About Travelmag

Travelmag's tenth year of operation, and thanks to Redbone's fantastic web design, we look less like an early dinosaur from the internet's early days and more like a comprehensive forum for real travel writing by real travellers. Also, and most significantly, the new site is a lot less labour-intensive for the Travelmag's editor, Jack Barker (me).

Travelmag correspondents travel well beyond the guidebook routes, illuminating little-known corners of the globe and, occasionally, revealing a bit about themselves as well. We put up the features we find interesting, usually because they're good, but sometimes because they're outstandingly bad. Newspapers and print magazines won't tell the everyday tales of travel in the developing world, print individual takes on particular places or run stories that might upset the advertisers paying for space on the next page. We don't worry about any of these things. The travel writing here, unlike those filtered by more conventional media, reflects the huge variety of individual travel experiences.

As ever we're totally dependent on the excellent contributions that come in from readers and travellers worldwide. Sometimes our writers are experienced journalists who use the Travelmag to air their riskier features, about destinations or activities too esoteric for mainstream print publications. Others are starting out travel writing, learning the craft and looking for markets for their travel stories. Still more simply want to share their travel experiences with a wider audience.

Whatever your motives, if you're interested in submitting your own travel tales, check out our guidelines below.

Till then, take a surf around, look over other people's travels to see how they compare with your own, and add your thoughts through our new travel forums. Happy Travels!

The first question we’re usually asked is about payment, and sorry, the answer is no. We don’t pay contributors for their stories or photos. Nor, however, do we assume copyright, which stays with the author. Travelmag features are, from time to time, bought by print publications and other paying ezines, who negotiate direct with our writers. We are always happy to whip features down from the Travelmag if they’re successfully sold elsewhere.

We like to see anything you’ve taken the trouble to write. Features should be sent over as attached files, in word, rich text format, or even as notepad files. We can dig features out of emails, though this takes a bit longer, and clever formatting or page breaks just make our life difficult. Pictures always help liven up features, but please don’t send them embedded into word documents: they should be sent over as low-res (30k or thereabout) jpeg attachments. We can scan in prints or slides if you like, but will need to include a stamped addressed envelope and although we’ll make every attempt to return the originals we accept no responsibility for items lost in transit – a risk that increases if sent from outside the UK.

A good length for a Travelmag feature is 2,000 words. This doesn’t mean you should stretch shorter pieces – usually the little gems shine all the brighter for their brevity. We do publish some super-long epics, but – with a few exceptions - these would be improved by being broken up into individual features or boiled down dramatically.

Though we will correct simple typos we don’t, in general, edit features. The articles you read are the views and the viewpoints of the authors.

All clear? Fine. Write away. Please email contributions to ed@travelmag.co.uk, and - Thanks.

Jack Barker
1 Long Drove
Burbage
Nr Marlborough
Wiltshire SN8 3AH
England