by Roberta Beach Jacobson in Karpathos, Greece
Wanderlust is a British travel magazine with eight issues per year. They cover independent and semi-independent travel, as well as special-interest travel. They love local culture angles… and want writers to go soft on adventure.
And they’re also interested in buying photos to illustrate your story or someone else’s.
Features run 1800 words, minimum (and they pay 220 pounds sterling per 1000 words, which is about $400).
I tried them with a department piece in “Dispatches,” their topical column describing a recent development (700-800 words, payment 90 pounds sterling).
A tip from editor in chief Lyn Hughes: Don’t try to cover too much in a single article. Make sure your article doesn’t have several articles strung together. The test is to be able to sum up your article’s content in a single sentence and that’s quite a challenge!
Hughes insists writers double-check their facts. And articles need not be positive. If you didn’t like a place, say so.
She’ll take unsolicited manuscripts, but really prefers queries (include a few travel clips). She only works via snail mail and you can expect to wait a few months for a reply.
The editors claim to receive 100 manuscripts per week and warn writers that they stand about a one-in-800 chance of getting in. That doesn’t scare me off, though, and it shouldn’t scare you, either.
Ready for some good news? If you have a piece you’ve already published in the US, Canada, or Australia, you can still submit it to Wanderlust. Their requirement is that your article has never been published in the U.K. before.
Note: Wanderlust has readers in 80 countries.
Editor Lyn Hughes’ address:
Wanderlust Publications Ltd.
P.O. Box 1832
Windsor, Berks. SL4 1YT
U.K.
Of course, don’t forget to include an International Reply Coupon (which you can buy at your Post Office).
You can find her full guidelines for writers at:
http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/aboutus/writers
Photographers, see:
http://www.wanderlust.co.uk/aboutus/photographers
[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.]