Wednesday: Happy Valentine's Day! My latest podcast appearance is out - also, can we chat for a sec?

Happy Valentine's Day!

As my Valentine’s Day gift to all of you, I’m sharing my latest podcast appearance, which I just recorded in honor of the occasion with my dear friend Juliana Martins (she was one of this year’s Forbes 30 under 30, BTW!).

During this fun episode of the Behind The Media podcast, we chat about A BUNCH of stuff, such as how brands can stick out to editors in a saturated market, how I decide which events I will attend vs decline, what startups, new venues, or brands with minimal budgets can do to get media attention, PR/pitching do’s and don’ts and more…including our mutual celeb crush and some of our favorite places to eat and drink!

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Valentine’s Day is a hard day for many people, as we are made to feel bad for not being in a relationship or having romantic love.

But remember that Valentine's Day is a celebration of all kinds of love. Friendship, family, pets, a vocation or cause you are passionate about. If today is hard for you, try to focus on the love you have within yourself, for yourself. Because I've learned time and again over the years -- if we don't find a way to love ourselves, we won't be able to find (or feel, or recognize) the love around us, either.

I bring this up because - for me, this Substack is an act of love — for our industry, for our community, for the now years-long friendships I’ve developed with many of you. But last night I got a really surprising, and rather concerning (and if we’re being honest, hurtful) note from a (former!) subscriber saying they were unsubscribing from my Substack because - and there were a bunch of reasons — she “did not feel there was a return on her investment” and she pitched items that were not included in stories and I “seemed to be selling constantly” although I appear to be “doing just fine.”

Wow…let us take a second to unpack that for a second.

1 - I really truly pride myself on making this about community and not personal profit. I send out six newsletters most weeks, and five of them are free - there’s one optional supplemental one that offers increased reader benefits, such as AMA sessions, industry insights and commentary, and more. Those offer added value, but I put so much of my heart and soul into making sure the free public-facing newsletter is also packed with value. Your time is valuable to me, and it means EVERYTHING to me you take time out of your own busy morning and inbox to read.

2 - The average cocktail or dish roundup gets hundreds of pitches, and I include maybe a few dozen in the final story. By no means is pitching a guarantee of being included in a story. If you want to be included, meet my deadlines, and pitch me really cool, unique dishes and cocktails with beautiful photos.

I realize that some people in the world have a lot of coldness and anger in their hearts, and thankfully, those people do not speak for the masses — and I did get a fair amount of unsubscriptions in late 2023 due to my support of Israel and the Jewish people, and that was of course heartbreaking on several levels — but I would LOVE to know - if this person’s email speaks for anyone else’s needs or concerns.

Are you getting what you need out of this newsletter? Is there something lacking you’d like to see? Is there some value I can add to you as a reader, or as a subscriber? Let me know and allow me to be more useful to you - before sending me mean emails on Valentine’s Day during Freelancer Appreciation Week!

The world is a tough place. We’re all struggling. And even if we look like we are, trust me when I say that many of us are not doing “just fine” - lets make it our business to lead with love, lead with friendship, and treat people the way they treat us.

Happy Valentine’s Day!

…end of soap box. Moving on!

Lots of new content went live this week, including for Travel & Leisure, I wrote a bit of a deep dive into while I’m so obsessed with packing cubes: I’m a Travel Writer, and This Is My Secret to Packing for a Week in a Single Carry-on Bag

Also, for Forbes.com: 7 Anti-Valentine’s Cocktails For Those Who Are Not Feeling The Romance as well as 30 Romantic Dishes To Savor On Valentine’s Day and finally an unexpected but interesting stat: Taylor Swift Has Had A Surprising Influence On Game Day Pizza Orders.

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In honor of Valentine’s Day being this week (as well as Galentine’s Day, as well!), I’m going to be offering 50% off paid subscriptions for the remainder of the month of February. This is the biggest discount I’ve ever done and is good on either annual or monthly subscriptions — meaning that upgrading and getting the value of AMAs and industry insights emails and all the other subscriber benefits will now cost you roughly as much as a monthly cup of coffee, as my Valentine’s Day gift to you!

So honored to see Muck Rack included me in their 2024 list of top ten most popular freelance journalists. Check out the list here.

Job leads

bread & Butter is hiring for a ton of great positions — Digital Coordinator (SF), Travel Account Director (NYC), Commerce Content Director (NYC), and Account Director (ATX)!

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!

• Travel & Leisure: I’m a Travel Writer, and This Is My Secret to Packing for a Week in a Single Carry-on Bag

• Forbes.com: 7 Anti-Valentine’s Cocktails For Those Who Are Not Feeling The Romance

• Forbes.com: 30 Romantic Dishes To Savor On Valentine’s Day

• Forbes.com: Taylor Swift Has Had A Surprising Influence On Game Day Pizza Orders

• The Kitchn: Applebee’s, Buffalo Wild Wings, and More of the Best Food Deals for Super Bowl 2024

• Southern Living: A Guide To Enjoying Leftover Salmon

• Travel & Leisure: In-flight Theft Is Unfortunately a Thing, but These 12 Items Give Me Peace of Mind When I'm Traveling by Plane

• Forbes.com: 25 Creative Pies To Try On National Pizza Day

• Forbes.com: 25 Cocktails Perfect For A Super Bowl: Taylor’s Version Viewing Party

• Forbes.com: 30 Hot Pink Cocktails For A Fetch ‘Mean Girls’ Viewing Party

• RetailMeNot: 5 Superstar Ingredients for Your Meal-Stretching Pantry Starter Pack

• Forbes.com: 40 Romantic Cocktails That Will Add A Little Love On Valentine’s Day

• Today.com: Say goodbye to wrinkles with these expert-approved drugstore creams — starting at $12

• Food Network: Oreo’s New Cookie Will Take You to Outer Space

• Clean Plates: The Healthy Trader Joe’s Sauce I Use in *Everything*

• RetailMeNot: Affordable Valentine’s Day Gifts That Show Lots of Love on a Budget

• Martha Stewart: 8 Storage Mistakes That Are Keeping Your Home From Being Organized

• Forbes.com: Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2024: The Most Romantic Kitchen Gifts

• Today.com: 27 healthy fast food items at popular US chains, according to dietitians and doctors

• Southern Living: Can You Freeze Brussels Sprouts?

• Forbes.com: Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2024: The Best Heart-Shaped Food Gifts

• Forbes.com: Valentine’s Day Gift Guide 2024: The Best Bougie Culinary Gifts

• Clean Plates: 7 Mediterranean Diet Dinner Recipes in 30 Minutes or Less

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

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, and I’d love you to pitch me products/ideas to consider for it - maybe a new meal-stretching product that is a good deal at a grocery store, an awesome product to try that may cut my meal prep time in half, other themes as far as saving money on food/cooking/eating and doing it in a way that is smarter.

Clean Plates

In preparation for the spring holidays, I’m working on a story on how gathering with loved ones is good for our mental health (we all can relate to how big an issue loneliness can be!). For example, the Passover seder tradition — it’s very much about tradition and eating and drinking, but it’s foremost about gathering, and I’d love to speak to some experts about why that’s so important.

Forbes

National Margarita Day is coming up very soon and I’m looking for bars and restaurants that are doing really interesting, fun, unique spins on the margarita — this can be cocktails and also margarita-inspired dishes. Please pitch me by Friday with the name of the drink/dish, description, where it’s served/available, a bartender/chef quote and an image. Thanks!

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!)

Virtual (and now in-person!) 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’m available for PR team virtual meetings to answer questions about pitching, events, and trips from a media perspective.  Note: I’m also available to travel for consulting sessions as long as travel expenses are covered. We can chat! This is available for entire agencies or smaller group lunch and learn type concepts.

Have a great day!

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