21 Comments
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Nina Badzin's avatar

Just printed that Ina recipe. Thanks for sharing it! Right up my alley.

Julie Vick's avatar

Oh good! I hope you enjoy it.

Andromeda Romano-Lax's avatar

I loved the sauna article and that trip sounds fantastic! (I'm an enthusiastic cold swimmer and saunas make it much more fun. Clearly, I need to go to Scandinavia.) How did you come up with the idea to pitch that magazine in particular, Julie? I find it so hard to figure out which outlets will accept travel pieces these days. I've tried a few recent queries and got no reply. (In the old days, the reply rate was much better!)

Julie Vick's avatar

Thank you! I have not done a lot of cold plunging, but I think I definitely need it to be paired with a sauna in the future, too. And yes, add Scandinavia to your travel list :).

I knew that Business Insider was running a lot of freelance pieces from seeing other writers post bylines from there, and I had seen them posting calls for pitches for travel articles, so when I saw one that seemed to fit with that idea, I decided to pitch them. I think they can be a good venue for first-person travel pieces!

I know some of their editors use pitching forms to manage things in which you will only hear from them if it's a yes/no, but I just pitched Jennifer directly (her info is linked in that LinkedIn post I linked to), and I've gotten replies even if it's a "no" from Conz Preti in the past, too. But I agree that the reply rate does feel low these days.

Andromeda Romano-Lax's avatar

Thank you, Julie. You've inspired me to pitch a few travel pieces! One for a trip already done and one for a trip I would *like* to take! And as long as I'm pestering you, have you ever sold anything to AARP?

Julie Vick's avatar

Oh, good! Wishing you good luck with submitting. I have not sold anything to AARP, although I have heard good things about writing for them. I've tried pitching one of their newsletters (The Girlfriend) in the past without luck, but I think they are worth trying.

Also, if you don't already know, TravMedia has some really helpful webinars on travel publications worth checking out -- scroll down to the bottom of this page to see replays of past ones: https://travmedia.com/meetsusa/

Lindsey @ Not Normal's avatar

I was so upset about the Hacks ending until the very end! Apparently they had that idea in mind even before they started the show. I'm gonna miss Hannah and Deborah's friendship.

Julie Vick's avatar

I had read they knew the ending from the beginning so was really curious what it was!

Liz Alterman's avatar

Thanks for sharing these great recs, Julie! From the salad to the books, I'm all in! I love the floating sauna concept. Safe travels and I look forward to reading about your adventures!

Julie Vick's avatar

Thanks, Liz!

Oskar Milton's avatar

Love the monthly roundup format! Always appreciate a good laugh alongside reading recommendations. Humor writing recs are my favorite kind of newsletter.

Marisa Russello's avatar

!? I return books early in Libby all the time and I've never seen any virtual bouquets!

Julie Vick's avatar

I know. I had never noticed the little flower you can click before I saw that!

Pam Moore's avatar

Thanks for the shout-out! Gonna check out the farro salad for sure…

Julie Vick's avatar

Of course!

Leo MacLeod's avatar

I’m going to try the Ina Gartner recipe tonight. Nice idea to cook the farro w vinegar. I like punchy flavors. Thanks

Julie Vick's avatar

Hope you enjoy it. One thing -- the recipe actually calls for apple cider rather than apple cider vinegar, but I saw in the recipe comments that some people had used apple cider vinegar instead and liked the results. I used apple cider, but am curious to try apple cider vinegar too.

Julie Vick's avatar

Thanks for reading!

Julie Vick's avatar

Cats and cat content provide at least 50 percent of my monthly laughs!