On ‘SWMS 2025’… and Thank You
December 18, 2024
3:38 pm
Perhaps 2024 was a challenging year for you. It certainly was at SWMS. In any case, the promise of a new year awaits, and here
>> PR
Marker Collective Bets on Software
November 11, 2024
5:05 am
SWMS tends not to cover the business initiatives of its subscribers, but the Marker Collective has embarked on something revealing. The parent org of Archetype,
Test Your Pitch With AI
April 26, 2024
12:38 pm
Ever use AI to test pitches before sending them to reporters? Try it sometime. It’s a fun way to improve them. For the proper horsepower, you’ll need a paid subscription to a Gen AI service such as GPT-4 or Claude 3.
SWMS Diagram: The Tier 1 Edit Process
January 12, 2024
4:35 am
Sometimes it’s easy to forget that when you’re pitching Tier 1 reporters, you are pitching their bosses at the same time. That’s why it’s helpful to understand the entire editorial process in the publications you’re pitching — not just the persuasion part.
Meet The Wikipedia Whisperer, David King
December 12, 2021
8:32 am
SWMS contributor Bob Scheier writes: A company’s Wikipedia entry is often one of the first to come up in response to a Web search, and might get more exposure than its Twitter, Facebook or other social media account.
AI Will Write Your Pitches — Soon
October 17, 2021
8:39 am
Tired of writing pitches and press releases? AI writes copy these days. This month we used Copy.ai to promote the fictitious Wazoolie Pro, “a hypnotizer that convinces prospects to buy products and services they don’t need.”
YOUR ACCOUNT
FRIDGE NOTES
When Publishers Ditch Readers Altogether…
June 15, 2025
Media analyst Brian Morrissey predicts that many smaller trade publishers and consumer publishers may one day just ditch readers altogether and simply publish to LLMs under contract and make their money that way. It’s a lot simpler than trying to sell ads to a dwindling reader base.
Axios is Hiring…
June 7, 2025
Axios is hiring a senior tech reporter to cover AI. How long will it take for the “laid-off” to land on their feet? It is already happening.
Next Big Thing: BrainTech
June 5, 2025
From Crunchbase News:
Neuralink’s recent $650 million raise is by far the largest for a neural interface startup on record, but comes as funding to neuroscience startups overall is set to rise sharply this year. All told, funding to the broader category of neuroscience startups totaled $896 million last year and is on track to reach $1.4 billion in 2025.
The Era of ‘Camera-less’ Video
June 4, 2025
From the excellent The Rundown AI newsletter: The future of video content creation is increasingly looking camera-less — with this latest round of upgrades taking avatars from more robotic talking heads to full-fledged actors with more granular control over motion and expressiveness.
Time to get a grip on Veo.
Business Insider Lays Off 20% of Staff
May 30, 2025
The BI culture over the years has been aloof to vendors and definitely PR. Now that many of those affected could use a friend or two, here’s hoping they get the lift they need. Here is the message from BI CEO Barbara Peng.