FEATURED PUBLICATION: Literary Traveler

BLEND YOUR LOVE OF LITERATURE WITH YOUR PASSION FOR TRAVEL — AND SELL THE RESULT
By Roberta Beach Jacobson, in Karpathos, Greece

The Wall Street Journal called the Literary Traveler‘s website “a bookworm’s delight.” If you’ve ever been inspired by an artist or undertaken a journey to trace the steps of your favorite author, this market may be for you.

On my last visit to www.literarytraveler.com, I explored the lives of C.S. Lewis, Anne Frank, Washington Irving, George Sand, and Mark Twain. Most of the features that make up this webzine are indeed about literary icons, but you’ll also find articles related to painters, composers, and others creative folk.

Now, while you may not have written an article like this before, don’t let that intimidate you. It’s simply a matter of shifting your focus from writing exclusively about a place to writing about a person who lived in or visited that place.

You’ll find plenty of examples at the Literary Traveler website, so I suggest that you spend some time reading through the material already published there. That will be the best way to familiarize yourself with the sorts of articles the editors prefer.

As with anything you write, keep your audience in mind. Here, you’re writing to people who love to read, love to travel, and are interested in the arts.

As the guidelines explain: “Each one of our articles in some way, is about someone who creates. Some of our articles are subjective first person travel pieces. Some take a meditative slant on a visit somewhere, and reflect on a theme. Others are objective articles about places or writers, or artists.”

The editors, Linda and Francis McGovern, don’t want to see your clips and they won’t bother to ask if you’ve been published before. You need only be able to write well and tell an engaging story. (Illustrations and photos are also welcome.)

Feature articles run 1500-3000 words and shorter pieces, which focus on tours and events, run 300-500 words.

Literary Traveler buys all the rights. The publication pays a flat fee on publication for feature articles and a smaller honorarium for events coverage. You’ll find all the details in the Writer’s Guidelines, here: http://www.literarytraveler.com/contact/submissions/

Don’t send an attachment when you make your submission. The editors ask that you paste your article into the body of your email and be sure to include ‘submissions’ as your subject line. The e-mail address for submitting articles is: contact@literarytraveler.com. If you’d prefer, you can send your submission by regular mail to: Literary Traveler, P.O. Box 400272, North Cambridge, MA 02140-0003.

Once an article has been accepted it takes approximately three months before it’s published.

[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.]