Let's Talk About: One Publicist's Savvy Follow-Up Strategy that Led to My 1st EatingWell Byline

Honestly, I'd encourage you all to take a page from her book ... what a brilliant approach!

Good morning, all.

Hopefully you saw yesterday’s call for pitches.

In it, you may have noticed my first byline for Eating Well:

https://www.eatingwell.com/longevity-expert-swears-by-minestrone-soup-8414176

A lot of stars had to align for this story to come to fruition, and I thought you might enjoy its origin story — this article honestly only happened because of a tenacious publicist (read: polite, professional and NOT pushy!) who did her homework on my outlets, beats and pivoted accordingly. There was quite a bit of back and forth involved and all of it was crucial to ultimately selling this story. I hope you’ll find it inspirational — it really showcases how due diligence + having a conversation + thinking outside the box can bring a story to fruition:

In September, I received a pitch from a publicist that began by congratulating me on a story I wrote for The Guardian (a very nice touch!) and ended with a product pitch for a holiday gift guide I was working on. It wasn’t the right fit (she was pitching a non-alcoholic beverage, something we wouldn’t be including) and I was traveling, so I just ignored it.

She sent a standard follow-up a month later and I ignored that too … I was traveling again and too behind on my inbox to carve out time to respond to something that wasn’t a fit. (I know, I’m awful.)

A few more weeks went by and she followed up a third time. But instead of just focusing on that original holiday gift guide pitch, she decided to …

Hitting the paywall? I’m starting the new year off with a limited-time 30% off sale, so you can start 2024 off on the right foot! By signing up for an annual subscription, you’ll gain access to ALL my paywalled content (including the archives!) + future Zoom sessions.