Style Guidelines and Submission Guidelines

Travel-Watch Submission Guidelines and Style Guide

Current Openings

We do NOT have any openings right now on our paid writing staff. HOWEVER, we can provide you with an outlet with good circulation, byline, and if you submit 4 or more stories (a business card and press ID, letters of assignment, etc.)

We are sending you a draft of our submission and writing guidelines. We look forward to reading your articles.

Nick Anis
Editor, Travel-Watch

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Submissions to Travel Watch

Whether you are interested in being a guest writer or you are joining our writing staff, or just curious,
W-E-L-C-O-M-E.

We accept queries for stories in upcoming issues, and we accept material from freelancers (in addition to our staff's work).

After reading over our submission and style guidelines send us an email telling us about your story idea(s) and a little about your background and qualifications. After your story has been accepted we will need the graphics, photographs and captions that should be included with the story.

It is essential that your writing, graphics, and photographs are in compliance with the copyright laws. A good source for information about copyright is the US Copyright office. If you are not sure about something, please check with us. Please be sure to include all applicable attributions and photo credits.

Travel Watch is very fortunate to have good staff members, interns, and freelancers. Many of our writers have benefited from having us as one of their outlets. After publishing a minimum number of qualifying stories and/or photos, they receive a masthead listing, byline, business card, and press ID. In addition to Travel Watch subscribers your stories can also be published in the public area section of our website.

We will need your name, address, telephone, fax, email, URL (if applicable), bio, and photograph for our records. Also this information is needed when we republish articles, and if we eventually issue press credentials.

Regular contributors will also be provided with letters of assignment and given opportunities to participate on press trips and other press perks.

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Articles, Photos, and Artwork Submissions

Travel Watch will consider all submissions including news, features, reviews, and short stories that have a food, wine, travel, snow and water sports, recreation, or entertainment theme or sense of place.

Please include contact information for the key organizations mentioned in your story including name, address, telephone (regular and toll-free if possible), email, and website link. Please test the link before submitting it with your story and remember to use the top-level link because individual page names may change over time while domain names are not as likely to change.

All Travel Watch writers, photographers, and artists have bylines on the staff bio page, and short bios (100-250 words) at the end of their article. Author photos (usually headshots), if supplied to us, will also be used. If you want to email us a photo remember that Kinkos provides that service for $10; or when you get your film developed you can request Kodak's Picture Disk service.

When Travel Watch publishes your material, full author credit will be given. Travel Watch, in turn asks that if ANY article previously published in Travel Watch is published elsewhere, that Travel Watch is credited. Basically you are granting Travel Watch unrestricted non-exclusive rights.

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Photos can be mailed to:

Travel- Watch
1125 Bramford Court
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Phone: 909-860-6914
Fax: 909-396-0014
Email: Editor@Travel-Watch.com
Web: http://www.Travel-Watch.com

The best way to send us photos and art, however, is to send them by email to: editor@travel-watch.com.

Travel Watch accepts previously published work when the person submitting the piece owns the copyright. Please advise us if your submission has been previously published.

All queries should be sent by email to: Editor@Travel-Watch.com. Subject line should be Travel Watch Submission.

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Story Lengths

a. 300 to 500 words - short pieces
b. 500 to 750 words - standard length
c. 750 to 1500 words - full length
d. 1500 to 3500 words - full length features

Longer stories may be published in two or three parts. If a story is running long, try breaking out 1 or 2 sidebar stories.

If you mail us photos and want them back, send them with a SASE (self-addressed stamped envelope).

We accept press releases. In many cases a stuff member may wish to review the product, service, or destination discussed. But, if that is not the case and you want to increase the chances of your release being run, consider turning your press release into an article and submitting the story as a guest writer.

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Book and Movie Reviews

We are actively looking for book and movie reviews.

Regular Correspondents

We are also looking for correspondents to contribute regularly, covering different destinations and themes. Please send us a query and writing samples. Letters of assignment can be arranged for the appropriate people.

Copyright: As mentioned earlier, you will be granting Travel Watch unrestricted non- exclusive rights. Writers are responsible for obtaining permission and credits for photos (from press kits, brochures, other people, etc.). According to U.S. Copyright Law, writers must obtain permission from the copyright holder:

To reproduce the work in copies or phonorecords;

To prepare derivative works based upon the work;

To distribute copies or phonorecords of the work to the public by sale or other transfer of ownership, or by rental, lease, or lending;

To perform the work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and motion pictures and other audiovisual works;

To display the copyrighted work publicly, in the case of literary, musical, dramatic, and choreographic works, pantomimes, and pictorial, graphic, or sculptural works, including the individual images of a motion picture or other audio visual work; and

In the case of sound recordings, to perform the work publicly by means of digital audio transmission.

Writers are also responsible for proper attributions for quoting and getting written permission for using copyrighted material or verifying it qualifies for fair use.

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The following section of the copyright act covers fair use:

Copyright Act of 1976

Source: Title 17, United States Code

Section 107. Limitations on exclusive rights: Fair use.

Notwithstanding the provisions of section 106, the fair use of a copyrighted work, including such use by reproduction in copies or phonorecords or by any other means specified by that section, for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching (including multiple copies for classroom use), scholarship, or research, is not an infringement of copyright. In determining whether the use made of a work in any particular case is a fair use the factors to be considered shall include-

(1) the purpose and character of the use, including whether such use is of a commercial nature or is for nonprofit educational purposes;

(2) the nature of the copyrighted work;

(3) the amount and substantiality of the portion used in relation to the copyrighted work as a whole; and

(4) the effect of the use upon the potential market for or value of the copyrighted work.

For more information about copyright point your browser to the US Copyright Office at: http://lcweb.loc.gov/copyright/

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Summary

For your own protection we urge you to get written permission from copyright holders. If the copyright holder's business is the subject of the article, or if the article helps promote their writing they are typically eager to give you permission because greater distribution benefits them.

Unless you tell us otherwise, we will copyright all submissions. If you want to copyright your work instead, we can put your copyright at the end of the article. We ask, however, that your work not appear in another publication for at least 90 days from the date it was published in Travel Watch and that we have non-exclusive unrestricted rights including the right to include it in our public archives in perpetuity or transfer it to a new owner in the event of the sale or partial sale of Travel Watch.

We look forward to working with you on any submissions you may choose to offer.

All submissions should be sent via email to: editor@travel-watch.com

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Style Guide

What does Travel Watch look for in writing style?

Travel Watch does not have restrictions on writing style as long as your work is lively and interesting. Try and find a good story angle that will be appealing to the reader. If your angle is very unconventional you should run it by one of our editors first to avoid potential misunderstandings. When possible, Travel Watch stories should include a "sense of discovery": the reader comes along with you on your travels.

Travel Watch writers should project a "knowing voice" from having experienced the destination, restaurant, activity, etc. Tell the reader about the personalities of the people and places in your story. Give them insight into the idiosyncrasies, the hot spots, and in some cases, colorful areas off the beaten track.

When possible give the reader a fresh look at things. Include compelling anecdotes, good storytelling, colorful characters, lively quotes, and rich detail. Your goal should be to help the reader experience the destination through the sights, sounds, encounters, and actions of people in your story.

Like you, the Travel Watch reader has a sense of adventure, and typically is awaiting their next destination. Your article should speak to this sense of wanderlust not just by talking about weather, accommodations, and food, but by telling the reader how foreign the destination is. It should make them feel as if you took them along with you on the journey and experienced what you experienced. Your goal should be to make the reader feel as if they are traveling beside you.

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Does and Don't 's

Don't be too puffy but don't be too negative either.

Don't give too much opinion but when you do, make sure your opinion is accurate and easily supportable.

Be objective and concise; but when appropriate, don't be afraid to take a position, go into detail.

Be reasonably accurate, try and verify your sources, and do fact checks, but treat the story as if you are giving sworn testimony.

Do use simple language but don't be afraid to use some vocabulary when another word is a better fit.

Don't forget to include who, what, when, where, and why and sufficient detail so that the reader has the information they need after reading your work.

Use a single hyphen for a dash.

The format for web addresses should be:

http://www.travel-watch.com

The format for email addresses should be:

email: NickAnis@aol.com

The format for phone numbers should be:

909-860-6914
Fax: 909-396-0014

or

Phone: 909-860-6914
Fax: 909-396-0014

The format for addresses should be:

Nick Anis
Travel Watch
1225 Bramford Court
Diamond Bar, CA 91765

Phone: 909-860-6914
Fax: 909-396-0014
Email: NickAnis@aol.com
Web: http://www.travel-watch.com

Put two carriage returns between paragraphs; if you are not sure the paragraphs will be separated in your email message, then indent the beginning of the paragraph or email us a word processing file as a file attachment.

If your story has italics, bold, underline, accents, and other type styles, email us a word processing file as a file attachment. MS Word, RTF, or WordPerfect are fine. If you use Macintosh, please use 8-character file names and give the file name the extension of ".doc" for MS Word, ".rtf" rich text format, ".txt" for text.

We can also take AOL or Eudora formatted mail. (You can get the Eudora email client FREE from us if you need it.)

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Accents

On words now accepted as English, use accents only when they make a crucial difference to pronunciation.

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Confusables

Avoid confusables (see Webster's Online Guide to Confusables).

http://webster.commnet.edu/HP/pages/darling/grammar/notorious/notorious_frames.htm

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Acronyms and Abbreviations

Spell out the full form unless the abbreviation or acronym is so familiar that it's used more frequently than the full form.

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Capitols

Use upper case when a person's title is included with their name but not when it's used separately.

Ethnic Groups

Avoid being offensive. Refer to ethnic groups the way they prefer to be referred to. Avoid singling out individual races, religions, sexes, etc.

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Read Aloud

After you finish writing be sure to read your story aloud to yourself. As you read it you may find there are more adjustments you wish to make. If you have to explain what you wrote to others, then chances are what you wrote isn't clear enough.

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Explanation Points

Use them sparingly. When you do, just use one, not three.

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Quotes

Feel free to include quotes from good sources in your story and make sure you have good transition to and from them. But, do not include too many words or phrases in quotes in your story because in many cases the quotes are not necessary to make the same point.

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Brackets

Square brackets should be used when interpolations are used in direct quotations: "I told them [the workers] there would be no more raises the fiscal year."

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Sentence Length

In general keep sentences short. But it's also a good idea to break them up with a mixture of short, medium and somewhat long sentences. When sentences are long see if you can turn one sentence into two or three.

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Paragraph Length

Short paragraphs tend to work work best for Travel-Watch stories.

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Numbers

From one to nine type out the words; for 10 and higher, use numerals.

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Quotations

Use single quotation marks within a phrase already enclosed in quotation marks.

Refer to these resources or check with your editor if you have any additional questions.

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IFWTWA Writing Resources
http://www.ifwtwa.org/writing_resources.htm

Economist Style Guide:
http://www.economist.com/editorial/freeforall/library/index_styleguide.html

APA Style Guide:
http://www.lib.usm.edu/userguides/apa.html

Chicago Manual of Style:
http://www.press.uchicago.edu/News/manual_of_style.html

Good luck!

Nick Anis
Editor, Travel-Watch

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