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Mark Pucci says, "To be a good publicist, you've
got to have the gift of gab and
know what you're talking about. You've got to
know what the person on the other end
of the phone wants to hear in order to get them
to be interested in what you're
working on. You've got to be a good researcher.
The fact that I was a music writer was
helpful to me, not just knowing the mechanics
of writing, but having been on the
other side of the phone with people pitching
stories to me taught me a lot."
"I found as my career moved forward, if I
didn't love the person for
whom I was doing the work, it meant nothing. I
was blessed by loving
the two main people for whom I did most of my
work: Elton John and
Roy Orbison."--SM
"It's all about your relationship with press
people, who tolerate us as long
as we have a creative
thought."--SM
"Understand early in your career the importance
of stress management.
When the day comes that you can't turn your
head to the right or left,
understand that you are the only person
responsible for your massage
and acupuncture appointments. I say that with
humor, but know that
I'm serious. The publicist is the person who
has to keep the eight plates
spinning in the air, like the guy in the
circus--you can't drop a plate."--
SM
"When I start working with an artist, I try to
read everything that has
been written about them already and I try to
see them perform as many
times as I can. I listen to their music a lot
and try to pick up things about
the artist that make them special and different
from other artists; things I
think make them unique. Then my job is to try
and convey that infor-
mation to the people that I work
with."--MP
"You've got to have a passion for music above
everything. There are going
to be so many things that come up against
you--obstacles--unless you
love it, you're not going to be able to hang in
there and put up with the
discouragement."--MP
"Learn as much as you can. Don't be afraid to
find out about other areas
of the business so you can become a more
complete person."--MP
CAREER
TIPS
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