Alexis Morillo is the Lifestyle Editor at Bustle, where she oversees coverage on food, travel, home, holidays, tech, viral trends, and astrology. She reports on one-off viral trends as they pop up on TikTok, seasonal moments and gift guides, and bigger-picture features about how the latest internet obsessions came to be.
 

During the episode, Alexis talks about her and her team's unique approach to covering trending
stories, her openness to having a phone discussion with a potential source or story idea, two
examples of subject lines that resulted in coverage, and more.

Follow her on Twitter and LinkedIn.

Click below to listen to the full conversation and read below for highlights from the interview:

Providing Feedback To Pitches

[00:04:41] BB: Yes. Okay. How about your inbox? Is it crazy in there?

[00:04:45] AM: Yes. It has been the holiday season since July. So it's definitely been crazy for
the second half of the year. I do take pride in my organization with my inbox I will say.

[00:04:57] BB: Tell us more. Very few people say that.

[00:05:00] AM: I know.

[00:05:01] BB: Very few. Let's emphasize very.

[00:05:03] AM: Yes. I mean, I know that it's a two-way street. As much as it's helpful to get the
feedback, like I know that it has to happen in real time. If I ever get an invitation to a PR event, I
try to let them know that I can't make it.

[00:05:21] BB: That’s nice.

[00:05:23] AM: If it's something that maybe we wouldn't cover, doesn't really fall under what
Bustle is looking for, I'll try to give that feedback as well because it helps me as much as it helps
them, because then I'm not getting the pitches that could maybe be taking over my inbox a little
bit too much. So, yes, I do think that like the responsiveness is definitely something that I pride
myself on. Obviously, sometimes, it gets a little bit crazy up in there. But I do try my best.

[00:05:52] BB: Okay. That's so generous and rare. I love it. Now, breaking down, though, the
ratios of pitches, let's say, in your inbox. Is it mostly publicists? Is it mostly like freelancers?
Because you're an editor, and I think one thing we try to do on this show is to demystify what the
editor's inbox looks like and what they got to deal with in terms of story allocation and getting
back to this freelancer, assigning, literally editing, all those things. How would you describe it?

[00:06:23] AM: I'd say that the pitches from freelancers are definitely way less common than
the pitches of story ideas from publicists. I will say that I know how we work at Bustle is we have
one lifestyle pitches email. Anything that goes to that inbox goes to everyone on the lifestyle
team. So it wouldn't necessarily just be up to me to sift through those, respond back to
freelancers, give them feedback on their pitches. We have those emails go out to several
members of our editorial team. So that definitely helps when it comes to going through all the
pitches from freelancers.

But then, of course, there are the pitches from publicists to get through. But those, I would say,
probably 85%, if not more, of my inbox is likely from publicists.

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Audience Ask

[00:15:15] BB: Perfect timing. Oh, we do have an audience ask from Maggie Davis from MD
Public Relations, and she's asking you specifically, Alexis. What kind of holiday gift guide
pitches would stand out to you and why? We're recording this in September, by the way,
everybody. I mentioned that the fall is happening, so that should be a big clue. But go ahead.

[00:15:37] AM: This is related to this, and then I will definitely answer that directly. But you think
that and I'm sure it can be confusing because I know when you look up journalists, you get just
whatever has their name on it that's been updated the most recently. But I have gotten holiday
gift guide pitches that were from my previous job because that's everything updated for SEO
purposes. I have gotten asked for updates on things that I no longer have access to. So I do
think that taking a look at that is very important because sometimes, unfortunately, I can't help
updating some of the things that publicists want me to.

But I do think that like if someone has a bunch of clients, I prefer having all of it in one email.
Like I said, I use that kind of as my Google search. So this guide in the subject line and then
maybe inside the body of that, there's experience gifts, as well as hosting gifts, as well as
wellness and beauty gifts. I can kind of use that as my guide, rather than having five different
emails of all the different categories from the same person. I think that's very helpful with gift
guides.

I also think it's nice and, obviously, this isn't always doable, but if there's something that has a
buzzy celebrity component, such-and-such celebrity has used this, that's a great caption to use
in a gift guide. So I think something like that.

[00:17:05] BB: Oh, yes. Good point. Drop those celebrity names. Yes.

[00:17:09] AM: Yes, exactly. Name drop.

Rapid Fire Pitching Preferences

[00:17:11] BB: Yes. Drop that. Excellent. Okay. That's a great answer. Thank you for asking
that, Maggie, from MD Public Relations. We love our audience asks. Alexis, just to round us out
for here, we have our little rapid-fire questions. We'd love to hear your hot takes. Are you ready?

[00:17:29] AM: Okay.

[00:17:30] BB: Video or phone interview?

[00:17:32] AM: Video.

[00:17:33] BB: Bullet points or paragraphs?

[00:17:35] AM: Bullets.

[00:17:37] BB: Okay. Short or long pitches?

[00:17:39] AM: Short. Just the who, what, where in short.

[00:17:42] BB: The who, what, where. Perfect. Images attached or Dropbox zip file?

[00:17:48] AM: I like a Dropbox zip file and lifestyle images. I don't just want a vector image. I
want someone holding it or drinking it or using it.
 

[00:17:56] BB: There you go, in use with it, interacting. Yes. You already did cover this, but
email or Twitter DM? Email, right?

[00:18:05] AM: Yes.

[00:18:05] BB: Email for life. Great.

[00:18:06] AM: Absolutely.

[00:18:07] BB: One follow-up or multiple?

[00:18:10] AM: One.

[00:18:11] BB: One and done. Direct or creative subject lines?

[00:18:15] AM: Can I say creatively direct?

[00:18:18] BB: Yes. Expand on that, though. What does that mean?

[00:18:22] AM: I still want like the who, what, where in the subject line. But I think if you get a
little creative with it, it definitely will stand out.

[00:18:31] BB: Okay. Press release or media kit?

[00:18:34] AM: Media kit.

[00:18:36] BB: What time are you normally reading pitches? You touched on it

[00:18:39] AM: I would say I spend at least the first 30 minutes of my day going through all of
the emails I get overnight. So if you –

[00:18:49] BB: Overnight. Interesting.

[00:18:51] AM: Yes, I know.

[00:18:52] BB: Fascinating.

[00:18:53] AM: So I'd say 9am and 3pm are probably my big inbox sweeps.

[00:18:59] BB: Okay. Oh, you have a time frame. This is why your inbox, you need to lead the
course, Alexis. Okay. Then lastly, sources you love.

[00:19:08] AM: What exactly do you mean by that?

[00:19:10] BB: Like you're like, “Yes, I love dietitians. Yes, nurses in emerging markets.” I don't
know.

[00:19:16] AM: Yes. Okay. I love a registered dietitian.

[00:19:19] BB: Okay.

[00:19:20] AM: I love an astrologist, a manifestation coach.

[00:19:23] BB: Oh, a manifestation coach.

[00:19:27] AM: Yes.

[00:19:27] BB: Is that the new title for life coaches? We just now upgraded it to manifestation
coach.

[00:19:32] AM: Honestly, maybe it is and maybe I need to write that story.

[00:19:37] BB: Yes. Because life coach, that's boring, right? Boring.

[00:19:42] AM: Yes.

________

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