Tuesday: Sourcing for quick-turnaround assignments + best practices when submitting photos.
Also: new job leads!
Good morning!
First of all, a quick sourcing need: For Food Network, I’m rounding up food chains and restaurants doing back to school deals, discounts, and freebies. As much of the country is headed back to school right now (I can’t even…here in NYC, the kids go back weeks from now!), I need to wrap up this story by EOD TODAY.
Scroll down to pending assignments section in this email for specifics on what I’m looking for and how to pitch for this and all my other pending assignments. There’s a bunch!
Submitting photos
Lots of my stories will involve submitting photos - and a lot of you are doing everything right and following my submission and sourcing requests. But, some aren’t, and it’s impacting my ability to use your clients. So, here’s some quick tips to up your chances of getting into my next story!
High-quality photos
Every so often, I'll be pitched a cocktail that is beautiful. It is an inventive use of ingredients and/or technique and sounds delicious -- but then the photo is poor quality.
It may be blurry or out of focus or just not a shot that puts the drink in the best light (so to speak!).
Make sure your photo is high-quality and just LOOKS GOOD, but also is a high enough resolution to be suitable to share with the world.
Size
While I'm not going to be a stickler for it needing to be a super huge photo (in fact, I'd prefer if it's not for reasons I'll touch on in a moment), it can't be a postage stamp sized either.
If a photo is too small, we'll need to adjust its size to fit the story -- and that could end up with a photo looking blurry, distorted, and just not good quality.
Somewhere around 300 dpi, hi-res, and ideally 2mb-plus is usually a good way to go, as the photos are able to be resized to the article and maintain their quality.
Lifestyle vs. product shot
I know you want to share those fun lifestyle shots but generally speaking, I am very much more likely to use a photo of your grill on a plain white background than one where a bunch of people are standing around the grill laughing and flipping burgers. While I might sometimes use a photo that involves a hand squeezing lime or what have you in a cocktail or food photo, in a product photo, you're better off keeping things simple.
Credits
PLEASE don't pull a random photo from the Internet and include it with your submission. Please also don’t send an image without a necessary photo credit.
You need to have permission to use a photo and thus give us appropriate photo credits.
That means it's a photo that you took, own, or were given permission to use and share.
Send those photo credits with your pitch, not as a "BTW!" after the story has been published, please.
Submission
I’ve said this many times before but I’m going to say again right here and now: Please don't send me photo attachments.
For submission purposes, it’s ideal to use a dropbox or google drive. And please send no more than one or two photos with your pitch. No one wants a huge gallery or lookbook to sort through and pray they chose the right photo.
Be sure your images are labeled, too. I get a LOT of photos titled something like "image01" or "screencapture" - I want images that tell me what this is.
If you are pitching me a knife from XYZ brand, that's your title of your image. If you are pitching me cocktails, name the cocktail in your image. If you are sending me a headshot of someone, make that person's name the image title. Labeling a photo correctly is the best way to avoid corrections after the fact.
Remember the golden rule: Read the instructions and follow the submission guidelines of whomever you are pitching.
If you skip that photo they need or send it in a way other than they need, it could greatly impact your chances of being included in a story. If someone has 25 spots to fill and 2000 pitches (real talk), they will just weed out people who don't include all the correct deliverables. It's just the way it goes.
Job leads
Eleven Six PR is a NYC-based travel, hospitality and lifestyle PR and social media agency and they are seeking a Senior Account Executive. Clients include hotels, resorts and hospitality brands around the world as well as tour operators, travel services, and entrepreneurs. For consideration, please send your resume along with a letter to info@elevensixpr.com. (Be sure to tell them you read about the lead in Aly’s newsletter!)
Do you have a job listing to share? This newsletter goes out daily and has connected tons of amazing people with fantastic opportunities. Email me at alywalansky@gmail.com.
I’m offering a BOGO deal on new paid subscriptions!
As I mentioned recently, it’s tumultuous times all around. And we’re all feeling it pretty deeply.
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.
How do you claim? Just upgrade your subscription (or upgrade a group) at the links below and email me at alywalansky@gmail.com — then give me the name and email address of a person you wish to upgrade. Buy an annual, give a free annual. Buy a monthly, get a free monthly.
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!
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!
Today.com: The best drugstore eye creams to tackle wrinkles, dark circles and dryness, according to experts
Forbes.com: 9 Delicious Ways To Enjoy Avocado
Apartment Therapy: I Sent a Pro Organizer a Photo of My Messy Kitchen Junk Drawer — Here’s How She Fixed It
Forbes.com: Breads Bakery Has Partnered With Legendary Celebrity Chef For Latest Babka Collab
RetailMeNot: Which Stores Are Open and Closed on Labor Day 2024?
Yahoo Life: The best cooling fans of 2024, tested and reviewed
Travel & Leisure: These Arch Support Sandals Are the Only Shoes I Wear in the Summer — and They’re Only $47
RetailMeNot: Why Costco Is the Ultimate Place to Shop (And Save) on Spices
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
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 Mattress, 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 packing cubes and sheets. If you have any you think should be on my radar, drop me a line!
Food Network
For Food Network, I’m rounding up food chains and restaurants doing back to school deals, discounts, and freebies. I need to wrap up this story by EOD TODAY. Please send the restaurant/food chain, what the deal is, how to claim it, ASAP to be considered. Note: This is not for standalone single location restaurants but chains/companies that are at least regional if not national.
Saatva
Ways to Deal With Sleep Deprivation: I’m looking to interview a sleep expert for this one…would love to chat about how not getting enough sleep can be detrimental to your physical and mental well-being, and everything you need to know about sleep deprivation and how to treat it, as well as causes of sleep deprivation, most common symptoms of sleep deprivation, biggest physical and mental repercussions of sleep deprivation, strategies for managing sleep deprivation.
Are You a Light Sleeper? Here's What to Do About It: Would love to chat with a sleep expert for this one as well, as far as the concept of being a light sleeper and how to deal with it, what causes someone to be a light sleeper, how to manage being a light sleeper, etc.
Apartment Therapy
Sorry But Your Luggage Is Disgusting, Here's Why You Need to Clean It: Ahead of Labor Day travel, I’m working on a post dedicated to the fact that your luggage is actually really gross and you need to be cleaning it — here's why. I’m looking to speak to pro travelers on their thoughts/advice/tips about cleaning luggage before, during, and after travel plans.
We Asked TK Pro Travelers How They Keep Their Luggage Clean, and Here’s What They Said: A related but distinct story on a similar topic: This one will be focused on the one key thing travel pros do to keep their luggage clean, like this story.
I Sent a Pro Organizer Photos of My Messy Cord Clutter, Here's How They Fixed It: My small apartment is OVER RUN with chargers and cables, and it's not only messy, it's dangerous and a safety hazard. I’m looking to speak to an organization expert about how I could go about (as someone who works from home and has a lot of tech) getting rid of extra chargers and consolidate, and then follow their advice (with before, after, during photos, much like my medicine cabinet story recently). Also open to product pitches as to products that may help with this messy cord clutter.
Forbes
I’m rounding up fun cheeseburgers to check out for National Cheeseburger Day on Sept. 18. ANYTHING pitched for these stories MUST exist on the menu at a bar or restaurant. Please keep in mind the following parameters: Name of dish, name of restaurant (city, state, URL), description, quote about dish (and who to credit for the quote), and an image (with photo credit) — via dropbox link, not as an attachment. (Please make sure to have ALL these components before pitching.)
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!
I’m looking for “imperfection” pitches…unexpected substitutions that worked better than the original plan for the dish, what have chefs learned from their failures, “ugly” dishes and second-market produce..
I’m looking for salty pitches…as far as savory pastries, saline cocktails, and salt cooking techniques…maybe turn this on this nose in a different salty way, lessons that should be taken with a grain of salt…hit me!
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aly