1.Start small - unless you've got a major following, it's going to be easier to get a review in a smaller "Shopper" type paper than the major newspaper in your city (which you have thoughtfully not provided in your profile). The smaller the paper, the more filler they're going to be looking for. If there's an "entertainment" paper or weekend guide kind of thing, find out if you play any venues that buy ads in their rag (not just the calendar listing, an actual ad). If you're playing someplace that advertises with them, make sure that whoever the "nightlife" editor knows when and where you are playing by sending a note along with your press release ("Just thought you'd like to know, since VENUE X doesn't list the bands in the ad in YOUR PAPER, that we're going to be playing there on THE DATE. Here's a copy of our CD, hope you enjoy it. And say HI if you get a chance to stop by VENUE X.")
If they do a review of the band, see if they can say something about the CD. The more you have written about you, the easier it is to get written about.
2. Charity begins with charity - You can do Good and do yourselves some good by donating performance time and CD giveaways with a local charity. Your performance/give-away becomes HARD NEWS, not entertainment tripe, and (by giving away CDs) you can more than likely get them to pick up verbiage and phraseology from your press release about the CD. So now that quote you got from the SHOPPING STRIP GAZETTE that got put in the publicity package gets picked up by the BIG PAPER IN TOWN, who wants to include a blurb about your CD to encourage people to make the charity event a success.
Once you have an event scheduled, see if you can get a local radio or TV station to climb on board. Once you start making those kind of connections, the less your CD package ends up in the garbage or (just as bad) on somebody's shelf at home.
