''77 1/2 PR Tips'' e-Book Challenges Conventions; Author Joe Chernov Provides Practical, Real-World Public Relations Tips for Entrepreneurs.

SOMERVILLE, Mass. -- Joe Chernov, founder of the Boston-based agency Upper Right PR, released his first e-book, 77 1/2 PR Tips, last week. Chernov and publisher Bryon Krug of BooksOnStuff will each donate 100 percent of earnings from first quarter sales to The American Red Cross.

Written for entrepreneurs and executives with small to medium size businesses, the book shares winning techniques for building healthy relationships with the media, conducting effective interviews, writing compelling press materials, and evaluating outsourced service providers.

"Executives don't have time for public relations theory," said Chernov. "They want results. From tip one to seventy-seven, this book instructs companies on how to influence their buying public."

The concept behind 77 1/2 PR Tips began serendipitously. Chernov volunteered several public relations suggestions to a Yahoo community frequented by entrepreneurs. One message board regular was Bryon Krug, founder of an e-publishing company called BooksOnStuff. "Chernov's tips - and the refreshingly frank style in which they were written - sparked so many responses that I knew immediately he was onto something valuable."

Along with entertaining references to Rasputin, Charles Bukowski and Perry Mason, Chernov's "refreshingly frank" tone found its way from the on-line community to the pages of the e-book. For example, he suggests ways for companies to use the mass impersonalization of today's technology-driven culture to their advantage by periodically revisiting the "nostalgic" medium of handwritten letters.

Other advice includes cautioning executives against grading the quality of an interviewer's questions (Tip 29: "Saying 'good question' is bad form) and encouraging spokespeople to reduce their messages to "digestible" portions (Tip 39: "Remember the 'Rule of Three'").

Chernov also helps companies avoid the most common trappings when selecting a public relations firm or consultant. He urges readers to resist the temptation to ask potential public relations partners to disclose their media contacts. "This is the single most misguided question you can ask when evaluating PR providers," he writes, "as it presupposes that not only will a journalist write a story upon a friend's urging, but also that the managing editor will comply as well. Remember, it is your message - not the messenger - that earns you media coverage."

Following the release of 77 1/2 PR Tips, Chernov's company launched a new service designed specifically for entrepreneurs. Upper Right PR's fixed-price "DIY PR Kit," equips early stage companies with a custom plan and supporting materials that allow the staff to implement their own communications program.

77 1/2 PR Tips is available for $7.77 at Amazon and BooksOnStuff.com.

About BooksOnStuff

BooksOnStuff was founded in 2003 by Bryon Krug. The company specializes in publishing business and how-to titles in e-book form, and it has published many of the best-selling e-books on Amazon.com and eBooks.com. For more information, please see www.booksonstuff.com.

About Upper Right PR

Upper Right PR is a boutique public relations firm located in Somerville, Massachusetts. The company provides on-site - or insourced - public relations services for business-to-business clients and private label communications services for advertising and marketing firms. Upper Right PR clients include BzzAgent, Inc., GlassFilm Enterprises, Inc., Madico, Inc. and The Bray Group. Further information is available at www.upper-right.com.