Send Us Your Picks

Are you launching a fabulous new app that helps moms keep their kids safe? Does your brand make something techy and fantastic that will make our insane lives easier? Does tech inspire your art? Is that videocam you bought simply the coolest thing since, uh...the last videocam you bought? Don't just sit there, tell us about it.

Send us a url and a few sentences explaining why it's cool and why our readers will love it. 

What are you looking for exactly?

We look for what's cool and buzzworthy, and excellent design is a must. But it all has to be relevant to parents.

We love supporting the little guy/gal whenever possible, and as with Cool Mom Picks, we're always suckers for a social or eco-conscious backstory.

Also, we want moms to be able to simply click and buy. We're busy people, you know! So if you make a product that's only available in Tokyo for the next seven years, we're not the right site for you. (But we'd love to visit you over there some time.)

When will you let me know if my submission has been picked?

Due to the volume of submissions we receive, we can no longer respond to every email although when we're all really rich and have 16 assistants we totally will again.

If we're interested in an item for review, we will get back to you with an address where you can send samples if we feel we need one. (See more on that below.) We make every effort to review products in a timely manner, but as moms, sometimes things like runny noses and day jobs get in the way, and sometimes we hold reviews for an appropriate holiday or newsletter theme.

We will inform you if and when your item is scheduled to be featured. Your submission is not guaranteed a review, but we promise it will get a good look.

My website is not ready yet. Mind if I submit it to you anyway and make you weed through all my broken links and fuzzy photos?

Sure! That's not annoying at all!

My website looks terrible but my product is great. Will you review me?

Probably not. Do you like visiting terrible websites? Because neither do our readers.

If I advertise with you will that guarantee a review?

Nope.

If I send you a sample will that guarantee a review?

No, sorry. But we won't ask for a sample unless we already think we're interested. It's the eco thing to do.

We accept samples for the purpose of evaluating products and services first-hand that we intend to feature. Otherwise we're just regurgitating press releases (which is lame).  We do not return samples with the exception of high-value loaner products. However we will give away as many products as we can to our readers in a contest to help promote the brand or shop that sent them to us. We often do this at our own expense, just to do something nice for you all.

We reserve the right to hold onto certain samples for future promotional opportunities, media appearances or contests.

Do you accept compensation for reviews?

Nooooo. Although if we ever do write a post on behalf of a sponsor, we will be sure to make it clear. We value our readers' trust to much to make recommendations we don't truly believe in.

Will anything guarantee a review?

Just us thinking something is cool. You can also tell us how awesome our site is which may or may not help.

If your pick is not selected, you are always welcome to send us other ideas--as in, not the same idea that you're just hoping we forgot that we didn't like in the first place.

A special note for PR professionals:

We love PR folks. Some of our best friends are PR folks. Here are a few tips that make us more receptive to your pitch:

1. Read our site. We've tried to make it clear what we do and don't write about. Cool stuff: Yes. Surge protectors: Probably not. Stuff parents will like: Yes. Stuff only celebrities with 8-figure incomes can afford: No.

2. Include links in your pitch please.

3. We generally don't need 600 hi-rez JPG attachments. (See also #1)

4. Ideally we'd love a few sentences about why the product/service/event/sale is right for our site and our audience. This doesn't generally include things like "Lindsay Lohan owns one" or "Strippers love them!" 

5. Generic press releases addressed to "Ms., " or "Dear Blogger" are very easy to overlook. Too easy. Feel free to address them to Kristen, Liz and Beth instead.

6. We don't mind the occasional follow-up but we'd rather not get one every day. We promise we'll get back to you if you are promoting clients of supreme awesomeness. 

7. We don't accept unsolicited posts, articles, or essays. They will be deleted unread.

8. Please oh please pleeeeease be transparent and let us know who you work for. If you pretend to be a regular old mom who stumbled upon this product and just happens to know all the SKU numbers and distribution channels for retail purchase we will talk about you behind your back.