Writers' Guidelines | Service pages

Service pages
Posted December 30, 2008

WRITERS' GUIDELINES

Overview and important notes
Important: Please let me know:
Where you are based;
What destinations you are familiar with; and
What specialties, if any, you have.

Before pitching, please read through this e-mail for pitch tips, and review our Web site, OutTraveler.com as well as our blog, GPS if you are pitching for our online properties. If you are pitching for Advocate travel pieces, please review the travel content there.

There are three parts to these writers' guidelines:
**Pitching Advocate travel pieces (this is the next section and includes open assignments!)
**Pitching OutTraveler.com pieces (this follows the Advocate section)
**Becoming a correspondent (this is at the bottom so scroll, baby, scroll!)

PITCHING FOR ADVOCATE TRAVEL
I oversee the travel section in our sister magazine Advocate
Included in this 6 to 10-page section are four sections: Travel Advocate (what's new, hot and happening); 'big picture' (what we are talking about right now); 'unconventional travel' (a weekend planner for a gay business person taking a couple of extra days); 'vantage point' (an essay and a round up related to that essay).

Big picture
Our first 'big picture' is a pictorial look at the new JetBlue terminal at JFK. We are considering the new Standard Hotel and the Highline in NYC. These are big, visually compelling items that would make a great pictorial spread in the magazine. What other cool, major, travel-related stories of interest can you suggest? I can send samples in PDF format.

Unconventional travel
Some of the business cities we are covering include Atlanta, San Diego, New Orleans, Berlin and more. We have an example we can send you on New Orleans. The intro is about 300 words the remainder (900 words) includes 200 word side bar, a local's 'insider tip' and about 700 words of meat. Basically it's where to stay, eat, play/meet but there's a business angle to it. I can send samples in PDF format.

Vantage Point
Our packages run from 'top gay ski weeks' to 'Mediterranean hot spots.' Each one includes an essay that relates to the theme. The essay is first person, highly personal and experiential, loaded with specific details creating a sense of the atmospherics of the experience. The essay's around 500 words, the package about 200. An example is 'Why I love gay skiing' and a round up of upcoming gay ski weeks). Click here to see the online version of this piece. I can send samples in PDF format.

Pitches that get my attention have a definite interesting angle. They have also been researched and include a detailed description of the story idea, format, style, goal and angle.

THE ADVOCATE TRAVEL SECTION NEEDS WRITERS …
Please note the following is subject to change. Feel free to throw your hat in for any of the following pieces that are not assigned. You may also suggest topics not here that you think would be a good fit for the section. Tentative and subject to change

SEPTEMBER
Big picture: assigned: Monument Valley hotel
Unconventional travel: assigned: London
Vantage point: assigned: Top gay Asian gay getaways

OCTOBER
Big picture: tentatively assigned; but feel free to keep pitching
Unconventional travel: assigned: Houston
Vantage point: U.S. road trips; PLEASE PITCH FOR THIS!

NOVEMBER
Big picture: Open; need pitches
Unconventional travel: assigned: Las Vegas
Vantage point: NEED: Tentative theme is S. Florida (Miami, Key West, Ft. Lauderdale) so please pitch this OR feel free to pitch another Vantage point theme: something that would make sense for November and doesn’t repeat something we’ve done recently

DECEMBER
Big picture: Mexico City; Beijing; more pitches welcome
Unconventional travel: assigned: San Diego
Vantage point: assigned: Upcoming cruises

JANUARY 2010
Big picture: Ice Hotel, Quebec; more pitches welcome
Unconventional travel: assigned: San Francisco
Vantage point: tentatively assigned: Australia or safaris

FEBRARY 2010
Big picture: Costa Rica; more pitches welcome
Unconventional travel: Honolulu; more pitches welcome
Vantage point: assigned: Gay Caribbean

MARCH 2010
Big picture: TBD
Unconventional travel: assigned: Washington, D.C.
Vantage point: TBD

APRIL 2010
Big picture: tentative: Darwin, Australia
Unconventional travel: assigned Washington, D.C.
Vantage point: TBD

MAY 2010
Big picture: TBD
Unconventional travel: assigned: Paris
Vantage point: TBD

JUNE 2010
Big picture: TBD
Unconventional travel: tentatively assigned; Prague but feel free to pitch
Vantage point: TBD

JULY 2010
Big picture: TBD
Unconventional travel: Tentative city: Montreal
Vantage point: TBD

AUGUST 2010
Big picture: TBD
Unconventional travel:TBD
Vantage point: Tentative theme: Cool escapes (ski Chile, northern Japan, Antarctica)

PITCHING FOR ONLINE TRAVEL CONTENT: MAKE IT HARD FOR ME TO SAY NO
Include compelling reasons why I should assign the story -- the angle plays an important role here. Is it timely; does it reflect or, better, anticipate current trends? Know what we've covered recently and know what we cover in general as well as the various styles we use. Please don’t simply say: I’m going to Paris, do you need anything? Is it better for OutTraveler.com or our blog, GPS.OutTraveler.com? Get familiar with the types of stories on both before pitching, in terms of voice, style, length, timeliness and the like.

Make note of any recurring articles and pitch accordingly. For instance do you know a part of town that would make a great “Gayborhood Watch” piece? Let us know why. How about a great new “Hotels we Love” theme or “Perfect 10,” or “Three days in”?

What's the style?
Describe the story style and format you are suggesting: is it newsy; first-person; objective 'disembodied' omniscient point of view; top 5 or top 10; round up; slideshow, quiz; etc. Stories are mostly in the third person or 'omniscient' point of view, but that does vary and we sometimes use the first-person 'I' point of view. On our blog we have several series, like Value Watch, Tour Operator Profile, Surprising Gay Destinations. Do you have a great idea for one of these existing series or a suggestion for a new one?

Smaller is (sometimes) better
Feel free to throw 'small' ideas at me, like quirky, interesting, upcoming event in gay-popular places. A short piece is less expensive for me to say yes to. The Kylie story below was great. It's short and sweet but it involves an iconic gay celebrity whom people love; it's in a cool, gay-friendly destination; and it lends itself to campy treatment and a sexy picture.

Quirky but compelling (and useful)
Writers have in the past successfully pitched zany festivals with a homoerotic feel (Penis Festival); unexpected gay finds: a tranny hotel in Wales; lesbian yacht captain/minister in Hawaii; profile of Hanns Ebensten, the father of gay travel (and his tour company which still exists). Each of these was interesting as a story but is also actionable: Someone can book the travel experience described.

PR angle
Also, stories that may have a pitchable PR angle are also good. Up-and-coming gay destinations for example was picked up by the mainstream press and helped us generate both lots of PR and lots of impressions. Also picked up was a piece we did on how gay friendly the Caribbean is (with a report-card call-out; see below).

Travel Guide updating
It's definitely O.K. to tell me where you are traveling to next. We offer a large number of destination-based Travel Guides and Three Gay Days, and perhaps I might need one updated. But beyond that, I'm looking for stories that are unique, compelling, will generate interest among our site visitors (who range in profile from non-traveler who may find a story just plain interesting all the way to super-frequent, savvy gay or lesbian traveler).

ATTENTION WRITERS! CORRESPONDENT PROGRAM
A really good way of breaking into our team of writers is to become our correspondent. This position is unpaid but it allows you a voice and the opportunity to submit pieces to us. We are looking for correspondents from all over the world. If you are interested in this, please send an email with subject line "Correspondent program" to editor@outtraveler.com.

CORRESPONDENT STYLE GUIDE
Welcome to the Out Traveler Correspondent Program!

Contacts:
Nikko Lencek-Inagaki: outtraveler@gmail.com
Joseph Alexiou: outtraveler@earthlink.net
Below, you’ll find a few pointers on the style, tone and content of your upcoming contributions to the pre-miere national LGBT travel voice. We’ll be in frequent e-mail contact about revisions and suggestions as you send us drafts, but feel free to get in touch with specific questions (can I say this? Is this old news? Can this be a longer piece?) as you are writing.

Send your ideas for pieces/events/etc. to write about to Nikko or Joseph at least a week in advance if they are time-sensitive. The more time-sensitive, the earlier you should suggest it so there is plenty of time to write and edit your pieces.

Word Count: 100 - 250 (somewhat flexible)

Style + Tone
Provide readers with “insider tips” that you are proud of knowing. Focus on one event (or two, if they related geographically, thematically, etc) or give one or two general tips using specific examples of how they are use-ful to LGBT travelers. Every sentence should contribute a new idea: the mood of a location, a fact, its history.

Read everything out loud to weed out awkwardness.

When submitting your pieces to Nikko or Joseph, include a short title and images, if possible.

Pieces should read as well-written travel tips composed by a knowledgeable traveler who has done a little extra research for a friend of a friend. Imagine you are sending your piece on Berlin to your partner’s gay brother/sister who will be there next month.

When submitting to Nikko or Joseph, include a short title and, if possible, images.

Suggestions of events to cover:
New/outstanding LGBT nightlife, LGBT-interest museum/gallery openings, gay-popular restaurants, Recent gay-related legislation, particularly if of interest to travelers, LGBT-interest cultural activities: seasonal celebrations/shopping, art/culture/film festivals, New/renovated LGBT-popular accommodations or services

Things to avoid:
- While these pieces are first person, avoid the excessive use of “I”
- Post-card tone: “This is the best trip ever! I love Paris!”
- Long/run-on sentences; break long phrases into multiple ones, even if it takes more words.
- Too many details. Trying to capture everything about a location may be too confusing, we’d prefer it if you submit multiple pieces.
- Overloading your lead-in sentence(s) with general, impressionistic descriptions; the mood will also come out throughout the piece.
- Profanities and heavily sexual language
- Writing about things you don’t like; pick something you do like!

Recent examples of successful pitches
Some recent pitches that were successful both in terms of the writer getting the assignment and, importantly, the amount of traffic the article generated online follow.

World's Don’t Miss Car Shows (gay men love their cars, too).
Q/A (interviews with gay hospitality movers and shakers).
Pet travel-related articles
Lasting Inspirations (gay grave sites; quirky but very popular).
Perfect Ten (could be good for packages in Advocate).
Andy Warhol's Pittsburgh (unexpected perspective on a destination folding in a gay icon).
Gay Travel Milestones (big, meaty package for 'package' section).
Jackie Warner's Workout Tips (gay celebrity; health).
Blue Islands in Red States (clever perfect 10 package).
Star Paths (article tying in celebrities and travel).
Three Gay Days (collection of online articles describing 72 hours in a gay-friendly destination).

READY TO PITCH? Click here.