Monday: Happy birthday to me!
Also: Working on a few new Valentine's gift guides and seeking pitches.
Happy Monday!
Also, happy first day of Hanukkah for anyone celebrating, and happy my birthday!
I'd LOVE to say I am taking the day off for my birthday, but that's not in the cards for me today. Just too much to get done this morning. (BUT I will it while eating a hot fresh poppy seed bagel, which is my favorite birthday morning tradition.)
However, I am taking the *afternoon* off (which is a rather sexy prospect on a Monday), for a blowout date at my favorite salon with my favorite people, followed by dinner with said people at my favorite restaurant (there's a lot of favorites in there!).
I'll (of course!) share more later/tomorrow -- including gratuitous martini shots, because is there any other way?
I'm going to get a little bit sentimental here for a second. But I wanted to say --early in 2022, life hit a bit of a rough patch. It was one that very easily could have left me with self-esteem and trust issues — a place that I've sometimes found myself over the years, to be honest.
But instead of that happening, I discovered something rather interesting. Despite those rough patches, or maybe even as a result of them, this year ended up being a great year for me personally and professionally.
Just a few highlights: I was rated the top food writer of 2022 by Muck Rack, I have my very own signature martini on a NYC hotel bar menu (created and named by me!), and, most recently, I contributed to my very first published cookbook. This Substack community is growing into something far more wonderful than I ever imagined -- and, most importantly, I have a beautiful, amazing circle of friends that I cherish, that I know I can trust and count on and truly want nothing but the best for me. And that is, priceless.
You never know when life's random twists and turns and transitions are going to end up placing you where you needed to be all along. Sometimes you just need to buckle in and see where the ride takes you.
And…in a way, our industry can be sort of like that as well…right? So, maybe there’s a message we can ALL take from this.
PHEW.
Sorry for all that cheese factor (but we do know I love cheese), but that was all to say, I'm just really grateful where life has taken me. And I’ll have a lot to celebrate while drinking that birthday martini tonight. (Which, truth be told, is my favorite martini other than the one I created!)
BUT...it is a work day. And I have a whole bunch of content recently published and newly pending -- including some new Valentine's Day gift guides I'm working on. So, lets get scrolling!
Special One Day Only Deal!
In honor of my birthday today, for ONE DAY ONLY, I’m offering 19% off a paid subscription. That can be either monthly or annual.
Newly Published or Freshly Updated
Since people are often asking about the status of stories from a while ago, and I only share stories in this newsletter that were published or updated in the current week, I have created a list of my author pages at various publications to which I contribute. Bookmark it and make your life a bit easier.
This list will live on my Substack URL and be updated as necessary. That way, you can see what I’m doing at any publication, at any time, from types of stories to general structure of stories to even volume and frequency of my content at that outlet.
This can also help you to target pitching a bit better. That makes your job easier, and mine too!
Forbes: Dominique Ansel Goes Futuristic With An Automated Cookie Shot Robot
Forbes: Save Time By Getting Holiday Meal Essentials Delivered To Your Door
Eat This, Not That: 10 New Cookbooks We Can't Wait to Get Our (Oven) Mitts on in 2023
Eat This, Not That: 7 Best Matzo Ball Soup Recipes To Make Tonight
Clean Plates: 9 Products That Will Actually Make You Excited to Workout
RetailMeNot: Stores Open Christmas Day + Christmas Eve Store Hours 2022
Forbes: Viva Magenta: Pantone’s Color Of The Year 2023 Has Inspired Gorgeous Cocktails Nationwide
Eat This, Not That: This Is the Best Way To Cook Brisket, According to Chefs
SPY: Dear Procrastinators: These Are the Best Places to Buy Gift Cards Online
If you or your client are featured in any of these stories, I super appreciate any social media shares! Please remember to tag @alywalansky and the outlet.
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.
Please remember when pitching me: Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com - do NOT just hit reply on this newsletter, or there’s a good shot your email will be lost in the heap. Give your email a subject line that makes it clear which story you are pitching me for — it’ll help you in the long run.
Please consult my industry insights guides on submitting expert commentary, sending emails that will catch a journalist’s attention, how to craft pitches journalists will say ‘yes’ to, and the right and wrong way to submit photos, if you need any extra guidance before sending your pitches.
RetailMeNot
The Best Galentine's Day Gifts for your Besties: I’ll be updating this story I did last year (so if you represent a product that is in last year’s guide, please let me know if there’s any changes to it as far as price, availability, etc). But I’ll also be adding a dozen or so new products that are also great gift ideas for your bestie this year (in the same format as last year’s, if you want to use that as a guide when pitching.)
The Best Affordable Valentine's Day Gifts: I’m also working on this guide to affordable Valentine’s Day gifts. Trying to stick with under $100 for these items.
Clean Plates
Trader Joe’s Frozen Foods Perfect for Valentine’s Day at Home: I’m looking to round up people’s Trader Joe's frozen items that would work well for a Valentine's Day celebration at home. This could be either for a date night or for a girl's night in. It’s a crowdsource but I’m also very open to those from RDs or nutritionists, as well.
Costco Foods Nutritionists Love for Valentine’s Day: I’m looking to ask nutritionists to share some of their favorite Costco finds that work well for a healthy Valentine's Day celebration.
HelloGiggles
I’m working on two new gift guides pegged for - not holiday 2022 - but new years and Valentine’s 2023. I DO have a bit of time to play with on these, but the topics are:
Products to help you sleep better in 2023 - everything from bedding to supplements and more.
Sexy things to gift yourself this Valentine's Day - everything from underthings to more fun things, whether you have a partner or not.
Forbes
Tableside cocktails: These are cocktails that are prepared in some form tableside. I’d love to be pitched those that currently exist on bar/restaurant menus. Please include all the following info:
1 - Name of cocktail
2 - Where it’s on the menu (so name of restaurant/bar, city, state, URL) - this cocktail must exist, either on the permanent menu or as a special, somewhere where people can go and order it.
3 - Description of drink (please do not send a recipe, it’s not necessary!)
4 - Quote from a bartender/bar manager/chef about the drink (and please don’t forget to include their name and title)
5 - image of cocktail (and please include any necessary credit info)
Boozy desserts: I’ll be honest, I rarely have dessert, but when I am out for dessert, I always joke that I prefer to drink my dessert - perhaps with an espresso martini. But I want to flip the script on that. Rather than round up dessert-like booze (which I’ve done before several times!), I’d love to round up desserts that have booze in it. Think pudding, cake, etc, that involve booze in some format — same parameters as above. Must exist on a menu somewhere.
Virtual consulting sessions...
Looking for a consult as you plan your next event or trip? Or just want someone to take a look at the pitches you’ve been sending and give some feedback?
I've been popping into a lot of PR team virtual meetings and some other fun stuff (This summer, I even joined in on an agency’s team retreat right here in Brooklyn — it was so fun and I made so many new friends!) and making myself available to answer all sorts of questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective. I like to keep these things chill and comfortable and relaxed all by sharing perspective and learning from one another.
If you are interested in setting anything up for your own team in the coming months, please email me and we'll get something on the books! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts. If you are a freelance publicist and want to join in with a few other freelance publicist friends and set something up, we can do that as well!
On the fence over whether this is a good fit for your team? Here’s some feedback I received from people who I have worked with recently:
"Aly’s advice and insight is invaluable to our team, not only is she incredibly knowledgeable, she is approachable, generous, and kind too. While we read every one of her newsletters, we decided to go one step further and invited Aly to host a Q&A with our agency. During the session, we felt comfortable asking her everything and anything. She went above and beyond, providing examples and reasoning for each answer, and the team walked away with an abundance of new insight, tips, and tricks, plus a new confidence in handling some of the most crucial parts of our jobs." Sacha Bell, Rachel Harrison Communications
"Looking for a brilliant writer that always goes above and beyond? Look no further than Aly! She is an incredible teacher, tells it exactly how it is and is so generous in sharing her knowledge. She knows what she wants from publicists, is very clear on her needs and expectations, and how to best support one another. Most of all, her kind personality jumps off the page, and her giggle and smile are infectious. In this consistently changing world of media, it’s so refreshing to know someone so genuine.” Kirsten Wanket
“Aly spoke to our team to help us all gain a better understanding of the media side of our business. Whether it was the best ways to pitch media or understanding the editorial process of content, she gave us tremendous insight into a vital relationship for mutual success. We were thrilled and our team came away with not only a deeper understanding, but with greater empathy for our colleagues in the media market. Definitely would recommend Aly for any agency looking to better work with their media counterparts.” Dawn Britt, Founder/Managing Partner/CEO of OneSeven Agency
“Aly has very kindly agreed to join a few sessions for us talking to both smaller and larger internal groups, and it has been incredibly helpful for our team to understand more about her process, and garner best practices that we leverage as we work on various programs. From sharing dos and don’ts for virtual and in-person events to pitching tips, Aly is a pro and always so thoughtful in her responses. And her own first-hand knowledge has helped us all to better understand the work process for freelancers and how we can most effectively work with other freelancers like Aly. We always appreciate her time and insights!” Erin Delahanty, Edelman
“I would highly recommend booking a virtual consulting session with Aly for an agency of any size! She offers up to date perspective on everything from the affiliates to how to get your pitches read to timing your pitching correctly. These virtual consulting sessions literally save you time trying to figure out what the media is looking for and give your team an immediate edge. Aly took her time and answered questions from the team. She is super friendly and you can tell she genuinely wants to create a win-win relationship between the media and publicists. Our team loved having Aly on and we cannot wait to have her back! It was a blast!” Leah Cybulski, ChicExecs
“Aly was able to join our agency for a PR Perspectives chat and not only was it so much fun, but it was so informative! Keeping a pulse on the constantly changing media landscape is so important and we loved the insights and expertise Aly was able to share with us. Highly recommend setting up a chat with her!” Jennifer Haile, Dentsu Creative PR
“I am always looking for ways to share new ideas and learning opportunities with our team to improve how we pitch and offer value to journalists and in turn their audience. Aly's no nonsense approach gave us accessible advice about the best way to communicate to media, what formats works best, and basically how we can share our client news in a way that will get us noticed and included in stories. Would do again in a heartbeat!” Samantha Davidson, Say My Name Communications
“For my team’s first hybrid media event for a product launch in the COVID era, Aly quickly jumped on a Zoom and dropped great insights that drove many of the event elements. The direction she provided helped us increase attendance and gave her journalist colleagues a more memorable experience. It was a bonus that she was so easy and fun to talk to.” Apryl Ash, Approach Marketing
Now, it’s your turn! Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to get something on my schedule.
Looking to up your affiliate marketing game?
Affiliate marketing is complicated, and it seems that the landscape keeps changing. If you are looking to be prepared for gift guide season and all other shopping-related content, you may want to try the 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!)
Have a great day!
<3
aly
Happy Belated Birthday! Hope it was absolutely brilliant
I'm late to the game, but Happy Birthday! Hope it was a blast!!! So glad to have had the chance to meet you this year!