Press releases are easy to hate. So many of them are poorly written, off target or way too long.

But if you’re a writer covering the world of business, press releases are a fact of work life.

In the years I’ve been a business reporter, first at a daily newspaper and more recently as a freelance writer, I’ve probably gotten thousands of press releases, maybe tens of thousands. At the paper I had stacks of them sitting on my desk. Today everything comes via email. But no matter how they’re delivered, there are a few things that set good press releases apart from bad ones, and really great ones from the only so so.

Here are my top tips for writing a great press release:

1. Content is more important than writing. Explain exactly what the news is in the first paragraph and don’t worry about making it sound pretty. That’s the reporter’s job.

2. Context is just as important as content. Explain why an event, product or new hire is important to the company, organization or association making the announcement. The reporter has to do this anyway, so if you include the information, you’re giving her a head start.

3. Keep it short. One page is perfect, unless it’s quarterly earnings. Forget the flowery language, just stick to the facts. If a reporter needs more information, she’ll call.

4. Include a date and phone number. This sounds like a no brainer, but you’d be amazed how many times I’ve done research about a company online and found old press releases with no date or no phone number. Are they trying to make it hard for reporters to follow up?

5. Know who you’re writing the release for. The reporter for the local daily newspaper will have a different take on your announcement than the staff writer at the trade magazine that covers your industry, so slant your press releases accordingly. Know who the target audience or readers of each publication you’re sending the release to are and why your news is important to them. This is something reporters have to do every day, so make it easy for them. If you do, they’re more likely to want to work with you and not just now but the next time you email a pitch.

6. Make sure someone is available to take calls after a release goes out – and not just the PR staff. It’s incredibly annoying to have a company make an announcement and then have the CEO, product manager or whoever was included in the release not be available. And don’t call a reporter to make sure they got your release – they did.

7. Don’t be offended if a reporter isn’t interested. What might be big news for your company might not be a big deal for that daily paper or trade magazine. But if you’re sending material to a reporter who regularly covers your company or organization, you can be sure they’re reading it and saving it for a time when they’re doing a trend piece that your company or group will fit into nicely, or as background when your company gets acquired, lands a huge contract or goes public.

The best PR people understand all this and act accordingly, and when they do, they make reporters’ jobs that much easier.

Do you have your own suggestions or tips for what makes a good press release?

It’s popular for writers to look down on PR people. The stereotypical media relations representative is inexperienced, doesn’t know one publication from another, hasn’t a clue about how the news business works, and actually makes it harder to get through to a source. While that’s an exaggeration, it’s still true that in many cases the PR bar is set pretty low.

But after years in the business I can honestly say a good public relations rep is a treasure. The true pros make my job easier because they understand what I’m after, quickly find the person or information I need, take it upon themselves to do whatever follow up is necessary, and don’t pester me with follow ups.

So for what it’s worth, here are 10 things a media rep can do to make my life easier:

1. When I call or email, promptly find the appropriate source for the story I’m working on, brief them on the topic and set up an interview time, preferably via email. And remember what time zone I’m in so I don’t get calls to my home office at insane hours of the morning or night.

2. If you must sit in on a phone interview, be invisible. But at the end of the call, note any information the source needed to check on and send it to me as quickly as possible.

3. Don’t assume I want to interview you. I don’t. I want to interview the subject matter expert at your company, organization, agency or school. So be a gatekeeper. In the rare situation where I’m OK with getting my quote from you, I’ll let you know.

4. Be easily accessible by office phone, cell or email should my editor have a question I need an answer to in a hurry. If you’re going to be out of the office, make sure someone is around who can answer my questions.

5. If I need file art for a story, send it to me or directly to the art director of the publication I’m writing the story for, in the appropriate file format.

6. Take it upon yourself to find out when my story runs rather than asking me to send you a link once it’s out. Honestly, I’ll be on deadline on something else by then and won’t remember.

7. Don’t ask to review stories before they’re published. You can’t. I have been known to send sources direct quotes to check for factual accuracy, but that’s the exception not the rule. It’s also why I ask what seems like a zillion very detailed questions during an interview, to make sure I’ve got the information down cold.

8. Feel free to email me press releases and other updates. But don’t follow up with a phone call, and don’t expect to hear back from me unless it just so happens I’m working on something related to the topic. Don’t be surprised if you never hear from me – or if I call six months down the line.

9. Know my publication. If you don’t, get up to speed by reading it online so when you’re pitching stories you understand who my readers are and what aspects of your news are relevant.

10. Accept my LinkedIn invitation so I can add you to my list of contacts there, which I regularly search when I’m looking for story sources. Or feel free to send me an invitation. And if you don’t use LinkedIn or Facebook, learn how.