CAHSS Faculty Authors Book, The Public Relations Writer’s Handbook

Whitney Lehmann, Ph.D., faculty in the Department of Writing and Communication in NSU’s College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences (CAHSS), has written a book, The Public Relations Writer’s Handbook, published by Routledge.

“I have taught Public Relations Writing since 2013 during my time as a doctoral student at the University of Miami. While I love the text that I previously used for the course, it was published in 2009,” Lehmann said. She wanted to create an updated work for PR students, practitioners, and educators that covered digital/social media. She indicated that her journalism experience was valuable in learning how to write as a PR practitioner and how to best pitch stories to the media.

“Learning the fundamentals of journalistic writing, in my opinion, is key to understanding and succeeding at writing for public relations,” she said.

Lehmann’s book is divided by topic, with the media relations section covering how to create press releases, pitch stories, and create media kits. The storytelling section covers news and feature writing, interviewing and creating bio sketches. A digital media section outlines writing for emails, the internet, and social media. The remaining sections cover business/executive communications and writing for events.

Lehmann plans to use the book in her fall Public Relations Writing class, and said the book is under consideration for use at the University of Miami’s School of Communication, where she earned an M.A. in Journalism and a Ph.D. in Communication.

“I think it would be so cool to have my alma mater adopt the book,” Lehmann said.

Although social media is constantly evolving, Lehmann emphasized the importance of constructing content with a conversational tone that engages the needs/wants of the audience. Social media will be the focus of her next book, Let’s Get Social: Social Media Writing and Strategy. She was a finalist for the 2018 Communicator of the Year by the Public Relations Society of America Greater Fort Lauderdale Chapter. In 2019, the chapter named the Department of Writing and Communication as its Department of the Year for Lehmann’s work establishing and advising the NSU chapter of the Public Relations Society of America. She teaches courses such as Mass Media, Public Relations Campaigns, and Social Media Theory and Practice.

For more information about her book, please visit: https://www.routledge.com/The-Public-Relations-Writers-Handbook/Lehmann/p/book/9780815365280