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"Map" Your Way To Publication

by Mike Slagle

You’ve studied the submission guidelines and think you’ve found the perfect home for your travel article. Not necessarily so - and here’s why. Writer’s guidelines don’t always tell you everything you need to know to give your article a better than average chance of getting published. For that kind of an edge you’ve got to get inside an editor’s mind. And that means spending a lot of time reading somebody else’s published articles to get a feel for what an editor is buying. In other words, you want to uncover an editor’s tastes.

Start by browsing through several back issues of the publication you’ve chosen. Look for articles similar to the type you want to submit, say short articles about unique Bed and Breakfasts. Dissect each article, paragraph by paragraph, noting things like how the author begins and ends the article, how she weaves facts in with description, who she’s interviewed for the article, and so on – the stylistic nuances that made this particular article stand out in the editor’s mind. Then create a "map" to guide you as you write.

As an illustration, here’s a map I created from studying back issues of Southern Living:

Using the above map, you can pick up information that’s probably not in the guidelines. The author, for example, frames her article by painting a picture of the inn’s coziness in the first paragraph, placing "you", the reader, into that picture in the second paragraph, then in the closing paragraph takes the reader back to "the crisp autumn morning."

From the map, you also see that this editor likes a generous dose of factual information about the destination, its history, and the nearby attractions mixed in with the descriptions - you’ll need to do some background research on your destination before writing your article. She also expects a quote or two to support that information, so be sure to schedule some time for an interview. And while you’re at it, you might want to ask for the recipe for that exquisite dessert you plan to describe with mouth-watering detail.

Don’t just rely on a publication’s generic guidelines. Discover what an editor is buying, what her tastes are – then "map" your way to your next published clip.

About the Author: Mike Slagle is a freelance travel and copy writer residing in Fort Wayne, IN. He offers this advice to students and new travel writers: "By studying what editors are buying, you should be able to get two, three, or even more articles out of each story idea." A "recycled" version of his previously published article about the Abbey of Sant’ Antimo will appear in the March issue of Dream of Italy- his second sale to that publication. When he’s not writing, Mike teaches English Composition and Business Writing at Indiana University – Purdue University at Fort Wayne.