I just got a press release as a PDF. For me, that’s OK, because while I write about the industry, I don’t spend a lot of time reporting on it and therefore extracting a lot of quotes from releases.
BUT, if I did, pulling the text out of PDF files is a pain in the butt, and depending on the way the PDF is formatted, possibly a giant pain in the butt. Couple that with images that look very nice in the PDF file, but now have to be grabbed via screen capture and then fiddled with in some image edit software.
By putting something out that looks polished and pretty, you have created a bunch of irritating extra work for editors. On a busy day, they might not bother dealing with your stuff because time is limited.
If you insist on sending a PDF, send it as an attachment and have all the text in simple, unadorned text form in the email message body, and send images and logos as attachments.
Make it easy and you will get better results.
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Also beware microsoft word format. Not everyone can open it. I’m running linux, and I can open .doc fine (albeit with some formatting issues), but open office won’t take docx. Don’t force everyone to buy word. Be kind and choose an alternative format like ODF, or plain text. Heck, at the very least, save your document for an older version of word. Docx is a pain.
yup, very good point Ben. I am finding editors are loving plain text and attachments. The less formatting the happier they are.