We pretty much live on deadlines.

Would you say it is difficult to get into?
Not necessarily, but it does take a lot of commitment to move up. The industry is always looking for great writers.

Do you have any tips for those who are interested in working in public relations?
Learn to use commas. Seriously. I review the resumes for our job and internship applicants, and this is the biggest gap we see. I’d also say learn to be invisible when you write. If you do PR correctly, you don’t get any credit – your client does. It’s also important to try out different writing styles for different audiences.

Is there anything else you would like add?
PR is a great industry! I’ve always wanted to be a writer, and I knew I wanted a “day job” that let me do that, too. I tell stories every day at work, I get to partner with some really amazing creative people, and it’s something new all the time. I love how it stretches me, and I think it’s a great complement to my own personal writing pursuits.

This is great information. Thank you for your time, Nicole!

Thanks so much for having me, Andrea! These are great questions.

You can find Nicole Singer and her work, Running in the Dark at the links below:

Write Me A World

Running in the Dark-Available on Kindle
Running in the Dark-Available at Smashwords