VGPR #006: The Artist's Way

VGPR Vacation Edition

Sep 01, 2020

[Hi, I'm Lizzie Killian, founder at FIFTYcc PR. You're reading VGPR, a newsletter featuring interesting developments and topics impacting public relations in the video games industry. If you’re enjoying this newsletter, please consider subscribing or sharing with a friend or colleague. Send feedback, questions, and ideas to vgpr.insider@gmail.com, or drop me a note on Twitter.]

Welcome to the vacation edition of VGPR! Last week I mentioned that I’m taking a few days off, so this issue will be a little different. Bear with me!

Lizz O))) @lizziekillian

Mentally I'm here

The Artist’s Way

I’ve been reading and working through The Artist’s Way. What is this book, and why is it in VGPR? From The New Yorker’s review:

Billed as “A Course in Discovering and Recovering Your Creative Self,” the book is a program designed to help readers reject the devils of self-doubt on their shoulders and pursue creative activity not as a profession but as a form of therapy. At the core of the process is a ritual called “morning pages,” based on the belief that writing out three pages of free-form writing, in longhand, each morning, will unclog one’s mental and emotional channels of all the muck that gets in the way of being happy, productive, and creative. Simple enough.

I got this book after the endorsement of some friends and then hearing Rivers Cuomo mention it during a Zoom concert, which I took as a sign to finally check it out. Like any self-help style book, it can be a little corny, but is filled with practical advice that works.

Cool, cool, but what does this have to do with VGPR? First, the book was directly responsible for inspiring me to start this newsletter, and for this week’s vacation (taking some time in isolation to work on my musical projects). It’s also helped me to remember that effective PR is often creative: What are the best ways to reach an audience? What’s most interesting about my client? What are the best parts to show off? How do I make this release read better? To me, PR is often more art than science. You can’t run the same cookie cutter campaign for different clients, and even a great pitch won’t land with every journalist, influencer, etc. You need to stay in tune with the best of what your clients have to offer, and with the best potential audiences for their stories.

In short, doing your best work means taking care of your creative side. If work isn’t able to provide a complete outlet, make room for your other projects. I spent a long time telling myself “I just don’t have the time” for creative projects, but I’ve found that taking this time (rather than “finding” the time) and timeboxing it pays for itself with improved focus and fresh outlook. My work gets better, and my attitude towards it is improved. Early in my career it was easy to think that just throwing myself harder at the work is the best, most responsible, most “professional” thing I could do, but I’ve slowly realized taking care of yourself is truly essential and makes the journey worthwhile. So, on the eve of my short vacation, I thought I’d share a tool that helped me to remember this critical task that busy PR pros are often experts at forgetting. I’ve sent this book to three friends already and I’m looking forward to seeing what they end up creating!

From Media to PR, part deux

Last week, I shared some answers to two key questions I asked people who made the jump from media to PR:

What was the biggest surprise for you moving from media to PR?
What’s a piece of advice you’d give to someone in media thinking about a career in PR?

I got more good answers than I had room to share, and had a lot of positive feedback from readers on that section last week! That made it an easy decision to share some more of those responses. I’ve kept the responses anonymous, and thanks again to those who have contributed to this series!

Respondent 1: A gaming writer turned in-house AAA PR

Biggest Surprise?

I was surprised that many of the devs I worked with were familiar with me and my writing and reviews on the media side. Devs and executives are very dialed-in on what media and fans say about their work, sometimes too dialed-in. Part of your job as a PR person is to make sure they keep proper perspective. We instinctively know (or should know) that Twitter and reddit are not in themselves, a full reflection of real life. Help them keep an even keel!

Best Advice?

Make sure to leverage your experience as a journalist/writer covering the industry every chance you get. You should instinctively know which questions should go in an FAQ, what pitches have the best chance of landing, which game features will resonate strongest with media, and so on, because you’ve been on the other side of it so many times! Let your experience be an asset!

Respondent 2: A gaming writer turned agency PR

Biggest Surprise?

The amount of creative freedom I have in PR for games. PR timelines can be long so I have a lot of fun planning things for the games I work on from announcement to release. I was worried that I’d lose that sense of creativity since I wasn’t writing editorials and reviews anymore.

Best Advice?

Know what you’re getting into. I’ve seen former colleagues from games media go into PR and drop out shortly after since it’s not what they expected or they enjoyed games journalism more. (Also, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to ask about job opportunities at gaming events! Just be respectful about it.)

Meanwhile, in the media…

ReedPop, which runs events like PAX and EGX, and owns sites like Eurogamer, USgamer, GamesIndustry.biz, Rock Paper Shotgun, and more, is undergoing budget cuts
WIRED is launching a new gaming vertical, led by Alan Henry