Send Press Release

Please send your short press release or event details to stephanie@positivelynaperville.com

Due to the volume of submissions for preview in this active, competitive community, Positively Naperville, a hyper-local news source, cannot guarantee that all news will be published in print or online. Our aim is to preview upcoming events rather than review what’s already happened. Thanks for reading in print monthly and online daily.

Note also that PN welcomes support to help fund the ever-increasing costs of buckets of ink, huge rolls of newsprint, distribution, USPS services, gas, etc., for the monthly print edition as well as all the bells and whistles that keep this website up and running around the clock. 

13 suggestions for how to contact PN with your news, calendar items and advertising…

Way in advance of the monthly deadline for submission, the PR contact for the Naperville Woman’s Club provided a news release about their first bewitching event at Naper Settlement, a brief that appeared in the monthly publication when PN celebrated its first 16 years. The Naperville Woman’s Club also is listed among PN’s nonprofit sponsors, much-appreciated support that receives special benefits in print and online.

Positively Naperville would be nothing without input from the community. We appreciate that you trust PN with your stories – we welcome and thrive on your news. That said, PN is not perfect. Way too often we find we’re operating on overload when folks from all over the world have the impression we’re a big business. Quite frankly, PN is a small, independently owned family business that tries to look at the bright side of life.

We just hate it when we make mistakes and/or overlook something. Again, please keep hyperlocal news coming!

(***BY THE WAY FOR REFERENCE, FROM THE TOP HEADLINE DOWN TO THIS LINE, YOU’VE JUST READ ABOUT 250 WORDS. BRIEF NEWS RELEASES MATTER. NOTE #1 BELOW. THANK YOU.)

Kindly be mindful of the deadline of the 15th of every month and keep all news in the press release format of text only and complete sentences. Fancy layouts and newsletter types of constant releases are discouraged as they are not press releases.

Also note when promoting events with an admission price, plan to advertise. Ad rates are posted online and PN is happy to work within budgets, all sizes. Thank you very much. 

As a response to the deluge of emailed press releases mentioned above, some of which are way too long for the “brief” format of PN, we have tightened our guidelines. With the huge influx and ease of broadcasting email, we ask that you follow our guidelines for consideration to be published in PN.

1. Please send only 200-300*** word press releases with WHO, WHAT, WHEN, WHERE, WHY AND HOW in short, complete sentences. (Use the K.I.S.S. principle…Keep It Super Simple…and try to target between the 15th and 20th of the month prior to publishing in order to be considered for the upcoming month) We like our news to be as fresh and up-to-date as possible.

2. PDFs/Flyers/ Constant Contacts about your event are unacceptable for publication. PN requests the equivalent  to one-page press releases. Press releases have a suggested headline, contact person, and are written in brief sentences. (Please note that we oftentimes post news releases on PN Latest N.E.W.S.  in between issues.)

3. Include name, phone and e-mail for contact verification only (not to be published)

4. Include phone or e-mail for publication in PN.

5. Embed your press release in the e-mail either with or without Word Document Attachment. Please note: Attached files that arrive without the embedded news may not be downloaded or reviewed. Also include/attach separate JPEG files of one or two high res photos (with photo credit reference) for publication online that will complement the story.

6. Let us repeat, please do not send press releases or newsletters as PDF files or flyers. We cannot always open them expeditiously and sometimes we cannot copy and paste the text for convenience.

7. Positively Naperville STYLE… When listing a date in your press release…please list in the following order: TIME, DAY OF THE WEEK and DATE. (For instance, this style would be perfect: 11AM, Tues., Sept. 1.) The order of time, day of the week and date is standard for most newspapers.

8. Also, place area code in parenthesis and use hyphens in all phone numbers. Right: (630) 000-0000. Wrong: 630.000.0000.

9. Want to post info on a calendar page? Please go to “Add Your Event” featured at the right on the home page just above the Event Calendar.  Simply follow the prompts/instructions and give the event calendar provider and PN editors 24-48 hours to activate the post online. (Kindly note that this free service recently was put on hold due to shenanigans by some parties that submitted content. Good news is that we recently contracted a new provider.)

10. Send press releases to stephanie@positivelynaperville.com, preferably by the 15th of the month. Please include one or two representative high resolution photos with captions and photo credit for possible use.

11. Please keep in mind there are hundreds of organizations that want to be promoted. Prioritize what is most important for your nonprofit organization every month. To guarantee placement in print, nonprofit advertising rates are available.

12. PN always welcomes advertising support. We likely can work within your budget.

Finally, let us repeat…

To handle the volume of press releases, newsletters, flyers, PDF files and more, we adhere to the stated policy above for accepting news and calendar postings. The time it takes to download e-mails to see if all the broadcast electronic news we receive is a fit for PN has become overwhelming at times, so we’ve got to admit that we have begun deleting what does not come in the simple format we need to file it for the calendar and/or upcoming issue.

We hope you know that we certainly welcome and want to promote your good news in this community-focused-and supported lifestyle publication. Thanks for being mindful of the way we need to receive it in order to be considered for our printed pages and this companion Website.

We welcome advertisers, too. In fact, advertising is how we thrive!  Our ad prospectus is posted under “Advertise.” If you’d like info on advertising in the printed monthly publication, here online or both, contact stephanie@positivelynaperville.com.

13. Again, we also welcome your news, your inquiries and your paid advertising in both the monthly publication and online! Advertising helps pay for buckets of ink, rolls of newsprint, press time, delivery services, website widgets and all the expenses for necessities that come with trying to run a small independent family business in Naperville, Illinois.

Thanks for your interest! And thanks for supporting our advertising sponsors whenever possible. Local matters!

—Stephanie Penick, Founder / Publisher / Editor of Positively Naperville / (630) 369-8447

—Tim Penick / Web Editor / Designer / Photographer