FEATURED PUBLICATION: The International Railway Traveler

A Place for Lively Writing and Full-Color Photos
By Roberta Beach Jacobson, for The Write Way to Travel

I enjoy getting published in The International Railway Traveler (Hardy Publishing Co., Inc. of Louisville, KY). It’s a lively publication and full of color photos. Over the last decade, I’ve chalked up about a dozen sales there.

This is the official magazine of The Society of International Railway Travelers and they want articles that convey the romance, elegance, and excitement of first-class rail travel worldwide.

Short stories run 300 to 500 words and the main travel features run 800 to 1000 words. IRT pays 3 cents a word. Submit queries by email to editor Owen Hardy at: railtours@bellsouth.net

To boost your income, you can also include photos with your article.  Color, high-contrast, and in-focus train photos are critical in this quarterly publication.

What the editor doesn’t want is the usual dull, badly composed perspective of a train. Try to include passengers in a picture or try for a panorama that shows some local scenery. He also appreciates “detail photos” – such as a teacup with the train’s logo sitting on a table. Photo payment is $10 each, but $20 if it’s chosen as the main page-one shot.

Hardy will accept photos in a variety of ways. Preferred is a TIFF file for Macintosh computers – by email, ZIP disk, or CD-ROM.  Resolution should not be below 300 dpi.

If these options don’t work for you, Hardy will accept 8 X 10 color glossy photographs or slides.

Check out the website: http://www.irtsociety.com

Hint: You don’t have to travel to write for these people, you can report news. Short travel features (the 300 – 500 word ones) can be about interesting train stations, package deals, or new equipment!

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Want to Get Published Here?

Four steps to landing a by-line in any publication:

** 1) Read the publication’s full guidelines (That’s where you’ll find details about what rights the publication buys, how much they pay, if they accept photos, and so on.)

** 2) Make sure your article idea fits the publication’s needs exactly. (If they only accept articles about the U.S., don’t propose a European round-up. If they only run pieces of 300 words, don’t suggest a 700-word story.)

** 3) Read through at least three back issues of this publication to familiarize yourself with its style, content, and quirks.

** 4) Now that you know as much as you can about this publication, follow to the letter the writer’s guidelines when it comes to submitting your piece. (Do they ask for a query letter first? If so, send one. Do they prefer a complete article on spec? If so, send that.)

[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.]