Monday: Sourcing RDs, chefs, and sleep experts for pending content commentary. Also: BOGO offer on paid subscriptions & 20% discount on consulting sessions.
Plus: Final days to pitch me your cooling fans or sleep trackers! More info within.
Good morning and happy Monday!
And let me tell you…it’s early and this day is starting off a very Monday sort of Monday…
(I’m not actually big on cake or sweets. But a latte, hug, and maybe some nachos would hit the spot.)
My morning started with an alert someone was trying to break into my Amazon account (in Paris, actually, so I’m hoping they are enjoying the Olympics excitement), and then when I scrolled my inbox…there was…well, this I’m about to get into.…
Much as I hate to have to do this…I wanted to make a quick admin note to subscribers within this community.
On occasion, I will notice a subscriber upgrading to a paid subscription and then unsubscribing just a few minutes later.
In case anyone reading this is not as a rule, nefarious minded, it is a not-so-cool way of reading paid content without being a subscriber.
Please never do this.
It’s really no different than going into a department store, buying a dress, wearing that dress to a party, and then returning that dress.
This is not Rent the Runway, and that is stealing.
And, seriously, a month’s subscription to the paid version of this newsletter costs roughly as much as the venti latte you pick up mindlessly at the airport or the the one glass of cheap house wine you grab at happy hour at your local corner bar…is it really worth damaging relationships and impacting someone’s livelihood just to avoid paying for the subscription you asked for?
Also, just this morning — rather than unsubscribing in the normal way - issued a dispute with their credit card company. I’ve had this happen in the past, and when I reach out to the subscriber, usually get a response along the lines of…they had “forgot to unsubscribe” so this was their way of reversing the charges.
This causes signficant fees and penalties on my end.
In this case, it’s not only buying a dress to wear and return and ultimately use but not pay for, but spilling red wine on it in the process that I then need to get cleaned out. It’s a really uncool thing to do to someone.
(I’m getting a bit too involved in this metaphor, forgive me.)
If you ever want to unsubscribe, just click unsubscribe. If you feel like you want to request a refund…please feel free to ask me directly, and I will handle from my end. But do not issue a dispute. There’s nothing to dispute. I have legit no means on my end to charge you for anything you did not willfully subscribe to receive.
I get that we’re all struggling and going through tough times here and trying to save a few bucks wherever we can, but I’m self employed too (and I struggle as well!).
I love the opportunity to share my insights and commentary with subscribers regularly — but please don’t take advantage or STEAL from us (and I say us because I know similar has happened to other friends with Substacks). It’s not a kind or considerate thing to do and at the end of the day…being kind and considerate is all that really matters.
We’re all just trying to survive here, right?
Don’t make this any harder than it has to be. Don’t make LIFE any harder than it has to be. It’s hard enough. My life is hard enough.
This is especially true for those of us who are just here trying to help everyone. And, remember, at the end of the day — all we do here is about building and maintaining relationships, and taking advantage of someone is not the way to do it.
I have a lot to cover this week…and also an exciting new promotion I’m offering!
Newly published in the last few days, for Food Network: Hungry for the Paris Olympics? Here’s How Some of Your Favorite Chains Are Celebrating, and Forbes.com: 20 Delicious Ways To Honor National Oyster Day and for Travel & Leisure: You Don't Want to Step Foot in a Waterpark Without These 18 Essentials From Just $9.
For Southern Living: How To Store Cut Cantaloupe So It Stays Fresh And Delicious Longer, Saatva: The Best Nighttime Dental Routine for a Healthy Smile. and a deep dive into blackout curtains.
And, here’s a fun one: for Apartment Therapy: I Sent a Pro Organizer a Photo of My Cluttered Medicine Cabinet, and Here’s How She Fixed It.
I’m sourcing for A BUNCH of stories - so scroll down below for more on that and please be sure to read completely before pitching, to save us both a lot of effort. Thanks!
I’m offering a BOGO deal on new paid subscriptions!
As I mentioned, it’s tumultuous times all around.
If you show me some love (and this community some love!) by upgrading your free subscription to a paid one right now (either monthly OR annual), I have a gift for you: you can choose any friend or colleague to get the same upgrade — free.
Just my way of supporting the community and sharing the love whenever we can.
We all could use it.
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!
Job lead!
Quinn is looking for an Assistant Account Executive - LA
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!
Food Network: Hungry for the Paris Olympics? Here’s How Some of Your Favorite Chains Are Celebrating
Forbes.com: 20 Delicious Ways To Honor National Oyster Day
Southern Living: How To Store Cut Cantaloupe So It Stays Fresh And Delicious Longer
Saatva: The Best Nighttime Dental Routine for a Healthy Smile
Apartment Therapy: I Sent a Pro Organizer a Photo of My Cluttered Medicine Cabinet, and Here’s How She Fixed It
Travel & Leisure: You Don't Want to Step Foot in a Waterpark Without These 18 Essentials From Just $9
Food Network: You Can Now Get IHOP’s Famous Syrups by the Bottle
Forbes: 20 Cocktails That Will Win At Any Olympics Games Viewing Party
Yahoo Life: What is a siesta? The history of the afternoon nap and its benefits
Apartment Therapy: We Asked 8 Pro Travelers What They Never Pack in Their Carry-On and Here’s What They Said
Plate: Vinyl Record Bars Are Taking Over and We’re Not Mad About It.
Southern Living: This Free Packing Spreadsheet Is Going Viral — Here's Why
RetailMeNot: How Bulk Buying Helps Me Maintain My Household Grocery Budget – and Stay Well-Stocked
Travel & Leisure: This Genius Gadget Is the Travel Accessory Everyone's Wearing to Stay Cool in the Heat — and It's 20% Of
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
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
RetailMeNot: How Using My Air Fryer Makes Cooking on a Small Budget (and In a Small Space) Possible
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.
Newsweek Readers' Choice Awards
I’m participating once again in the panel of experts for the Newsweek Readers' Choice Awards (you may recall I recently participated in nominations in the best gourmet subscription box category and best outdoor grill. As part of this program, I’m part of panel of travel/food experts who helped to create nominee lists for the Readers Choice Awards in a variety of categories, and my next categories will be best mattresses and best apres ski spots. If you have any you think should be on my radar, drop me a line!
Clean Plates
For Clean Plates, I’m working on a piece on smarter grocery shopping and why you should be adding ceylon cinnamon to your cart. I’m looking for a RD to chat with over email, as to how/why Ceylon is better than cassia, along with some other health/wellness benefits, and we can chat, nutritionally, about savory as well as sweet applications, too.
Forbes
I’m rounding up dishes for National Potato Day. These must exist on a menu at a bar or restaurant, even if only for a limited-time special. Please send - name of dish, description (No recipe is necessary!), quote about the dish + person being quoted, and a high res image of the dish - this is being wrapped up this Friday am!
Soon, I’ll be rounding up dishes for National Avocado Day, so start thinking on those if you have anything that may be a fit!
Yahoo! Health
I’m working on two roundups and I have very specific sourcing needs for each one.
Best cooling fans of 2024: For this, I’m looking to find the best cooling fans for sleeping —I’m looking for a variety of different types and styles of fans that could accommodate different needs. I’d love to speak to a few sleep experts (coaches, researchers/scientists, MDs specializing in sleep) to discuss why/how a cooling fan might be able to help with sleep. Also: I’m sourcing cooling fans to test. I’m looking ultimately for about 10 categories of cooling fans, such as bladeless, bedside, portable, budget, tower, floor fan, pedestal, oscillating, best for large spaces, best smart fan, most versatile, 2-in-1 (for instance, fan/air conditioner, fan/alarm clock or fan/air purifier, etc.)
Best sleep trackers: I’m rounding of the best sleep trackers of 2024. First, I’m looking to interview sleep experts (scientists/researchers, MDs specializing in sleep, etc.) to discuss the use of sleep trackers, how they do/don't help, how to know if your tracker is accurate, etc., and then test in various categories such as sleep tracking ring, wristband, 2-in-1 fitness and sleep tracker, mattress sensor, contactless, app - i’m looking for most accurate, most comfortable, best value, best for tracking sleep stages, best for sleep coaching, and best for babies (this is a slightly different category, so for this one, when pitching, keep in mind that sleep tracking devices for babies have a different reason/purpose, and the insights are important for parents' use/information/may be helpful to provide to pediatricians.).
Saatva
For Saatva, I’m working on a story on sleep pods (AKA nap pods)…I’ll have a bit more information on what I need and am looking for shortly (probably by tomorrow’s email!), but meanwhile, I will be needing sleep experts to weigh in on this one if you want to reach out!
Plate Magazine
I’m putting out bites/drinks of the week feelers, which is sort of a drink/dish spotlight piece. (Some examples are this Peruvian-inspired sweet potato in Savannah and a molecular banana daiquiri in Chicago.) Basically if you are pitching me something for this, think along the lines of: Is this dish/bite something new? What interesting techniques are used to make it come together? If the technique is simple, what’s the hook? An interesting ingredient? Something being made in house or in an interesting way? What’s the story behind the dish? What inspired it? Is there a cultural/family story behind the dish? An ingredient the chef got their hands on? Love to hear what you might have for me!
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!)
<3
aly