Pitchin' and Sippin' with Lexie Smith

BDG Commerce Writer and Journalist Jessica Booth on Pitching Products and the World of Commerce

• Lexie Smith • Season 7 • Episode 131

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In this episode, Lexie Smith sits down with Jessica Booth, a freelance writer, former editor and a Commerce Writer for leading global media company BDG. She has written for a wide variety of outlets, including Refinery 29, Bustle, Elite Daily, Parents, Brides, What To Expect, The Knot, People, The Bump, Reviewed, The Daily Beast, Forbes, Insider, Cosmopolitan, She Knows, Romper, and Food & Wine. Jessica covers tons of different topics, but specializes in parenting and commerce writing.

In this episode, Jessica delves into the intricacies of commerce writing, detailing her journey from editorial assistant to managing editor and now a key player in BDG’s dedicated commerce team. She explains how commerce writing often revolves around assignments rather than pitches and discusses the distinct roles of assignment-based and freelance commerce writing.

Jessica also shares insightful tips on what makes a pitch stand out, emphasizing the importance of clear, concise communication and relevant product information. She breaks down her process for evaluating products, highlighting the significance of personal experience and customer reviews. As the discussion turns to the impact of AI on journalism, Jessica expresses her concerns while also acknowledging the potential benefits. Whether you're a publicist looking to refine your pitch strategy or a journalist navigating the evolving media landscape, this episode offers valuable perspectives on pitching and product evaluation in commerce.

Here’s What You’ll Learn:

  • Details about Jessica's extensive career from her beginnings as an intern at Redbook to her role as a freelance commerce writer for BDG and other prominent outlets.
  • The nuances of commerce writing, including how Jessica manages assignments for different brands under BDG and the specific focus areas of her work.
  • The difference between freelance commerce writing and in-house roles, including how product pitches are handled in each context.
  • Insights into what makes a successful product pitch, including the importance of getting straight to the point and providing essential assets like product links and images.
  • How assignments work in the commerce writing field, from how Jessica receives them to the creative liberties allowed in her roles.
  • How holiday gift guide pitches are managed
  • Jessica’s perspective on the potential impact of AI on the commerce writing industry and its effects on jobs and the writing process.
  • Jessica’s preferences for receiving product pitches, including the type of information she values and how she likes to be approached
  • How Jessica sources and evaluates products for inclusion in her articles
  • How to connect with Jessica Booth for media and PR inquiries


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Lexie Smith  

Jessica booth is a freelance writer, former editor and a commerce writer for leading global media company BDG. She has written for a wide variety of outlets, including refinery, 29 bustle, Elite Daily parents, brides, what to expect? The knot. People, the bump review, The Daily Beast. Forbes, insider, Cosmopolitan. Man, I'm running out of breath. So many more food and wine. Jessica covers tons of different topics, but specializes in parenting and commerce. Writing. Jessica, welcome officially to the show. I always love to kick it off with, where is home base? 


Jessica Booth  

Hi, I am in Long Island. In New York. You are in Long Island. I don't know what this means for me, but two of my recent clients live in Long Island. 


Jessica Booth  

I was on a networking call yesterday with someone in Long Island, and now we are on this podcast, and you live in Long Island. So I'm like, am I supposed to be traveling to Long Island? Is this in my future? I've never actually been. 


Jessica Booth  

Oh, yeah, it's really nice. So when you're not writing for all the places, what do you like to do outside of work, for fun? Um, well, I have two little kids, so, um, just kind of running after them and taking care of them and doing, you know, fun things with them, and I love to spend a lot of time outside. So I'm only 10 minutes from the beach, so I go to the beach as much as possible. And then, just like spending time with family, trying to go on trips whenever I can, things like that, nothing too cold. How old are the kids? Five and two and a half? 


Lexie Smith  

Okay, I have a two and four month old, so I'm right, right there with you, and my husband's out of work this week, so I like, quote, unquote, single parenting, and she is being extra two this week, so I'm extra tired.


Lexie Smith  

Camera. Um, that's a fun spread. We do want another one. So it might end up being being that spread. Are they girls or boys? Two girls, two girls. I have a girl as well.


Lexie Smith  

So toddler, amazing. Okay, so let's dive straight into what I call career cliff notes, and basically just walk us through high level your journey leading up to today, you can honestly start wherever you want. Okay, um, so I started out in media as an intern. I interned at a few different places, um, I think it was red book,


Jessica Booth  

uh, US Weekly and Hollywood Life. And that kind of set me up with a lot of connections, and then I got a full time position at the sitegirl.com which doesn't exist anymore, unfortunately, but it was a really fun site for Teen Girls. And I worked there as an editor for almost eight years. So I started out as an editorial assistant, and then by the last few years, I was the editor in chief of the site, and, then that company unfortunately went under, so I lost that job, and that's when I started freelance writing, which I did in about like, I think it was 2017 so I've been freelance writing since then. Okay, and how is the commerce role relatively new? Or is that been, is that also freelance? That's more part time in house, right? Yeah. So my Commerce role at BDG is part time, and it's kind of still freelance, but I do have set hours that I work every week, so it's a little bit different. But before that, I was doing a lot of freelance commerce writing for the last few years, since commerce writing started to become a little bit more popular, I would say, like maybe 2019, 2020, around then, when it started to pick up, I started doing a lot more commerce, writing and


Lexie Smith  

and I've had other part time jobs at BDG before this one, I was a part time lifestyles writer at bustle at one point, and a part time lifestyles writer at romper At one point. Okay, so I'm I'm excited to get into this a little bit more, because I've had one, I've had one in house commerce reporter on the show from the Hollywood Reporter, and one who does more freelancing. But what I'm really interested in is the fact that you are commerce writer for BDG, and for those listening, let me tell you what that means. If that's like a new acronym, you're like, what does that mean? So it's a media conglomerate company, right? And I'm going to tell you some of their brands. They're as iconic as they come. We have bustle, Elite Daily, the zo report, nylon inverse, Mick or Mike W romper, scary mommy, fatherly and the dad. I might have missed more, but I'm curious how, how it exactly works when you're working for the parent company of BDG, are you doing commerce across all those brands? Is it one or two? What does that look like?


Jessica Booth  

Right? So I so BDG has like a dedicated commerce team, and then they may have other commerce writers for each specific site, I'm not sure. But the I work for the dedicated commerce team, so I write for a variety of their websites. So



I've written for a whole bunch of them, for commerce, but I mainly focus on, I think it's bustle, elite, daily, scary mommy, Mick and or Mike. Actually, I think Mike and inverse. It is Mike. Mike, yeah, okay, I know that I'm like, Oh, shoot. Usually I look at pronunciations before this, but that one threw me off for a second. Yeah. So Okay, interesting. Do you get in your role creative liberty to come up with your own commerce stories, or is it more based on assignment?


Jessica Booth  

Um, for BDG, it's all assignment, okay? And same for, like any other freelance commerce writing, it's mostly assignment, it's all assignment, okay, so you're not necessarily even for freelance. It sounds like at the stage where you're pitching to land, it's more hey, we want to do or correct me if I'm wrong. Like, a commerce roundup on this. Can you be our writer for it? Is that kind of how that cadence works from your editor? Yeah. So any of the sites that I write commerce for, it's usually like, I have, like, some kind of relationship with them, so I usually write for them, like once, maybe more every month,


Lexie Smith  

and it's all on assignment. Okay, great. It all comes from their, like, commerce teams, specifically their commerce team. So you have the BDG commerce, but then there's some individual commerce teams per outlet.


Lexie Smith  

Um, not a BDG, a BDG, I only work for their dedicated commerce team for when I freelance. Yeah, thank you. And I know these sound like little nitty gritty details, but on like the publicist side, or even if you're on the journalist side trying to navigate a career these little nuances matter and learning, like, Who do you reach out to? Like, what is the process? And it's something I really try to break down on this show, especially as we're


Lexie Smith  

I mean the media landscape right now and how newsrooms are changing and evolving, especially in the commerce space, it feels a little confusing sometimes. So back to BDG for a second, and I'm going to do my best to try to separate what I'm speaking to freelance versus BDG for assignment. Who is assigning it to you? Is it a managing editor? Is it your commerce editor? Or what's that hierarchy? I work with one editor, and she's like, I'm not sure what I honestly don't I'm not sure of her exact title there, but she's, like, my editor that I work with and I talk to whenever I sign on. Okay, great. And then follow up question to that, is she giving you the theme and you get a curate the products, or has she already curated the products for BDG? They curated the products because they work with, like, very specific products on Amazon. On Amazon, Okay, interesting. Are they only with Amazon affiliates? Um, I don't. So what I do is all Amazon I don't I'm pretty sure they do other affiliate programs, like throughout the company and with each site, but I work with Amazon products. Okay, great. So it sounds like if a publicist or brand came to you and on the in house side and pitched you a product, it probably wouldn't be the right play, because it's your editor who's, I guess, filtering through that decision and going back, or is there still room for you to be like, Hey, I came across this really cool brand like and pitch it up to your editor. So I don't pitch at all for my Commerce position at BDG, but I do like pitch to BDG outlets outside of that commerce position. So, like, I've written for, for example, for Elite Daily um, with a different editor, not affiliate, like, not associated with my Commerce role. So for BDG, um,


Lexie Smith  

no. Like, if I get, uh, product pitches, I can't pitch them to my editor. Got it. Yeah, got it. Okay, so moving hat, and this can be more what you're doing today. It could be like general industry knowledge, what have you. I'd love to break down, you know, the role and how a writer or journalist and editor might go about deciphering whether a given product or piece of commerce is worthy of a roundup versus a feature. And maybe, if there are like indicators that, hey, this is a story on its own. Verse, we're going to throw this in, you know, Holiday Gift Guide 2024


Jessica Booth  

so for just to like clarify.


Jessica Booth  

That would be


Jessica Booth  

all of my, like, freelance commerce writing, not my BDG commerce, commerce writing.


Jessica Booth  

So for me, a lot of the time it like for it to feature a product and to have, like, a whole, like, basically, like a review of a product, it has to be something that's like, very innovative, very new, like, trendy, maybe something that's trending on social media, something


Jessica Booth  

that's like, very different, or something that's really


Jessica Booth  

like, I so I do a lot of parenting commerce writing, so it would have to be something like, very cool that would really make a parent's life more convenient. And that's like, kind of like, worthy of that type of feature. But honestly, also it comes down to the outlet and like, what kind of pitches I know they're interested in, it's actually kind of hard to pitch a review of just one product. A lot of sites, a lot of editors, like, aren't interested in those type of pitches. They're more interested in, like the Evergreen roundups. So, um, a lot of the time it comes down to that. I've tried so many products that I'm like, I think this would be so great. It's like a feature, and it's just like, I can't find anyone interested in it. Yeah, it's hard. And of course, everyone wants the feature, right So, wouldn't we all everyone wants to be on the tape show. Everyone wants their face on the cover of Forbes, and if we could all just snap our fingers and make that happen, wouldn't that be nice?


Lexie Smith  

So let's talk a little bit more and zone in on the roundup side of things. So everyone listening, we are it is August 15. Actually. Today, Season Seven launched. Yay, launch day, but you'll be listening to this in the future.


Lexie Smith  

Holiday gift guides is obviously a big topic, and I am what assume for someone in your position, I love I guess first am I assuming wrong? Let's start there before


Jessica Booth  

I get ahead of myself. Here, do you write holiday style roundups. Yes, I do. I write a few every year, but it changes every year, because it just depends what I get assigned. I haven't started any just yet. That's where I'm headed here. So I was curious, at least for you and your experience, at what point on the calendar that's getting assigned to you or on on your radar, I should probably start getting assignments for September, for holiday gift guides. But honestly, sometimes I don't get anything until October so, or even November.


Lexie Smith  

So it really depends. Like last year, honestly, I didn't really write many gift guides at all, and then I've had years where I've written so many gift guides, so it changes a lot. And I guess to your point that you kind of clarified, at least on the BDG side, maybe it's if your editors are receiving pictures, pictures pitches earlier, weeding through, they only need to if I'm understanding, deliver to you when it's ready for final production, right? So maybe, maybe they're getting pitches sooner. I know you've been an editor before as well. So yeah, anyways, like, I personally have been getting Holiday Gift Guide pitches since June. Yeah, yeah, yeah.


Lexie Smith  

That's like, I'm not even, I'm barely out of winter now. I need to think about Christmas. It's funny, and this is a complete squirrel, but my mom was an art director for the catalog industry for 30 years, and I remember in June and July they do, like, photo shoots with, like, big Christmas trees. And I was so confusing to me. I'm like, It's June or July or print catalog. We have to get them now. So super, super helpful. Another kind of more general question, this is in line with features, and again, we kind of just touched on the fact that features, a feature story, or writing about a single product is challenging and hard to come by. Do you think that from a strategy perspective, if someone, whether it be the brand, reaching out or a publicist, offers the exclusive. So let me set the scene. Maybe it's the launch of something, and they come to you and they're like, before we Blitz the market and tell everyone we want to give you an opportunity exclusively if you're interested, is that something appealing to you? Does that have any merit in your world? In commerce, a little bit


Jessica Booth  

it might. It honestly,


Jessica Booth  

it's hard, because I think that when a site or an outlet how it's like a dedicated commerce team? I think they do a lot of in house analyzing of like affiliate links and SEO and like trending topics to decide, like, what's worth writing about, and I don't see that side of it as a freelancer. So that.


Jessica Booth  

Why I feel like it's just hard to pitch commerce in general, but


Jessica Booth  

for like, an exclusive like that that might get their interest, that is just like something I don't often cover. So I don't know if I would be the best person for that,


Jessica Booth  

but yeah, that definitely would be like if it were again, it would have to be for a feature like that would have to be like a very cool, innovative, like trendy sort of product, yeah, totally, totally fair. Um, this is,


Lexie Smith  

this is, like the buzzword question of the world, right? But again, as we kind of have touched on your roles, and you have these, like two roles, I'm curious how AI has been impacting you, if any. And I think it's like, super relevant to commerce. So just any of your thoughts, whatever direction or tone they lean towards here, um, I don't think it's affected me directly, honestly, I don't know. It makes me very nervous because, um,


Jessica Booth  

like, I could almost see it happening in the future. And, you know, I'm on a lot of like, writer's group on Facebook, where everybody talks about it so and like, you'll see job postings for, you know, writers who can help assist with AI technology and things like that. So it does it. It it makes me nervous. It stresses me out a little bit. Yeah, yeah. Fair enough. Fair enough.


Lexie Smith  

I just know, especially when we think about, like, the product roundups, I've heard a lot of opinions on AI in that lane versus a human interest piece, and maybe where there's more threats than others, I still am of the camp that there's a place for it to help us do our job, but it's never going to be human. I always also joke that, you know, I could be completely wrong here, and who knows, 10 years from now, our daughters are working alongside robots. I don't know. I hope that's not the case, but here we are.


Lexie Smith  

Maybe I'm in denial a little bit,


Jessica Booth  

so I want to switch a little bit. And I know that you again, mostly operate on assignment, but I want to go into, if you are going to receive a pitch, you know, what are some of your preferences? So I call this like a rapid fire preferential Roundup. It's unique to you, Jessica, and what you prefer. So no, no, right or wrong here. So if you're ready, we'll, we'll dive in. Yeah, and just, just let you know, I do work on assignment, but for every other outlet that I write for, I get to pick most of the products. Oh, so I still pitches are still really helpful for me, because I still do, like, I'm still the one sourcing products for a lot of my freelance writing. Just not for BDG, okay, for me, we're gonna come back to round up for a second pin, that pin, that Lexie, I want to go back so that lane, we're gonna zone into that lane of your world. Um, what in this is, before we go to rapid fire, like, what are you looking at? Is it really come down to what's trending, what's cool, what you like personally? Are you really looking for assets? Is it affiliate links? Like, what are the things that are truly making the cut in your inbox when I'm sourcing products? Yeah, from pitches. So, like, obviously, first, it depends on what my assignment is. So it'll usually have, like, usually has a very specific angle. And then from there, it depends on what outlet it's for. Some outlets have, like, a list of affiliate retailers that they work with, and that's where I have to source product from. Some prefer only to work with Amazon, or, like, Amazon's a priority, and then some don't care, and some It's like a mix. So it really depends on where I'm writing. And then for me to pick a product, I always prefer to pick products that I personally have used and have, like, personal experience with, just because it makes it so much easier to write about. And I just feel like I am able to get like more into detail with it, um, but then otherwise, you know, as long as it fits the theme of the post, I'm looking for, um, just, you know,


Jessica Booth  

products that are like, like, like, I always think, like, what I actually want this? Like, would I actually spend money on this?


Jessica Booth  

And


Jessica Booth  

and I always like, so I definitely look through my inbox to see what I've been pitched. And,


Jessica Booth  

you know, I have, I always have an idea of, like the brands that the publicists that I work with the most, and like what brands they wrap and if so, I always try to include products that I'm pitched. I also look at customer reviews for products before I include them in a post. So a lot of the time it's me like either Googling and searching.


Jessica Booth  

For products, or searching through my email for product ideas and then looking at them online, looking at customer reviews, seeing if they're covered on any other websites, like if anybody talks about them. Sometimes I source products just from like when I'm on Tiktok or Instagram, things that I see being featured and that a lot of people are talking about. So it's a lot. There's a lot of different things that go into how I find you know what's going to go into the post. See, all of this is so intricate, which is why I love this show, because it breaks down. It breaks it down on a granular level. And speaking of granular level, let's get into your granular preferences. Okay, we're going to unpin my rapid fire. Now we're going to go into it. So when you're being pitched, is there a day of the week you prefer to be pitched?


Jessica Booth  

Um, I don't think so. I will say that by Friday,


Jessica Booth  

I'm less likely to, like, look at all my emails right away. So usually the beginning of the week, I'm way more productive with getting through my emails same same time of day,


Jessica Booth  

probably in the morning. That's when I do the bulk of my work. Is like earlier in the day.


Jessica Booth  

How many assets do you want up front and what assets? And I can clarify that quickly. Like photos affiliate link. Do you want a press kit? Like, what would your dream pitch entail when it first arrives in your inbox? I love when a pitch, like, gets straight to the point and just like quickly explains, like, why the product is cool, what makes it stand out. Pictures are always really helpful. Links to the product page if it's available is helpful. If it's not out yet, or if it's under embargo, like a press kit, is helpful. I don't need affiliate links right away, just because you know if some just because of the way that the writing writing works with the different outlets. So that's not necessary for me, but I always like a link to the product page. I don't, I don't even always need high risk images like for me writing, they're just, it's good to have for me to like, actually see the product that they're talking about. Okay, very cool. And then you mentioned products that you you like, ones you use. So do you want to receive product for consideration. Um, yeah, I that's helpful, especially with some of the content I write, like, especially with like, some of the parenting, commerce writing, but, um, you know, I don't,


Jessica Booth  

I usually don't request a product if I don't think that there's a chance I'm going to cover it.


Lexie Smith  

It's very nice of you. Yeah, everyone has


Lexie Smith  

that cool. Okay, so pleasantries. I've gotten some big opinions on this, and you said people get straight to the point, but like, if you've never heard of them, do you appreciate a line or two them kind of proving they've done their research? Or, like, skip it just literally straight to business, give me the product. I do appreciate that, because it shows me that, you know, the publicist knows who I am, and


Jessica Booth  

I'm not sure it's like another person, they're emailing whatever, but, um, I don't need I don't need it because I get so many emails every day that, like, at a certain point I'm skimming through them really quickly, because I just have so many to read, and I don't have the time to read them all completely. So I always just appreciate, like, right to the point. And then, are you okay with follow ups? Yeah, I am. Um, I don't like follow ups that come really quickly, like, I've gotten a lot where it's like the day after, or like 48 hours after, and if it's not, like, a super timely issue that kind of just clogs my inbox. It can take me, like, a few days to a week to reply to an email sometimes. So I definitely see why they are necessary. Because I have gotten follow ups where I'm like, Oh, I would have totally missed this email if I didn't see the follow up. So, yeah, okay, but space it out. And speaking of timing, this is probably more specific. I'll set the scene. Let's say it's like a press release, like a launch, like a time sensitive item. How far ahead of time do you want to be pitched so like, if it's launching in two weeks, is that way too? Like, well, I need at least a month like, to even like, have a chance at getting this feature. Like, what I know it's going to differ. But if you were to give us an average, do you have a timeline there? Um, for me, honestly, because I work on so much evergreen content. It kind of doesn't really matter, because I don't really cover timely things anyway. So, yeah, it kind of does it. It doesn't really matter if that makes sense, okay, well, so that kind of narrows it in so for you, because this is about you, it's more you.


Jessica Booth  

On evergreen, yeah, and do you appreciate when there is an angle idea or two along with the product presentation or no? Um, sometimes, but I honestly don't, I don't really use those, just because I do work a lot like I get a lot of assigned pitches, a lot of assigned posts. So usually, when I'm coming up with pitches, I'm trying to come up with it on my own, sort of, okay. So it's honestly like, give you, like, a really nice


Lexie Smith  

overview of the product. What makes it cool? And then then your email becomes your own virtual like Google and catalog for you to think through. Cool. Yeah, very cool. Very helpful to hear. Well, we made it through rapid fire. Well done. You passed. There's no passing. My, my, I have a couple more questions for us. First off is, you know, we're headed again. We kind of already mentioned. It's August 15, but as we head into q4


Lexie Smith  

maybe even into q1 Are there any specific areas of interests, or, you know, things that are lighting you up that you would like to see more of in your inbox. Um,


Jessica Booth  

that it's always hard for me to say, because I just work on assignments so much that it's like I'm kind of bound to like whatever my editors are assigning me. Um, I don't know I since I've been getting holiday pitches since, like, June. I'm like, over them now, and it's like, not even September, but I know that they're like, necessary to keep getting, um,


Jessica Booth  

I don't really know what I'm looking for. Like,


Lexie Smith  

yeah, I'm not sure that's totally fine. I think it's weird, too. Whatever. Yeah, that's great. Okay? And so as my routine, listeners know, we are to the point where it's the most important question of the entire show. We've talked a heck of a lot about pitch in, what can we find you sip in? So what is your favorite beverage? It can be, you know of any, any type, okay, um,


Jessica Booth  

my answer is probably so boring, because I never have anything fun to drink.


Jessica Booth  

I don't really drink alcohol that much, but I really love coffee. Coffee. I love a cappuccino or an iced coffee with


Lexie Smith  

caramel, caramel. Yum. I like coffee too much. I'm trying to, like, wean back so and part of the thing I'm trying I have my little coffee mug here, but there's water in it, because I'm trying to decide, Is it even just like the art of holding the mug that I'm loving so much?


Lexie Smith  

Fair enough? No, we've had a lot of people even say water on this show. They're like, water like, good for you.


Lexie Smith  

I need to do more of that. Yeah. Um, last, last question is, where can people connect with you? Where do you want them to connect with you? And where do you not want them to connect with you? Um, I mean, I'm on Instagram and Tiktok the most.


Jessica Booth  

I do connect with people on Instagram often. I prefer to just get emails, anything like PR or media related. I prefer to get emails because, like you said, I honestly do use my inbox as, like a search for when I'm looking for things. So,


Lexie Smith  

yeah, but I, you know, I do connect with a lot of people on Instagram, which is really helpful. Okay, awesome. And that brings us to the end of the show, and me drilling 5 million questions at you. I sincerely appreciate you coming on the show today and taking the time to break this all down again. I think especially the commerce world, there's just so many questions that I hear floating around, even with publicists like myself, who've been in the game for a while, like, things are just changing so much. Yeah, yeah. I meet with, like, a lot of publicists where we'll do like little chats and like zoom calls and everything. And it is hard, because I really like to pick my products, but it is so dependent on affiliate links for so many outlets.


Lexie Smith  

Les, no, it's good. I appreciate it. It's a new form of revenue for the world of media. You know, catch 22 I feel for the small brands who are, it's harder yada yada. That's a whole nother, whole nother segue. But I appreciate your time. I know you have two little ones, so 500 jobs to get back to, so I will let you go. And just want to say thank you for taking the time to pitch and sip with us today. Yeah. Thank you so much. Bye.


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