What and How to Pitch Well+Good with Lifestyle Editor Erica Sloan – Podcast Transcript

Episode 71: What and How to Pitch Well+Good with Lifestyle Editor Erica Sloan – Podcast Transcript

Speakers: Erica Sloan, Lexie Smith

Lexie Smith 

We have had listeners specifically reach out asking for someone from Well+Good to be on the show. So you guys you ask and I deliver Erica, I speak for myself and everyone tuning in to say we are so excited to have you on today. Let’s start with where his home base and what do you like to do outside of work for fun?

 

Erica Sloan 

Thank you so much for having me. I really appreciate the opportunity. My original home is South Florida, where I was born and raised. But I’ve bounced around a little bit since and currently live in Brooklyn, New York.

 

Lexie Smith 

Okay, so we are in two afternoon in your timezone according here at 11 on the west coast. So what do you like to do in Brooklyn outside of work?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, totally. I love dance. I imagine this will come up in our later conversation. But I think the biggest thing I love to do is either in the past to go to dance workout classes pre pandemic, and now I’ve started doing that in this semi quasi post pandemic world that we’re living in. To go out dancing is always fun, too. So I think that’s probably up high on my list. But other than that, I love my neighborhood and Brooklyn so much I live in Cobble Hill, and I love just walking around the neighborhood. There’s so many cute coffee shops and bars that have backyard little courtyards that I love to spend an afternoon sitting in and just soaking up the sun. To follow

 

Lexie Smith 

up questions. Do you have a specific style of dance that you like?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, so I actually was classically trained in ballet. So that was the original, the original style of dance. And I did take a lot of ballet classes when I first moved to the city about five years ago. But since then, it’s really been a lot of dance cardio classes, which is really the only way I’ve found that I enjoy working out in earnest. Yeah,

 

Lexie Smith 

to shave I feel like one of the most satisfying workouts that okay, so quick context growing up. I always did sports basketball and soccer. So that’s how I exercised so fast forward to adulthood, not playing sports anymore. Working out can be very boring, but Zumba kicks, my kiss, and it’s super fun. So I don’t know if you do Zumba. But that’s a cardio dance that I’ve quite enjoyed.

 

Erica Sloan 

Yes, I think it’s always funny to me how people are surprised by dance, cardio and Zumba being such a good workout, but it totally is. kicks my

 

Lexie Smith 

butt. Okay, and then the second question I had is in your neighborhood. Do you have any favorite little coffee shops, specifically any local places you want to give us Shout out to

 

Erica Sloan 

Ooh, sure. Down the street for me is Octavia coffee, which I love. Duo plus coffee is actually right next to them and they’re both great and locally owned. And in terms of bars, Jun wine bar is also down the street on Court Street. And I love their little courtyard as well.

 

Lexie Smith 

Lots of good shout outs, thank you, we will try to put those in the show notes, guys, so you can check them out if you’re ever in her area. Okay, so we’re going to transition over, we’re going to talk a little bit more about your career. So rewind us back, you’re required to tell us about your classically trained ballerina NIS ballerinas ballet, because I’m super intrigued. But beyond that, talk us through your career up until today.

 

Erica Sloan 

Sure. So yes, before I ever wanted to be a journalist, I wasn’t one of those people who came out the womb knowing that I wanted to be a writer or journalist. Before that, I was set on becoming a ballet dancer. And I moved away from home to attend a residential high school program in North Carolina to pursue ballet. In a pre professional setting. It was the University of North Carolina School of the Arts at their high school program. And it’s for that reason that I think college was not really a clear, you know, option for me from the beginning, I wasn’t entirely set on a particular college. And I didn’t really know what I would pursue outside of dance, which is, I think, why I ended up at a school without a journalism program, which really shaped the rest of my career to follow. I went to Washington University in St. Louis. And it was on arrival that I fell in love with the school, but about a month later, joined the school paper, realize that this was the direction that I wanted to go, that immediate career was a fit for me, and then quickly realized that again, there was no program for it at the school. So my options were transfer, which I really didn’t want to do, or figure out a way to carve out a media career despite the no journalism program backing. So at this point, I really credit my mom who works in sales or worked in sales her entire life, for saying, just make the connections do the work if that’s what you want to do. And there’s a person behind every email account. So the way that I got my first internship and really realized that this was what I wanted to do was cold emailing. And it’s something that I recommend to anyone who asks, if you do it, well, essentially find some point of connection between you and the person and compliment them because everyone responds to a compliment. So I landed my first internship at the now defunct, scene magazine, which was an arts and pop culture magazine, affiliated with the New York Observer. And it was there that I had some real foreshadowing about the industry, the magazine folded two weeks into my time,

 

Erica Sloan 

which boy, and I was, you know, totally thrown for a loop. But was lucky enough to have a manager who basically walked me over to the New York Observer and placed me there for the rest of my summer, completely under qualified and had to be basically learning as I went. And I think that scrappiness of figuring it out as I went, being in a room with a bunch of journalism painters, and having you know, no prior experience, but trying really hard, is basically the thread of my career since then, I one internship led to the next and the next and then post grad, I was bouncing around looking for that full time editorial role as one does. And I called emailed once again, this time to land what would really be a temp editorial role at prevention, a health and wellness magazine. And at the time, I was living in DC, my biggest goal was just to move to New York. And so I was ready to take a temp role, whatever the role might be, if it was an internship, at least it was paid basically this temp role, and on the day that I got the job, which I do believe was because I had cold emailed the amazing food editor there at the time, Kelsey cloths if you’re listening, thank you. And and I got the job and on that day, Hearst acquired Rodale, which was the parent company of prevention at the time. And that was my first taste of many big media acquisitions to follow in my career sins. So, as a result, I flew under the radar a little bit as a bunch of things were shaken up, you know, inside at prevention and beyond, and was really looking carefully for a full time role at that point, which is when I landed at Martha Stewart Living as the editorial assistant for both MSL, which was the print publication and Martha Stewart weddings at the time, and then stayed there for several years, where I really learned how to write I would say, that was the place where I picked up any amount of style nuance, writing editorial talent in earnest was really at Martha Stewart and under the the guidance of incredible editors, and then basically stuck with print, as long as my heart and brain you know, thought that that was really a viable option. And then eventually made the decision to pivot to digital in 2021, and join the well and good team where I have kind of come back to my initial interest in health and wellness. That started with prevention. So it’s a little bit full circle thus far.

 

Lexie Smith 

Wow. Okay, so many things I want to pull from there. First, let me just say, I do think it’s a big testament to you two weeks into an internship, you know, company one folds that they found a spot for you at New York Observer, because that means they saw something of value. So major kudos, also, I have to share I was interning for CBS for a morning show in Portland, which is where I’m from originally Portland, Oregon. And it wasn’t two weeks in but with like two weeks to go in my internship, the morning show got cancelled. So I remembered watching the entire team, right? So I was just an intern, all the hosts, everyone go into a room and basically be told by the larger conglomerate, like, sorry, we like replaced your show space with the doctors. So I’m like, whatever. And that is a crazy thing to bear witness to. I’m curious, just like as a follow up question, because you’ve been part parts of acquisitions, you kind of mentioned you’ve seen seen it a lot. Do you feel like the markets settling right now? Or are we still in a phase where we’re doing doing a lot of that?

 

Erica Sloan 

That’s a great question. I think it’s really ongoing. I think we saw with Bice with refinery with New York mag, with these various brands, even in recent years, get bought up by each other. I think it’s it’s, in a way, sadly ongoing, I’ll say only because acquisitions do tend to lead to redundancies and folks losing their jobs. As you know, staff teams get really slimmed down.

 

Lexie Smith 

But at the moment, the the big the big players, I guess I’ll say are seem to be set where they are.

 

Erica Sloan 

The Hearst Meredith Conde of the world. So I’m not sure what the future holds in that regard

 

Lexie Smith 

to to be determined. Okay. Well, let’s talk about your role today. At wheeling, good. Whoa, did it meet? Let’s say that correctly? Let’s, let’s talk about your role today as well. And good. So for anyone listening, not familiar, what is well and good. And then talk us about your role specifically?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, so we like to say well, and good really sits at the intersection of trends, service and evidence based journalism. And what that really means is we help inform and educate people. And by people, I mean, all people of all shapes, sizes, ethnicities, backgrounds, on how they can live their most well lives and maximize their well being really in every sense of the word. So that means making health and wellness content really accessible for any audience. And it means as cliche as it might sound, meeting people where they are, so what works for a reader at 27 may not at 52 and beyond that, but we’re hoping to speak to anyone who is looking to add more wellness to their lives.

 

Lexie Smith 

Beautifully said okay, so within that, what do you do? What’s your role?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, so I am our Lifestyle Editor, which means that I I edit and write content in our lifestyle vertical. And this is a very large category of content, I like to joke that it’s a catch all for the topics that we’d love to cover that don’t naturally fit into our other verticals. But in reality, what that means is I’m covering or editing content in the categories of sleep, sex, relationships, astrology, something we call introspection, which is really personality type content, travel Career, Money, basically any element of your day to day life that crosses paths with wellness in one way or another. And that doesn’t fall into essentially beauty, food health and fitness, which are other verticals.

 

Lexie Smith 

Okay, so my follow up question to that. Knowing while I’m good is trying to speak to everyone and knowing you have a large bucket of topics and beats to pull from, what is your personal process of Article selection? Is it something where you’re ideating? Everything yourself? Are you getting pitched? Is it a combination? Combination? Walk us through that a little bit?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, it 100% is a combination. It’s a mix of all the things you just mentioned. So part of it is coming up with ideas myself. And people often ask me how I do that, too, which I think the best answer is observing. Classically, a good journalist is a good observer observer. But I really think that applies when it comes to lifestyle content, because it’s what’s happening in your life, and all of us are leading a lifestyle. So really, it comes down to paying attention to what I’m doing and what my friends are doing in the day to day what topics are coming up. What I’m seeing on social media is a big one, what I’m seeing covered in the news, where we could think about what our wellness take would be, that’s generally where my inspiration comes from. But I am also definitely getting pitched by publicists, by freelance writers. And occasionally, I am taking those pitches mostly from the writers and assigning those pitches to those writers as well.

 

Lexie Smith 

Okay, so let’s talk about that. And a quick little vocabulary lesson for everyone when a writer freelance writer is reaching out to you, so it’s not someone who’s on the masthead of well and good. We can call those a byline right, they’re writing a contributed pizza contributor. I’m curious for those interested in reaching out pitching you their byline or a contributor piece? What are some things that would be helpful for note to know for well, and good? So are there certain styles or certain types of articles that well and good or you as an editor are looking for?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, totally. So everything that I’m covering, as an editor at well and good has some clear wellness hook. And I reiterate that because I do think that this is what separates us in a market of lots of lifestyle brands. We are focused on that element of how does this affect or add to my well being in one way or another? What we typically look for is a day two or day three take which essentially means how can we add some level of wellness? Deep Dive wellness analysis? What does this mean for my well being to a topic that is in the news, so a great example of that is when Roe v. Wade was recently and very sadly overturned. I worked on a piece about the potential effect of this on contraception access down the line and why similar laws you know, being overturned this becoming a new precedent could have this domino effect for contraception access and what why that matters why access is important. So I think that’s an example but there’s examples as well with celebrity news with more pop culture news where we’re looking to dissect what the wellness bit is in there for us.

 

Lexie Smith 

Yeah, I I’ve never heard it put in that way. The day two or day three take I think that’s brilliant. It’s so clear. Make sense? Do you guys take any more evergreen topics? Or is it usually always tied into something trending?

 

Erica Sloan 

I should caveat Yes, we do. We totally do as well take evergreen topics. So in terms of evergreen freelance pitches, I’m also looking for that clear wellness hook. Why is this something that well and good should cover as opposed to a general lifestyle outlet. And then another key item for us is we are in a space where there is so much snake oil in the wellness industry, there is so much misinformation and confusion that I often really appreciate when when pitches include examples of relevant experts who the person is hoping to speak with in order to bring this piece to life because almost every well and good piece includes expert insights for the very clear reason that we need to be sure of what we’re saying, because it has a real impact on people’s life and their day to day well being.

 

Lexie Smith  

Yeah, I appreciate that a lot, as a consumer, as a reader as a woman who is, I guess now five months into her postpartum journey and frequently googling wellness things for myself and my daughter, there’s just a lot of information out there. It’s hard to, to sift through the clutter. And know what what’s what’s real, what’s valid, and what have you. So, so thank you, I’m realizing too, if evergreen is a new term for anyone listening, you want to give us a quick like, let’s put you on the spot. But to put you on the spot definition or overview what that means.

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, so evergreen just means it’s ever relevant. It’s not necessarily tied to news or to something that’s currently happening. And it’s not tied to a pick particular week of awareness, to a holiday to anything like that. It’s just a topic that would always be relevant for our readers.

 

Lexie Smith 

Perfection. Thank you very much. Okay, so I want to talk to you said, you know, mostly you’re accepting freelance pitches, sometimes maybe a publicist, or a business owner, makes it through the cracks. I’d love to zone in on those cracks, and maybe talk about what does make it through. So we’re gonna do some rapid fire in a second. But first, just high level, what makes a pitch stand out to you and your inbox or what makes a good pitch?

 

 

Yeah, it is tough for publicist. So I really do commend every publicist out there, because I know that I and others, we’re sorting through an inbox full of pitches, and it is hard to make a pitch standout. So for me, I really appreciate shortened to the point, which you may have heard before. But clearly, what is the value add? What is the reason why this item product person expert is going to be different and unique and is going to be something that when I share it with my readers, they will learn something gained something have some additional value to their life. So for publicists, I always say shortened to the point. And don’t worry about weaving a narrative beyond the one that just positions your client in their space. Don’t worry about tying it necessarily to something going on unless there’s a really obvious hook. Don’t worry about creating a storyline for how this client could be featured, necessarily. And I know that might sound a little wild, you know, to some publicists who are like, this is what I spend my time doing. But in reality, it’s hard to have that storyline that you create outside of our team really aligned with something that’s going on on the inside just because you’re in your own bubble, we’re in our own bubble and the chances that these two things overlap is really low. And that the exact storyline you craft around your client is the one that I take is low, but often I can find a fit for your client in a piece I’m working on in something down the line in a round up in a franchise that we’re creating. And you wouldn’t have been able to think of those things because you’re not you know, on our team. And so why spend the extra time crafting this story or weaving this narrative of about exactly one way that your client could be featured, whereas you could just present the information, I can take that information at face value, and then apply it in any number of different ways that would make sense for my team and my vertical. So those are the biggies. And then clear headline, and clarity throughout the pitch is so helpful, because of the fact that I am a religious email sorter into folders relevant to particular subject areas, when someone covers as many different things as I do sleep, sex, relationships, money, et cetera, I really need an email folders to be able to find things. And so if the headline of your email clearly states who the expert is what the product is, and the category, it’s a sleep supplement, it is a clinical psychologist, then I can Google not Google, I can search those keywords in my inbox and pull up those emails, which I’ve been known to do months down the line and use sources and clients later on.

 

Lexie Smith 

All of you, if are, like asleep, wake up, tap back. You just shared so many. So not only did you pull back the curtain on you, personally, you offered a perspective I’ve never heard on the show. And I don’t even know how many episodes I’ve done at this point. I think we’re nearing 100. No one has ever pointed the perspective or painted the perspective of the fact that it’s really hard. Like you guys already have your own storylines going on, you already have your team like you guys already have a plan, the likelihood that a story that someone is pitching is going to fit into that is small, holy cow. That’s that’s huge. So if you guys are interested in pitching well and good, like, again, tap back, listen to what Eric just said, because that was really, really, really gold. So thank you, thank you for being honest with that. Okay, so we’re gonna do a little bit of what I call a rapid fire preferential question. So this is for you. No one else there’s no right or wrong answers. And whatever comes to your head. So are you ready?

 

Erica Sloan 

I’m ready. Okay,

 

Lexie Smith 

first, is there a place you prefer to be pitched such as Instagram DMS versus email?

 

Erica Sloan 

Email, no DMS and also one quick new one. No, LinkedIn, DMS, because I can lose track of those things in the LinkedIn inbox and they will not make the jump over to my email most likely.

 

Lexie Smith 

Perfect. Okay, preference on time of day to be pitched.

 

Erica Sloan 

Anytime I will see it.

 

Lexie Smith 

Are you open to receiving cold pitches at this point in time?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yep, totally.

 

Lexie Smith 

Do you kind of mentioned this earlier, but I’m going to ask it again. Do you appreciate when people take the time and a pitch to prove they’re familiar with your work maybe out of a genuine compliment? Or do you want them to just get straight to the pitch,

 

Erica Sloan 

get straight to the pitch. And I say this with all kindness in my heart. The I just read this piece was not going to make me answer any more quickly than just getting to the point with your client. And I think that this is really a show don’t tell thing. I will be able to tell based on your pitch. If you’re familiar with my work, if it includes a client that I would cover that includes an expert that I would cover if it’s has a clear wellness hook, if it follows these general guidelines, I will know you’ve looked at my work. So there’s no need to tell me you can just show me

 

Lexie Smith 

beautiful. How do you feel about follow ups? Are they okay, if someone hasn’t heard back?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, totally. To moderation, I would say so. One or two is totally fine. We have a million emails going at all times. So sure. But beyond the second one, maybe not.

 

Lexie Smith 

Fair enough. And then last question, I don’t know if this is much preference, as opposed to just the reality of it. Do you for products require products to have affiliate links set up for willing? Good?

 

Erica Sloan 

Great question. I would say we do not require it. But it is helpful. So as quick background, we gained a commerce team last summer. This was a new thing for us. So around when I started last May. We also hired a senior commerce editor and two writers. That was the first time that that had ever happened for welling goods. So that’s a full team devoted to commerce shopping content. And so with that there was an initiative to expand our coverage of affiliate products. and to grow that revenue stream honestly. But that certainly does not limit us to only covering affiliate products. And major exceptions to that are products that, you know, we just feel so strongly need to be shared with our audience because they really are filling a gap in the market, or products that were launched by bipoc founders who we are dedicated to uplifting on our pages, regardless of affiliate link.

 

Lexie Smith 

Okay, I lied because one more question that made me think of, do you want someone to offer a product? Is that a requirement for you, if you’re going to write about it, I would

 

Erica Sloan 

say not a requirement. Occasionally, we are pulling together products based on a current need a current trend, so not 100% a requirement. But I do know that our commerce team, which again works on the majority of product focused content for well and good does love the opportunity to sample something because the content then that follows is so much more genuine when the editor can actually speak to experience. And occasionally This means sampling by a few different editors to share different perspectives and experiences from people in different bodies from different backgrounds on how they’re experiencing a product.

 

Lexie Smith 

Beautiful. You nailed that, not that there was like a right or wrong answer to any of that, but that was super helpful. One of the most important questions I have for you of the entire show, since we’ve talked a lot about pitching is what can we find you sipping so what is your favorite beverage can be non alcoholic or alcoholics?

 

Erica Sloan 

It’s funny you mentioned that because I think I will call out some non alcoholic friends. Anyone who knows me knows I’ve been very open about my non alcoholic journey as of late which was prompted not by anything other than the fact that I’m managing a stomach situation let the world know. So I was told not to drink for a while and Lockwood habit that non alcoholic beverages were a 2022 wellness trend for well and good. So I was exposed to a great many of those beverages at just the time when I needed them and I love them. So I am a kin devotee, I love kin. I love Gaea g h i A also makes a canned kind of ready to drink non alcoholic beverage. I love proxies, which is non alcoholic wine. Those are the biggies for me in my fridge right now.

 

Lexie Smith 

Where are you my entire pregnancy? You’re on well and good.com. And I just didn’t find you. I was trying to find so many. I went through so many non alcoholic options that were just awful. So I wrote those down, just in general to have more options that you know, leave you feeling a little better in the morning. So, so thank you GIA can in proxies, so they get that right.

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, yeah. And I’ll just shout out one more local place down the street from me in Cobble Hill, but that I believe is opening several locations in California so Newsflash, but wassan is a non alcoholic. Basically a marketplace for a bunch of different non alcoholic beverages. Another one that I left out is dis suave, which is Katy Perry’s brand of non alcoholic beverages that I love. They make aperitifs that are great. But bosan, I believe, coming soon in LA, but exists in a couple locations in New York. One of them is down the street from me.

 

Lexie Smith 

Oh my gosh. Okay. I’ll have that on my radar. I feel like it’s probably way past time because you go to the grocery, even the grocery store. I wish they had more options. Well, apart from soda, more like alcoholic What do you call them? Like non alcoholic alcohol? I don’t know. What’s, what’s the category called?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, so non alcoholic alternatives, alternatives also, but also there is D alcohol lies, you know, spirits and wine, which is really fascinating where they’re actually made like normal one and then the alcohol was taken out not to get too sciency which is its own category. Yeah,

 

Lexie Smith 

yeah. Oh, man, I’m gonna have to go do some more research. Even though I’m not as limited. I’m still I’m still breastfeeding. So that is something I need to be mindful of TMI for everyone. But hey, oh, here we are. Um, so my my last question for you today is if people want to connect with you, or learn more about well and good Where’s where would you prefer? They go? What’s the best place to connect with you on?

 

Erica Sloan 

Yeah, so despite the fact that I said, don’t pitch me on Instagram, you can certainly connect with me. Ask me questions or see what I’m covering by following me on Instagram. So I’m at Erica page Sloane. And I’d say the That’s probably the best one since I keep committing to Twitter, but I really am not on there as as readily.

 

Lexie Smith 

There we go. And we will put that in the show notes. Erica, thank you so much for coming on the show today. I took so many notes. I hope everyone listening. You did too. And if you’re ever on the West Coast, please definitely reach out. Yeah, I

 

Erica Sloan 

definitely will. I just got back but I’m hoping I was in Los Angeles for a wedding two weeks ago,

 

Lexie Smith 

where we’re all squirrel squirrel were in LA was the wedding. It was at the LA

 

Erica Sloan 

River and Garden Center, which I believe is. Yeah, so most people have that reaction

 

Lexie Smith 

when I told them near the highway.

 

Erica Sloan 

I think so. Yeah. It was actually a very beautiful kind of outdoor garden you vibes. ceremony and reception. So cool.

 

Lexie Smith 

To check that one out. Well, next time next time.

 

Erica Sloan 

Next time next time. Yes.

 

Lexie Smith 

And then you guys until next time, cheers. Hey guys, if you are enjoying the pigeon and sipping podcast, please do me a huge favor and leave a review wherever you are listening. If you want to connect with me to learn more about the PR bar Inc. You can do so on Instagram at the PR bar underscore inc or you can check out my website at the PR bar inc.com Cheers