Great Escape Publishing

Posted September 11th, 2008 by Bonnie Caton & filed under Travel Writing.

[EDITOR’S NOTE: Unfortunately this site no longer exists.]

It’s easy to find places to get published once you know where to look. I do it every week for these featured publications… and you can, too.

One great place to find magazines and local newspapers is NewsDirectory.com. There, you can search for publications by name. But this site also offers a really handy area code look-up tool.

For example, here in Portland, Oregon, the most-read newspaper in the whole state is The Oregonian. I could send travel articles there, but the competition, I understand, might be steep for a budding travel writer like me.

If you’re in a similar situation, all you have to do is go to www.NewsDirectory.com and type in your area code. Then in addition to the very well-known publications, the list you’ll get will also include more approachable local newspapers. I’d never heard of half of the ones I found in the Portland metropolitan area.

You can also browse magazines by subject. The “travel” link shows a list of more than 60 travel-themed magazines. Don’t forget to check other subjects that might publish travel content, too — like food, parenting, history, business, or arts and entertainment.

Once you find publications you’d like to write for, here are a few tips on finding the writer’s guidelines on their websites:

** 1. Know the vocabulary. Different newspaper and magazine sites label their writer’s guidelines in different ways. Some don’t label them at all. Look through the site for hyperlinks with words like “writer’s guidelines,” “submission guidelines,” “submit a story idea,” “submissions,” etc.

** 2. Check the hidden corners of the site. Sometimes, the submission guidelines are out in the open, up by the publication’s banner. But you won’t usually find them there. One trick is to scroll down to the very bottom of the page. Usually you’ll find contact information and sometimes you’ll see a tiny hyperlink to submission guidelines. Another place you’ll sometimes find them is in the “contact us” or the “about us” section.

** 3. Try Google. If you still haven’t found any submission information, you can try putting the publication’s name and the words “submission guidelines” or “writer’s guidelines” into a Google search.

** 4. Send an email. Usually, the above methods will bring out a publication’s guidelines. But if they don’t, you can always send an email to editorial staff to ask for them. Just politely let them know you’re a freelance writer and you’d love to have a copy of the writer’s guidelines.

[Editor’s Note: Learn more about opportunities to profit from your travels (and even from your own home) in our free online newsletter The Right Way to Travel.]