Wednesday: LOTS of new pending assignments - seeking sleep experts, plumbers, travel experts, product pitches, and more!
Also: A flash sale on consulting sessions!
Hi, friends!
Good morning from Turks & Caicos - it’s my final morning here and then headed back to snowy NYC this afternoon.
(Did you miss me?)
I have some final sunshine to enjoy here, but before I go, I have LOTS of pending content I am working on, and I could really use your assistance!
As a reminder, I’m one of the US-based travel experts on Newsweek’s committee to nominate businesses/destinations/brands in the US on various topics for the Reader’s Choice awards.
My upcoming topics are Best Full-Service Airport Restaurant, Best Carry-On Bag, and Best Airport Lounge.
If you have any you think should be on my radar — drop me a note. And if you want to see some I’ve worked on recently, scroll on below!
Reminder: I’m offering a limited-time special consulting session discount for paid subscribers: If you are a paid subscriber, you can for a limited time, get 25% off a virtual consulting session (where we can have your own private or agency-wide AMA session on anything you want to chat about!) — I have some slots open in the next few weeks, so if you or your agency is interested in booking one, email me today and we’ll chat details.
For Forbes.com, I wrote 7 Cocktails And Snacks Prime For A Big Game Viewing Party. I also have tons of Valentine’s Day content to share. Several of my Valentine’s Day gift guides published: Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2025: The Best High-End Red Wines For Warming A Heart This Season, Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2025: The Best Romantic Culinary Experiences To Gift This Season and Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2025: The Best Gifts For The Romantic Martini Lover, also for Forbes.com: 25 Romantic Cocktails To Order For Your Valentine and 10 Delicious Ways To Set The Mood With Caviar This Valentine’s Day. Also, a more aspirational date night idea: Houston Restaurant’s $15,000 Cocktail Experience Offers A Valentine’s Day Fit For Royals.
Thanks SO much to all of you who attended our webinar event last week, covering the upcoming ShareASale to Awin migration. During the Zoom, some of the topics covered were an overview of the migration process and timeline, pricing of networks, and choosing a network for your specific client needs. If you missed it (or were present and just want to refer back to some of the topics covered during the info-packed session), we do have a recording available. This recording is available for anyone who is a paid subscriber of my newsletter, as well as Jill’s and Alice’s newsletters. Email any of the three of us and let us know and we’ll get the link right out to you!
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!)
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!
Newsweek Readers Choice: Best Cruise Ship for Families 2025, Best Apres Ski Spots, Best Casinos with Live Music (outside Vegas), Best U.S. Wellness Resort, Best Packing Cube, Best Vodka, Best Gourmet Subscription Box, Best Mattress, and Best Outdoor Grill - more categories coming very soon!
Forbes.com: 7 Cocktails And Snacks Prime For A Big Game Viewing Party
Forbes.com: Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2025: The Best High-End Red Wines For Warming A Heart This Season,
Forbes.com: Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2025: The Best Romantic Culinary Experiences To Gift This Season
Forbes.com: 10 Delicious Ways To Set The Mood With Caviar This Valentine’s Day.
Forbes.com: Houston Restaurant’s $15,000 Cocktail Experience Offers A Valentine’s Day Fit For Royals.
Forbes.com: Valentine's Day Gift Guide 2025: The Best Gifts For The Romantic Martini Lover
Forbes.com: 25 Romantic Cocktails To Order For Your Valentine
Apartment Therapy: I Tried the 30/30 Rule, and I Discovered Something Unexpected
Forbes.com: Ghost Donkey Brings Agave-Forward Cocktail Program To Chicago’s River North
Travel & Leisure: A Travel Writer's $10 Amazon Packing Hack for Shoes
Apartment Therapy: 10 Experts Share Their Biggest Decluttering Regrets
Parade.com: How To Use an Air Fryer (Beginner's Guide)
Martha Stewart: 19 Walk-In Pantry Ideas for a More Organized, Stylish Space
Forbes.com: Chef Nobu Matsuhisa Brings Gold Standard Sushi To This Year’s Golden Globe Awards
Forbes.com: 8 Hot Toddy Variations To Try Just In Time For The Winter Chill
Food Network: Starbucks Finally Adds Cortados to Its Menu
Southern Living: Can You Eat Wilted Cilantro?
Today.com: Do drugstore wrinkle creams really work? Experts weigh in
Martha Stewart: 18 Coffee Table Décor Ideas That Blend Form and Function.
Travel & Leisure: I Travel Solo Often, and I Won’t Stay in Another Airbnb Without Packing This 1 Safety Device
The Spruce: How to Add Storage to Your Kitchen Walls and Make the Most of the Vertical Space
Southern Living: The 9 Best Bottles Of Bourbon, According To Southern Chefs And Bartenders
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 Asked Pro Travelers How They Pack for Spring Break, and Their Organizing Tips Are So Good: I would love to chat with some pro travelers - those who travel AS their job, not circumstantially “for” their job - and ask them how they best pack for spring break and keep organized. For instance, bringing outfits, swimwear, etc. if they are going to a warmer weather location from a colder/damper one, and any other tips/tricks.
I Asked Plumbers What They Wish People Would Stop Doing to Their Toilets — Here's What They Said: I’m looking to speak to plumbers and ask them what they wish people would stop doing to their toilets. For instance, flushing anything other than toilet paper, using flushable wipes, using the wrong plunger, etc.
Saatva
Working on a story related to stages of sleep, and I’ll need some experts to weigh in — as far as what the stages of sleep are, factors that impact sleep stages, that everyone's sleep cycle may look different and can be affected by a variety of factors like age, sleep patterns, alcohol use, etc. (I’ll have some specific questions so please don’t jump the gun on commentary, just email me if you have a credentialed expert - one not affiliated with a mattress brand, please!)
Forbes
I’m rounding up ANTI-Valentine’s day cocktails - all the dark, heartbreak, bitter cocktails for the season. If you have any that may fit, please pitch in the following format…
If you have anything for me, please make sure you have all of the following before pitching:
Name of drink/dish
Where served: Name of restaurant/bar, city, state, URL
Description (not a recipe!)
Quote about dish from chef/bartender
LINK to image (low res is fine) - and appropriate photo credits
Also with Mardi Gras coming up, let me know if you have anything fun cocktail/dish wise going on for that…
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 also taking style-related pitches, obviously with the audience in mind: such as the the stories behind chefs who take their style seriously, but also various cooking styles, and how does style play a role, how does plating style affect how a dish tastes and sells? What does it mean to go from one cooking style to another in the course of a career, or operate restaurants that showcase various cooking styles?
Also taking After Dark-related pitches, as in everything that happens after dark—from late-night industry happy hours to night markets, such as the labor and techniques that take place in the kitchen (or parking lot) overnight—from BBQ to sous vide cooking and baking. I’m also looking for noteworthy bartenders to profile.
<3
aly
You look so happy and refreshed! Love this picture, hope you girls had an incredible time 🤩
Love this photo of you! Cheers!