Monday: Just call me Professor Aly. Also: Newly published content and everything I'm working on.
Plus: See you on Wednesday, LA!
Happy Monday!
Apologies for the lateness of today’s email, I was playing professor!
I spoke this morning at NYU’s Summer Publishing Institute’s Digital Media Strategies Program as part of a panel on freelancing in 2024 — and it was SO fun.
As I just said in an Instagram post, if you are wondering how it may be to see me speak, picture somewhere between Professor Barbie and Legally Blonde, and you’ll have a pretty good idea.
But I had a great time and I met so many interesting future journalists (baby journalists!). A few of them have even already subscribed here — so, yay! Welcome <3
And, back to work because…I have a lot I need to get finished before I head to LA Wednesday morning!
Hope everyone had a great weekend! Newly published content since my last email includes: For Clean Plates: 7 Cookout Faves from Trader Joe’s That Dietitians Love, for Forbes.com: The Haute Tea Cocktail Honors Pride Month And Pivotal Role Played By Tea, and Prepare For ‘The Bear’ Season 3 By Learning To Make Some Of The Series’ Most Iconic Dishes, and Clean Plates: 11 Best Seafood Picks at Trader Joe’s, According to RDs, and finally: Forbes.com: Red Robin's Latest Burger Is Inspired By An Actual Olympic Gold Medal.
In other new, well, news, for Newsweek, I was part of a panel of travel/food experts who created nominee lists for the Readers Choice Awards in a variety of categories. Two of these categories: Best Outdoor Grills and Best Gourmet Subscription Box, are now live.
This weekend’s industry insights email was pretty timely. Industry Insights: Heat Wave Power Outages Are A Real Risk. Here's How To Stay Productive. You can still check it out!
Is there someone you want to gift a subscription?
Times are tough all around - they are tough in PR, they are tough in journalism. We’re all struggling. So, I want to try to make things a little easier on everyone and offer a special limited-time offer. For today only, if you purchase a monthly or an annual subscription upgrade, I’m going to give you the opportunity to then email me at alywalansky@gmail.com and choose ANY person to give a subscription of the same value to absolutely free. So, for example, if Judy buys a new annual subscription, please email me and give me the name of a friend or colleague.
Perhaps it’s a new member of your team? I’ll give that person a comped one year annual subscription. If Shelly buys a monthly subscription, I’ll comp the person of her choice a one month subscription upgrade.
If they are already a free member, they’ll get an upgrade. Call it a scholarship, call it a fellowship - this is a way of trying to add value to everyone - including those who may not have budget to subscribe right now but still want its benefits.
If you buy a group subscription (which is already at a 50% discount currently) - then everyone in the group person gets to choose a person to give this scholarship to!
Hope it’s helpful!
This newsletter goes out to well over 8,000 engaged publicists, business owners, and journalists each and every day. If you are looking to sponsor a daily installment of this newsletter or have a dedicated section about your client or product (assuming it’s an organic fit for the interests of my audience!), that is now available. Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com to discuss.
The steepest discount I’ve ever offered on consulting sessions
In exciting news, I’m doing something I’ve never done before: I’m currently offering 20% discounts on my virtual consulting/lunch & learn sessions. Times are really tough and I am hoping to make these insights as accessible as possible to any of you who are interested. If you want to schedule a session for yourself or your team, to discuss anything from planning an event, media dinner, or press trip to mailers, pitching best practices, followups to…well… anything else…drop me an email at alywalansky@gmail.com and lets chat!
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!
Clean Plates: 7 Cookout Faves from Trader Joe’s That Dietitians Love
Forbes.com: The Haute Tea Cocktail Honors Pride Month And Pivotal Role Played By Tea
Forbes.com: Prepare For ‘The Bear’ Season 3 By Learning To Make Some Of The Series’ Most Iconic Dishes
Clean Plates: 11 Best Seafood Picks at Trader Joe’s, According to RDs
Forbes.com: Red Robin's Latest Burger Is Inspired By An Actual Olympic Gold Medal
Southern Living: What Is An English Cucumber?
Forbes.com: Crystal And Beefbar Collaborate On First At-Sea Location Of Global Steakhouse.
Apartment Therapy: We Asked 6 Travel Writers for Their Best Packing Hacks, and Their Tips Are Ingenious.
Travel & Leisure: I Always Wear These Comfy, Wide-leg Amazon Pants on Flights — Plus, 13 More Pairs I'm Eyeing From $12
Travel & Leisure: Frequent Fliers Say This Genius Hack Makes It Feel Like They've Upgraded Their Seat — and It's Only $35
Apartment Therapy, I’m a Travel Writer and This Is My Time-Saving Packing Hack
Clean Plates: 10 Low-Lift, Fast Trader Joe’s Lunches Nutritionists Love
Food Network: Is Panda Express’ New Hot Orange Chicken Really Even That Spicy?
Forbes: Michael Mina’s Bourbon Steak Has Finally Arrived In New York City
RetailMeNot: Don’t Spend a Fortune at Those Salad Places: How I Build My Own Salads At Home
Travel + Leisure: The One Safety Item You're Likely Forgetting to Pack, According to a Longtime Solo Female Traveler
Saatva’s Sleep Enlightened: 6 Surprising Sleep Mask Benefits
Clean Plates: 7 Grocery Store Shortcuts for Fast, Easy Lunches
Southern Living: The 9 Best Brown Sugar Substitutes That Will Be Just As Sweet
Clean Plates, 11 Mediterranean Diet Foods You Can Get at Trader Joe’s
RetailMeNot: How Using My Air Fryer Makes Cooking on a Small Budget (and In a Small Space) Possible
RetailMeNot: How to Save on Food Delivery Apps: 10 Tips That Actually Work
RetailMeNot: How Growing My Own Herbs At Home Has Helped Me Keep Meals Creative Without Busting My Budget
Clean Plates: How to Clean and Organize Your Fridge for Spring
RetailMeNot: Savings Star Origin Story: How I Learned to Eat Well (In NY!) On a Shoestring Budget
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.
Apartment Therapy
I’m working on a story - The One Item Pro Travelers Would Never Pack in Their Carry-on Again - for this story, I’m looking to chat with professional travelers (so, travel writers, but also travel agents or flight attendants) about the one item they've packed in their carry-on that they never would again. Maybe it's shoes they'll never wear, or a super heavy coat, or too many skincare products? But who knows! Please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com if you have someone game to weigh in. (Wrapping this one up this Wednesday, June 26!)
RetailMeNot
I’m working on a huge guide to the best student discounts of 2024. This is actually an update of this story from last year. For this article, I’ll be fact-checking the discounts included already, and keeping any/all as they are, if they are still correct - so if you represent someone included last year, it’d be a huge help if you can email me with any changes/updates to that deal. the same. As I’ll be removing many that are no longer active, and want to keep the list length about the same, I’ll also be adding a bunch more, so please feel free to pitch deals that are not on this list and include the elements that the current items do (just take a gander at the link above for format!) - so far as what chain it is, what the deal is, how to claim it, any disclaimers, etc. As you can see from last year, open to deals across the gamut, from travel to tech to clothes and restaurants.
Budget shopping and cooking/eating smarter: As you all know, I write a lot of content for RMN related to budget shopping and cooking/eating smarter. I’m going to be working on a monthly column on the subject of cooking/eating well on a budget. The next column in this series will focus on bulk buying groceries and household essentials, which is something I personally SUPER believe in. I am constantly buying in bulk to save on per unit cost and benefit from the best deals. I even buy family packs of meat and fish to portion and freeze. I’d love some expert commentary on why bulk buying (rather at the supermarket on sales or at warehouse stores), is a great way to maintain a household meal plan and also live within our food budget.
Forbes.com
National Caviar Day is a few weeks away, and I’m starting to round up some fun dishes AND cocktails involving caviar! This is going to be more fun than in years past because caviar is just seen in SO MANY unexpected places these days. If you have a drink or dish involving caviar (must exist on a bar or restaurant menu), please send me name of dish, where it can be found, description, and a quote about the dish with name of person being quoted (and a photo, also with appropriate credits).
We’re in salad season. I’m looking for fun summer salads that the salad chains are doing (these are takeout “create a salad” type chains in major cities) for the warmer months. If you have something, please email me with what the salad is named, what’s in it, how long it’s available for, and an image, and how this mix of flavors calls for summer desires (would love someone to quote!). thanks!
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<3
aly
Kudos Aly!! I'm sure it was such an informative and invaluable session for these future journos!
So Elle Woods of you!