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entry level PR acct coordinator here. wont get into details but i work for a tech PR firm in the SF Bay area.

first, don't be an idiot... PR can get you much farther than a regular english degree which almost everyone has and never uses. I went to school for journalism, switched from news writing to PR because media affairs interested me more than writing the actual news everyday. i have absolutely no regrets about my decision.

typical day for me goes like this. each 'account coordinator' (aka lowly PR person) has 2-5 accounts they deal with, depending on experience and other factors. i start my day by scouring the internet for news coverage about my clients, good or bad. google news alerts are my best friend. 2x/week i compile reports for the clients that summarize the type of news coverage they got in a given time frame so they know the general tone of conversation that's going on re: their company. After that, usually have a couple morning meetings to go over all the stuff we're doing for the clients and what needs done. It's hard sometimes for a PR firm to gauge "success" (aka get paid) so it's really important to have frequent meetings to ensure nobody is slacking and everyone is on top of things and we are doing quantifiable, verifiable work that our clients can see. And like I said, I'm entry level so I do a lot of the writing, scheduling, and researching that the higher account coordinators don't have time to do.

after the meetings, this is where my days usually differ. i set up meetings between my client and different analysts or journalists, either for interviews or company tours, then compile reports about those analysts/journalists so the CEO being interviewed doesn't look like a jackass and say something that makes him sound stupid or make assumptions about the journalist/publication interviewing them. i could also be doing research on competitors, write press releases which get disseminated throughout the various news wires and picked up by media outlets across the country/world. Honestly, I could be doing any kind of research about products/businesses/competitors on our clients' behalf, or write stuff for them.

this might sound boring but keep in mind i'm entry level. my bosses/superiors are great, very talented, and have been extremely helpful and supportive in training me.

my advice to you:
-make sure this is what you want to do. If you're not sure, just trust me that PR is better than english and there is nothing you can do with an english degree that you can't do with a PR degree.
-be addicted to the news. bookmark tons of news websites of all kinds and check them daily. being aware of current events will get you far no matter what field you go into.
-know how to write, and write fast and well. in PR or any other form of journalism, you're usually under a constant deadline. learn to love that. it's not that stressful because eventually you work your way into a routine and you just know that certain things are due at certain times. Just like any other job.
-don't graduate expecting a job offer and a corner office. I went to a top journalism school at a top university and it took me several years before I could make my way into a legit PR firm. Until then, I worked my friggin ASS off doing various jobs, each more humiliating and degrading as the next for a person with a college degree, yet I did them and it gave me a work ethic that shows in everything I do. The people who graduate from college and expect things to just be 'given' to them are in for a serious wake up call. Those kinds of people lack character. You're not like that. Be willing to do any job and every job, and tie it in to your professional career one way or another. Even if you're flipping burgers at mcdonalds, share ideas with your boss on how to communicate better with customers and the public in general. DO NOT get stuck in the cycle of menial work though. Several times I had the chance to stay where I was at and work my way up doing a job I didn't go to college for (or even need a degree for). What I'm saying is, work hard no matter what, and have the cognizance to know when to go 'all-in' when you find the right job.

TL;DR: PR is better than English. Read lots of news articles. Work very hard coming out of college no matter what you do, but have faith that as long as you persevere, you will find a great PR job and everything will fall into place.

Also, consider checking out a book called "The Fall of Advertising and the Rise of PR". It's a good argument for how PR has overtaken advertising as the preferred method of communication between companies and individuals.

i would check out this book. "How to Self-Promote without Being a Jerk" - by Bruce Kasanoff

He's got tons of good stuff on LinkedIn and great reviews on the book. You might save yourself some money and do the job you are requesting in a more natural way instead of paying someone.

Here's the book.

Here's his LinkedIn profile and articles.

I'm still a student, but the textbook we use is This is PR. It's pretty informative.

I know this is a PR sub, but I'll give you a review from a marketing perspective.

I didn't buy the book but spent 15 minutes considering a buy. I was not convinced and didn't buy. Here's my thinking to help you.

Price. Amazon offered me multiple suggestions of books with as many as 172 reviews and are cheaper than your book. These books can be gotten

For example, Methods of Persuasion has 15,000 sales and is a much longer read (242 pages) than your e-book (78 pages).

Length. 80 pages signaled this was an ebook, not a rigorously researched and written tome.

Bland writing I read the product description and scanned the sample. There was never a hook to pull me in.

The Foreword was boring and skippable (but often they are). I didn't like how the Foreward pushed an external website. That's not a problem if that's your website.

The excerpt in the 1st chapter lacked flair and there was no intro that pulled me right into a story. If this was a news story, the readers would have clicked away to something else. Remember, storytelling is very important and you don't need to just have case studies is separate chapters. Tell stories everywhere.

Your competition. Amazon is all about making money for Amazon. So, Amazon distracted me more appealing books. And you know what, I did consider buying one of the other books. (I didn't though).

Public Relations: Strategies and Tactics by Wilcox and Cameron is probably the intro text out there. https://www.amazon.ca/Public-Relations-Strategies-Tactics-10th/dp/0205770886

Well, I guess there's my first mistake. I wasn't aware that there was a style guide (I haven't taken any PR classes aside from Intro to PR this semester). So I didn't follow one (I wasn't aware there was one, I looked up PR assignments and how to write press releases from various professor sites). I'm guessing that I can learn from these though, right?

http://www.prsa.org/AboutPRSA/GuidelinesLogos/PRSAStyleGuide.pdf

http://smile.amazon.com/The-PR-Styleguide-Relations-Practice/dp/1111348111?sa-no-redirect=1

Risk Issues and Crisis Management in PR: A casebook of best practice

Cases studies from the owners of (Mike) Register & (Judy) Larkin, an agency that started in London that specializes in crisis communication.

I attended a few classes and guest lectures by Mike and would give my right arm to take an internship at that agency and I've been in the trade 15 years.