Aly's Newsletter: It's Another Manic Monday!
Aly's Newsletter: It's Another Manic Monday!
Many Mother's Day gift guides are in the works!
Happy Monday!
Last night's episode of Outlander was...well, triggering. And I don't know if everyone reading this has watched it yet, but let's just say that my heart stopped beating about 3 different times during last night's episode.
It was devastating, uplifting, hopeful, romantic, then, devastating all over again. And for anyone who is reading the book series concurrently...it's the beginning of a whole lot of heartache to come.
They didn't title this episode "The World Turned Upside Down" for nothing....
Some housekeeping
This weekend, I sent out my weekly paid edition of the newsletter. There, I shared the details about my next subscriber-only Zoom event. You can still check it out here.
What's cooking?
Last night I tried out a new recipe, live on my Instagram stories! I made a Thai red curry with salmon and veggies. Go grab it before it goes away...! It came out so yum (and obviously, you can adjust the curry paste to your own spice level preferences...I like it pretty hot.)
Newly published
Clean Plates: 12 Passover Recipes For a Healthy and Delicious Seder
The Kitchn: This Burrata Hack Will Revolutionize Your at-Home Brunch Routine
Clean Plates: The Healthiest, Best-Tasting Tomato Sauces to Stock Up on at the Grocery Store
If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any shares on social media tagging @alywalansky and the outlet. Thanks!
Here's what I'm working on:
Be sure to read the below list carefully. Many are stories I posted about yesterday, but some of yesterday's stories are no longer listed and a few new ones have been added since yesterday. This (below) is everything that is still a currently open opportunity as of today.
AllRecipes
For AllRecipes, I'm going to be working on a roundup of drinking glasses - everything from those regency-era coupe glasses I'm obsessed with to, like, stuff for water or juice (hydration is important, you guys). My categories of drinking glasses will include (in the event this is helpful in your pitching) stuff like: "Best Overall for Everyday Use," "Best Budget," "Best Unbreakable" (think water glasses for these first few), "Best Insulated," ... then stuff like "Best for Bourbon and Whiskey," "Best for Beer," "Best for Wine," and "Best for Champagne". For each item I include, I will be touching on a few specs (for glasses, specs would probably be Material:, Dimensions:, Capacity:, and Quantity:), i'm going to try to do a range of retailers for these, but limit to the major ones (think amazon, Walmart, target, etc)
Forbes.com
I said it was coming and here it is, I'm working on a bunch of Mother's Day gift guides for Forbes. Here's the topics:
Mother’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Mail-Order Gifts For A Mother’s Day Meal At Home
Mother’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Foodie Gifts For The Mom Who Loves To Travel
Mother’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Luxury Kitchen Gifts
Mother’s Day Gift Guide: The Best Celebrity Chef Merchandise For Home Cooks
To pitch me for any of these, please be sure to start a new email thread, email alywalansky@gmail.com (NOT my substack) and let me know which one(s) you are pitching for. please be sure to include:
name of product
where solid, link, price
description, and why it's a good fit for this theme
and a LINK to a high res image (dropbox preferred...just please make sure you are SHARING the image and not just cut and pasting a URL...that will ensure I actually GET it and not ... a dropbox home screen lol.)
Clean Plates
I'm rounding up healthy Mother's Day gifts you can get on Amazon. Can be foods / snacks / organic chocolates / wellness oriented stuff... anything that fits into the whole Clean Plates theme (so you. may want to take a gander at the site to have an idea of the kind of stuff that may work before pitching) - I'm looking to include a range of prices, but keep everything from the $10 range to like $100.
Taste of Home
I'm working on Paw-some Dog Birthday Party Ideas - I'm rounding up products you'd purchase for a dog's birthday party. So stuff like fun decorations on Etsy, a dog-friendly birthday cake, little gifts for the furry guests, and items that'll help the humans at the party celebrate, too.
Today.com
I'm rounding up deals at restaurant/food chains for MOTHER'S DAY. (This is a month away obviously, so I have a bit of time to play with this one) - for either of these, please be sure to send the name of the chain, what the deal is, and how customers can claim it. (Do they need a promo code? A rewards app? A QR code? etc)
To pitch me for ANY of these stories, please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com (and start a new thread, please!).
Are you confused about affiliate marketing?
If you are having trouble learning how to navigate issues of affiliate marketing (trust me, we've all been there!), you may want to try out my friend Sarah Karger, a publicist, and former editor Dana Baardsen (and all-around fab girl!)'s Ultimate Masterclass and Introduction to Affiliate Marketing for Publicists. It's a brilliant course and it'll answer all your questions (including some you didn't know you had!)
Download the Substack App!
Good news! This newsletter is now available via app. That means you can keep up with everything you are reading from your phone. Download the app for iPhone and iPad here. For Android users, sign up for the waiting list here.
<3
aly