Promotion vs. human interest

[raywinters]

I wrote a story called "Electric Cars, Superheroes and Pizza" about a pizza restaurant that uses all-electric delivery vehicles, has delivery people dressed up as superheroes, and so on. I even interviewed the owner. It was sent back because "we don't publish promotional content." Where is the line drawn between promotional content and human interest? Should I just tank the whole story? I sincerely thought it was human interest.

[raywinters]

I am replying to my own post. After digging around on the forum a little bit, I think I found out what the issue is. This was for a request. The person asking for the request wanted biographical details. I don't know why, but they did. So I cut and pasted my profile. This is what is considered promotion. I guess I misunderstood what was being requested.

[Celeste Stewart]

Ah, makes sense. Sometimes requesters do want your personal information (such as Joe Blow is a research scientist and geneaology buff) to complement the article. When this happens, just put a note in the short summary to alert the review team that the information is included by request.

[Debbi]

Or direct the customer to your CC bio. Of course that means you have to write one if you haven't already done so

[raywinters]

Thanks Debbi and Celeste.