A one page press release is a short document that answers who, what, when, and why in the first two sentences. Length is not the problem most releases have. Burying the news under context is.
Keep it to a single page and a reporter will at least read the top. Make them scroll and you have already lost the slower half of your list before they reach the point.
Lead with the news itself. If you raised money, say how much and from whom. If you launched a product, say what it does in one clause a stranger can follow.
Skip the preamble about your founding vision. That belongs three paragraphs down, if it belongs at all, and it rarely earns the space.
The headline should be a fact, not a mood. A reporter scanning twenty pitches will decide in seconds whether the top line is worth their afternoon.
Add one quote from a person with a real title, and make it say something a human would actually say. A quote that repeats the headline is filler, and reporters cut it without blinking.
Add the boilerplate at the bottom in small type. Everyone ignores it except the editors who need your legal name spelled correctly.
Keep your sentences short. A release is read fast, often on a phone, and long clauses make a simple fact feel complicated.
A release is not a story. It is the raw material a reporter uses to write one, so make the raw material easy to lift.
Close with the name, email, and phone of a person who will pick up. A generic press alias works for big companies and fails for everyone else.
Put the contact at the bottom and again near the top if space allows. A reporter on deadline should never have to hunt for the one line that lets them reach you.
Do not end with a request to cover you. Reporters know what the release is for, and a plea reads as desperate rather than confident.
Send the release when the news is actually live, not a week before. Embargoes exist but they work best with reporters you already trust, and they require you to keep the date you promised.
One polite follow up a day later is fine. Three is harassment, and it gets your address filtered for the next launch you care about.
If a reporter asks for more, answer the same day. The window between interest and a published story is short.
Keep the language plain enough for a general reader. Jargon that impresses your industry will confuse an editor who covers several beats at once.
Name products and people exactly as they should appear. Most editors copy the spelling straight from your release, mistakes included.
If lawyers need to review it, get that done before the news is live. A delayed legal note turns a simple update into a correction.
Read it once as if you know nothing about the company. Any sentence that makes you pause is a sentence that will stop a reporter.
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