BATW Travel Stories Magazine Submission Guidelines
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The BATW travel stories online magazine Stories of Culture Travel & the World is published quarterly by the Bay Area Travel Writers organization on the medium.com platform at: https://medium.com/batw-travel-stories
BATW members are predominantly based in the San Francisco Bay area and Northern California. Non-members are welcome to read the stories, but only content submitted by members of BATW is accepted for publication.
For video instructions on how to create and submit your story to the magazine visit the BATW YouTube channel at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oDAjGra8D-Y&t=2073s
The magazine is published quarterly and is managed by an editorial board of five BATW members. Each quarter two editors assume primary responsibility for reviewing and accepting stories for publication on the first of the following month. To contact an editor email to: magazine@BATW.org. Submit stories for consideration no later than the 15th of the month prior to publication.
The next issue, Spring/March 2024, will be published on 3.1.24. Submissions are due by 2.15.24.
Here are the basics
The site will accept articles by members and associate members of any length with as many photos as you wish. Associate members must identify the nature of their relationship with any location or organization described in the article. The recommended length is between 800 and 3,000 words, with at least one image placed immediately below the title. Here are several examples:
“Welcome to London” (860 words, 1 photo)
“Peggy Guggenheim At Home in Venice” (1,300 words, 10 photos)
“The Seychelles: Fantasy Travel to the Garden of Eden?” (1,580 words, 14 photos)
Print or online articles previously published are acceptable, so long as you own rights to the text and photos. Articles that have appeared in any BATW print publication, such as Travel Stories of Wonder and Change or Taste of Travel, are also OK but please include a reference to the source.
Photos must have a credit denoting the source of the image or a prominent note stating “Photos by xxx” or a notice that all photos are by the author.
Submit only your best professionally written work. Be sure to check carefully for grammar, spelling, punctuation mistakes, and typos. We will not copy-edit and will reject submissions with significant errors. If you are not sure of the correct usage, check The Chicago Manual of Style, the MLA Style Guide, or The New York Times Manual of Style and Usage. Also, Eats, Shoots & Leaves is a fun resource for the comma-impaired.
Be aware that if you post a story on medium.com, it will count as having been published. Of course, many publishers are fine with “reprints” but be sure that you do not want to sell the exact same story and title elsewhere before posting.
How do I join and post an article?
To submit an article to the magazine, you must first open your own medium.com account (visit: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/225168028).
A free membership allows you to publish as much and as frequently as you wish on your own account. Stories designated with * are behind a paywall. Non-members can read only three such stories per month. A $5 per month (or $50 per year) subscription to medium.com allows unlimited reading of all such stories.
The following page offers essential information on how to enter and edit a story on your own site: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/225168768
This image shows the preferred format for each story.
Main title > Subtitle> Featured photo with caption> Byline > Begin text
Instructions on how to post images are at: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/215679797-Using-images
If you do not have appropriate images to illustrate your story, free generic and low-cost photos are available from:
Unsplash [https://unsplash.com/license]
Pexels [https://www.pexels.com/]
Pixabay [https://pixabay.com/]
Wikimedia Commons [https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Main_Page]
Medium allows you to assign up to 5 keyword tags. From the “Story Settings” drop-down menu, please input no more than four (NOT five) tags that convey the gist of the story for searching purposes. This allows the editors to assign a regional tag for appropriate placement in the magazine.
If you have a story published elsewhere and would like to import it to Medium, see instructions at: https://help.medium.com/hc/en-us/articles/214550207-Importing-a-post-to-Medium
Indemnification Agreement
By submitting your article(s) and photographs for consideration for publication in the BATW Travel Stories online magazine, to the fullest extent permitted by applicable law, you will indemnify, defend and hold harmless BATW, and our officers, directors, agents, partners, and employees (individually and collectively, the “BATW Parties”) from and against any losses, liabilities, claims, demands, damages, expenses, or costs (“Claims”) arising out of or related to your violation, misappropriation, or infringement of any rights of another (including intellectual property rights or privacy rights) or your violation of the law. You agree to promptly notify BATW Parties of any third-party Claims, cooperate with BATW Parties in defending such Claims and pay all fees, costs, and expenses associated with defending such Claims (including attorneys’ fees). You also agree that the BATW Parties will have control of the defense or settlement, at BATW’s sole option, of any third-party Claims.
How to send your story idea to the BATW Travel Stories editors
After posting your story on your own site, you can publish it immediately. It will be searchable, and it can be viewed by the public. (If you do not wish to publish it at this point, it will be saved automatically when you leave your page.)
If you wish to submit it for consideration, copy the link at the top of your story and paste that link into an email message to: magazine@BATW.org
In some instances, you may wish to check if your story is appropriate for the BATW magazine prior to publishing it on your site. If this is the case, you can submit an unpublished story by going to the row of 3 dots at the top of the article’s page (located next to your avatar/photo). Find the option to “Share a draft link” and include that link in an email message to: magazine@BATW.org
Members of the BATW Travel Stories editorial board will review all submissions for publication. If your story is accepted, you will be listed as a writer and advised on how to proceed. Once you are listed as a writer (See: https://medium.com/batw-travel-stories/about) it is not necessary to send the email as your submissions will be automatically accepted into a draft folder on the magazine site where they can be reviewed by the editors.
Your file must be submitted for consideration in the next issue no later than the fifteenth day of the month before publication. For example, submit by June 15th for consideration for the July 1st Summer issue.
How to submit your story to the publication
A] For articles still in “Draft” mode
Click on the ellipsis (three dots . . . ) near the top right of the page.
In the drop-down menu, click on “Add to Publication.”
Click in the circle for “BATW Travel Stories.”
Click on the white oval that says “Add story.”
B] For articles already “Published” on your page
1. Click on the ellipsis (three dots . . . ) below and to the right of the title.
2. In the drop-down menu, click on Edit now.
3. Click on the ellipsis (three dots . . . ) near the top right of the page.
4. In the drop-down menu, click on “Add to Publication.”
5. Click in the circle for “BATW Travel Stories.”
6. Click on the white oval that says “Add story.”
Take advantage of this exciting opportunity to showcase your best work!
[Rev: DL 6.25.23]
