Thursday: Press Trip Invite Do's and Don'ts + Current nomination categories in Newsweek’s Readers Choice Awards, new pending assignments.
PS: Don't miss out: The completely FREE recording of last month's Zoom webinar event covering pitching, trends, and all things holiday gift guide season is now available -- grab the link right here!
Hello, friends and happy Thursday!
I thought today we can take a little time to chat about press trips, specifically the beginning of the conversation: The invitation itself.
We have discussed press trips in recent weeks often, revisiting topics such as red flags and hidden costs. But today, I wanted to discuss where it all begins: The invitation, and some best practices of the process.
Believe it or not, I get upwards of a dozen press trip invites each week, and I say yes to only one or two trips a month. That’s a very small percentage, by anyone’s terms.
Do I think press trips are fun? Often, yes. There’s a lot to love about them! But there’s a lot of deciding factors that go into being able to say yes to one, and that starts with what I see in the invitation. Press trips definitely aren’t a ‘free vacation’ for us as it may look on the outside. In fact, they aren’t a vacation at all and oftentimes we LOSE money by attending them when you factor in lost hours of work and the hidden expenses of the trip itself.
Choosing to attend a press trip is a significant time commitment and — yes - financial — investment. We all need to justify that ROI at the end of the day.
And so today, I’m going to talk about some essential best practices and invite do’s and don’ts Scroll down to the bottom of today’s email to read further on this topic!
As a reminder, I’m on the panel of travel and food journalists who chooses the nominations for Newsweek’s Readers Choice Awards. The focus for the category I’m currently working on is casinos and this includes a handful of fun subsections - Best Overall Casino outside of Las Vegas, Best Hotel Casino, Best Players Club, Native American Casino, Best Steakhouse (inside a casino, to be clear), and Best Concert Venue (also, attached to a casino).
Think I should include you in my list of suggested nominations in these contests, drop me an email and tell me why (By Friday, please!).
It’s a great time to prepare your pitches by checking out our holiday gift guide pitching workshop — the whole recording is available below, for free — scroll down for more info!
Check out our complete holiday gift guide pitching recording - it’s available right here, right now!
For those who missed out, you can grab the whole recording of our best practices for pitching holiday gift guides this season webinar for free (yes, completely free!) as a benefit for upgraded subscribers - it’s well over an hour of commentary, Q&A, and tons of information you can use this season. Grab the details here.
Book your consulting session!
I still have some space available for October!
I can join your team on Zoom, a phone call, or in-person and do a team Q&A and answer any of your questions about planning events, mailers, trips, pitching, followups, etc — giving you a very necessary media perspective. Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com if you are interested in chatting more and setting something up :)
We can switch it up in any way you or your team needs. While most of my calls do end up being virtual, I just did one where we did our session over a martini lunch! I’m available for whatever your team prefers. Lets chat.
I’m now contributing to the Yahoo Creators platform, writing a wide range of lifestyles topics: check out my author profile to see some of my most recent pieces! (This is updated daily - usually multiple times daily - so you’ll want to keep checking it out for new content!)
Limited-time deal on ad placement!
I’m offering a seasonal special on advertising in this newsletter. I’d love to place your sponsored posts and advertising in this Substack, which goes out to nearly 10,000 media professionals every single day.
Note: I do limit advertising to only what would be of interest to my readers, but am open to both short paragraph blurbs and dedicated posts - if you are interested in chatting details and scheduling something, please email me at alywalansky@gmail.com today!
Tools of the trade
Press Hook is where journalists, newsletter writers, and podcasters source expert quotes, hi-res images, product samples, affiliate info, and brand story angles — all from vetted brands in one searchable hub. It connects journalists and brands in what feels like a really user-friendly, organic way and I use it often to browse for sources and products aligned with my current projects and I’ve often found precisely what I need, when I need. Give it a try!
Exciting news from our friend Sarah Karger (who recently was a star expert panelist for our big holiday gift guide pitching workshop!) - she just launched her new course, Affiliate Marketing & Performance-Based PR for Publicists - It’s built specifically to help PR pros and agencies add affiliate management as a core capability, something we all know is completely essential in today’s media landscape. This is in-depth training that equips publicists with the exact strategies to:
Set up affiliate programs for clients
Pitch commerce editors with confidence
Deliver measurable ROI through performance-based PR
It’s a must-have for anyone trying to navigate this ever-changing biz!
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.
Yahoo Creators: Check out my author profile (I have several new stories a day across the lifestyles umbrella, so that’s the best way to stay updated!)
Travel & Leisure: I’m a Solo Traveler, and I Tell All My Friends to Pack These Anti-theft Essentials—Up to 56% Off at Amazon
Travel & Leisure: Flight Attendants Love This $8 Luggage Strap
Forbes.com: 6 Delicious Ways To Celebrate National Gumbo Day
Yahoo: This cruise line has just launched the first lipstick lab at sea!
Apartment Therapy: 10 Products Pro Organizers Are Buying on Prime Big Deal Days (Starting at $8!)
Forbes.com: 12 Amazing Ways To Enjoy Tacos On National Taco Day
Forbes.com: 14 Perfect Cocktails To Enjoy On National Vodka Day
Food Network: You Can Pre-Order Your Entire Thanksgiving Feast
Southern Living: Can You Eat Sprouted Potatoes? An Expert Explains
Clean Plates: The Best Plant-Based Meats for the Grill, According to Vegans
Today.com: Best drugstore wrinkle creams 2025, according to experts
Today.com: What Are The Best Drugstore Eye Creams? Experts and Editors Reveal Their Favorites
Southern Living: The Best Potato Chips, According To Southern Chefs
Southern Living: The Best And Worst Times To Go To The Grocery Store
Southern Living: How To Cook A Perfect Steak Every Time, According To Southern Chefs.
Travel & Leisure: 15 Amazon Business Casual Clothes for Summer Travel.
Southern Living: The One-Pan Cheesy Meal I Make Whenever I'm Too Tired To Cook
Travel & Leisure: 6 Best Business Travel Airplane Outfits, From $12
Travel & Leisure: I’m a Travel Writer, and I Swear by These Packable Ballet Flats for Comfort, Support, and Long Days on My Feet
Travel & Leisure: I Found the Perfect Walking Shoes to Prevent Sore Feet During Travel — Score Styles on Sale Up to 62% Off
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
As a reminder, I’m on the panel of travel and food journalists who chooses the nominations for Newsweek’s Readers Choice Awards. The focus for the category I’m currently working on is casinos and this includes a handful of fun subsections - Best Overall Casino outside of Las Vegas, Best Hotel Casino, Best Players Club, Native American Casino, Best Steakhouse (inside a casino, to be clear), and Best Concert Venue (also, attached to a casino).
Think I should include you in my list of nominations in these contests, drop me an email and tell me why (By Friday, please!).
Yahoo Creators
You all already know I do a ton of going to restaurants and trying foods and cocktails for various stories for various outlets (stuff like this: I tried Sushi by Bou’s Taste of Toro: It was one of the most unique and special omakases I’ve ever experienced!) . But for this specific outlet, I do a lot of “I tried this” type food-delivery type pieces. Here are some recent examples:
My recent focus has been family meal type deals and those good for repurposing as meal prep. If you have any that you want me to consider, let me know!
Also: I’m beginning to source for a variety of holiday gift guides for this outlet.
While I don’t have specific categories and subtopics completely ironed out yet, I’m currently interested in receiving gift guide pitches in the following categories: Travel-related gifts, gifts for your man, home/kitchen related gifts, tech gear/gadgets, office-related gifts.
To pitch me for these guides, please be sure to include the following:
Name of item
Links to major retailers where sold (it’s in your best interest to include several retailer link options when pitching)
Link to image and any necessary credits
Description why it’s a fit
Item must be currently available and currently in stock (and if you want any guidance on how to pitch for gift guides more successfully, be sure to check out the webinar recording linked above — it’s free!)
Forbes
Before pitching: Please be sure to refer to my photo submission guidelines for help with photo submission best practices!
FYI: Forbes gift guide topics and pitching instructions coming by next week!
But first: I’m sourcing for National Pasta Day, National Salmon Day, Halloween-inspired cocktails. For these, I’m looking for interesting and inventive dishes on menus at restaurants/bars nationwide. I’m also looking for dishes/cocktails at bars and restaurants that honor BCA month (and support it in some way other than just being a pink cocktail).
Name of dish/cocktail
Restaurant, city, state, website
Description of dish
Quote from chef about dish/cocktail (plus name and title of person quoted)
Image and photo credit (I prefer links to attachments and remember to follow my instructions on how to label your file names, thanks!)
OK, so back to today’s topic! Check out my official guide to press trip invite do’s and don’t below.