Brendiver's World

Lonely Planet magazine - Do you know what Peter Grunert's (the editor) editorial agenda is?

If you were hoping to get published in Lonely Planet magazine you should have no excuse for not knowing what Peter Grunert's editorial agenda is. Before pitching to any magazine you should do as much research as you can to establish what the editor's needs are. If you are lucky these will come from contributor guidelines, but if the magazine doesn't have these it is possible to get more information by trawling the internet. 

I spent a few minutes yesterday researching Peter Grunert's background and came across a recent interview in PR Weekly where he provided any potential contributor with several golden nuggets. Here's a selection of what he had to say:

"Who reads Lonely Planet Magazine?

Intelligent, thoughtful, interesting people with a passion for travel. They're mostly young professionals or empty nesters and share a hunger for fresh experiences

What is your editorial agenda?

We inspire our readers by helping them to get under the skin of the places they'd love to travel to. We accept that they won't just want to ‘fly and flop' - they're keen to learn of history and culture, to eat and drink something authentic and delicious, and to understand where locals enjoy visiting too.

What makes a great feature for the magazine?

Our readers should feel like every feature is feeding their urge to travel - whether it's set in the UK, somewhere easily accessible in Europe or far more exotic. We work hard to commission beautiful photography and atmospheric writing. In one of my favourite features Stephen Fry described encountering the often bizarre natural wonders of Madagascar, strolling along an avenue of baobab trees that "looked as if they were dropped from another world, a world close to the surreality of a Dalí and the silliness of a concept rock album cover, circa 1972."

Describe your online offering and how it fits in with the magazine.

Lonelyplanet.com is a website with a gigantic reach (over 6 million unique users per month) that in the main provides its users with destination advice once they've chosen where they're travelling to. The magazine has its own space within the website, explaining how we can inspire readers to choose where to visit in the first place.

To what do you attribute Lonely Planet Magazine's popularity?

Unlike most travel magazines we don't just set out to rate destinations - we provide a lot more depth and aim to ‘take our readers there' each month, which I believe accounts for our comparatively high proportion of subscribers (around half our circulation)

Describe the process of choosing your front-cover shot.

Our cover image showcases the best travel photography our readers can expect to find within our pages. Its location could vary from a hidden island off Norway to the Great Ocean Road in Australia, and it should always give that sense of a potential reader's lungs filling with fresh air as they take in a glorious view.

What are your own personal media must-haves (eg which mags and newspapers do you read, TV shows do you watch etc)

I love magazines with high production values, that commission photography I could always imagine looking better in the pages of a magazine than on a mobile or laptop screen - the likes of National Geographic, GQ and World of Interiors. I'm a complete day dreamer so I also appreciate the chance to let my mind drift off to the landscapes featured in BBC wildlife documentaries such as Life and Great Rift: Africa's Wild Heart."

Having read this interview a few times I think I've got an idea of what inspires and motivates Peter. 

The next stage would be to read the Stephen Fry article and analyse its style, to read his own 'media must-haves' and to ensure my copy met all of the criteria he gives away in the interview: to inspire; to include something about history and culture, to mention what the locals like to do; try and make my words and phrases 'atmospheric' (fortunately Peter provides an example of what this means to him) and to provide an insight into some of the features readers might find bizarre.

Photographic submissions? If they can capture the above and provide the reader with, 'a glorious view' I would think I'd be in with a chance.

What editors are looking for is out there, you just need to know where to look. Time to Google! 

Keep Writing...

Brendan

Karli's Story - The Adventure Girl's Guide

For any budding photojournalist a blog is an absolute must - it's a place where you can practice your art and get people reading what you write. I've not done this myself (using a blog to launch travel / diving related articles), but I'm guessing it would be useful if you wanted to demonstrate to an editor exactly what you are capable of. I consider myself fortunate to have broken into the magazine world prior to the 'invention' of blogs and other forms of social networks as there was far less competition back then. 

if you are going to use your blog to showcase your skills I'd be careful not to go down the road many bloggers have gone down. Their sites become littered with the sorts of information some people lap up (what I had for breakfast, my thoughts on the doggy act on Britain's Got Talent, Why do some people...)

My advice, ask yourself before you post an article if it is of a standard which would acceptable for publication in your list of target magazines.

For the blogging world I guess this might be a challenge - posts are often written up in five minutes with few drafts. But with that comes all the issues in respect of grammar, structure, the use of appropriate words and phrases and all the other considerations you need to take into account when you pitch to a magazine. 

I've just read back what I've written so far, it doesn't flow as well as it would if I spent 30 minutes on it, however, I don't have the time to do this.

So, there's the conundrum. Do you have the time to spend on your blog so that each post is an example of what a prospective editor would like to see in their magazine? Or is it hastily penned and only entertaining to those who recognise it for what it is?

Ask yourself, why am I going to blog? What's my end game?

Karli has provided me with a short paragraph on her motivation for setting up a blog site: The Adventure Girl's Guide  

It's worth a look, in my opinion the articles posted so far could slot into quite a few travel / adventure magazine titles (check this site soon as I'll be featuring some of them).

Pre adventure cuppa

I've wanted to set up a blog for some time now and, after getting in touch with you and starting on the journey to getting published, I finally got the motivation to take action. I love adventure and travel and thought it'd be a great way to share my passion, but also get ideas from readers too. That's what seeing the world is all about isn't it? Sharing your experiences and getting tips on where to go and what to do next. So I hope that The Adventure Girl's Guide will become a place where people go to get ideas and throw in their thoughts as well. Of course, blogs can sometimes be great for a good ol' rant - I've already abused it for this, but I hope my outbursts will do some good - my latest post is about the plight of Green Sea Turtles in Marsa Abu Dabbab. A lot of writing a blog, for me personally, is about not being able to switch off the journalist in me. I just love story telling and hope that people enjoy soaking up the tales from near and afar!

The Adventure Girl in action

Karli sent over a few pics to illustrate this post and following this we have exchanged e-mails on is the type of pictures you need to use to go with your writing. More about this on a future post. 

Keep Writing...

Brendan

 

Twitter - why didn't I think of that?

Karli's blog entry on glamping got me thinking about how she could get more people reading it and so I left a comment suggesting she links it to VW Campervan and Glamping sites. Karli went one step further. Here's her reply:

Hi Brendan,

Thanks for the post and glad you enjoyed the adventure! Cheers for the tip too – great minds think alike. I am in the world of Twitter as of today and posted my story to the Tweeting world. The Go Glamping website and HappyCampervans picked up on the article straightaway and are now following this blog!

Now - why didn't I think of that?

I've just created a Twitter account and within 5 minutes have attracted 4 followers. OK, one of them was the US Immigration Authority, but the others were real people. 

Still not quite sure how it all works, Karli might end up coaching me!

Keep Writing...

Brendan

Lonely Planet - Getting published in their Thorn Tree

Karli has found the trail of breadcrumbs. 

Lonely Planet has quite a few opportunities to get published, the quickest and easiest being The Thorn Tree, Lonely Planet's everything travel web site. It's where you can: find answers to travel questions on just about anywhere in the world; shamelessly plug your own travel blog or photography or ask the most bizarre questions about life's random subjects. Unsurprisingly, the latter category appears to get the most hits and replies, some people in 'forum land' have too much time on thier hands!

For the aspiring photojournalist, the 'Don't Forget to Write' branch is the part of the Thorn Tree where you can seek feedback on your writing or plug your travel blog. This is what it has to say about itself:

This is the branch to share your trip reports and tell your travel tales. You can post short stories (up to 2,500 words), trip reports, or even travel related poetry, if you are so inclined.

You can also use this branch to tell us about your fabulous travel blog, to recommend other great blogs about world travel, or to talk about your favourite travel writing (shameless plug: have you seen the new Lonely Planet Magazine?).

Please note, as with any Thorn Tree content, you consent to our using your contributions from time to time in our publications or elsewhere on the Lonely Planet website, however, you as the author will keep copyright and can reuse your contributions.

We look forward to reading all about your travels and hearing about your blogs!      

This was the entry I left on The Thorn Tree:

Karli's Story

Would be interested in any thoughts / opinions on 'Karli's Story' - an account of Karli's journey to become a photojournalist specialising in adventure travel.

I'm sure Karli would also welcome any ideas or encouragement. 

See:

Brendivers World 

Here's a taster from one of the first 'chapters':...

I included a snippet from a previous post to try and hook people in and it worked. So far over 130 people have read the post and about 15 of them have visited my site using the link. You're competing for busy people's valuable time, so while this might not seem much, from one post, it's not a bad hit rate.

If you have a blog one of the issues you will be presented with is getting people to read it and if it's about a popular subject you'll be competing with thousands of other blogs and websites so this may prove difficult. The other problem you will have is how to market it, well, sites like the Thorn Tree will provide you with that opportunity. 

This is Karli's reply to my entry in the comments box:

Aha! I have followed your sneaky breadcrumb trail Brendan. You see, Brendan has been setting me tasks to develop my skills until I manage to get a byline in adventure/travel publications. He's one taskmaster - I'm waiting to be told to bring him a golden fleece.

Seriously though, I appreciate his input and support and would love to hear from anyone else who has tips on breaking into this industry. You can read the journey so far on Brendan's site, as posted above, and you can also check out what I'm up to on my blog:-

http://karlibubbles.wordpress.com/

Thanks and happy travels guys,

Karli.

See how Karli has posted a link to her site? 

Getting people to read your site isn't as simple as creating it, writing stuff on it, and then hoping people will drop by. Contributing to sites like the Thorn Tree and forums is the way to go. Next time your on a forum note how many users have links to their sites in their signatures - by contributing and becoming an active member of an online community you are likely to build up a following. That is, as long as what you write is worth reading!

If it is you might get another site to refer its readers to you as in the next sentence.

Here's a link to Karli's latest blog entry, all about 'glamping.' 

Get the idea? Lots of cross posting, forum entries and shameless plugs. You just have to watch you don't get labelled as a 'troll.'  

I did once, big mistake - made me wince. 

Keep Writing...

Brendan

BBC Magazine Insiders - where the editors want to contact you!

As I flicked thorugh the latest copy of Lonely Planet magazine something caught my eye.

On page 8 there is a line that reads:

"Become a Lonely Planet Insider! We'd love to get you more involved in the magazine and hear your views - visit bbcmagazineinsiders.com to find out more and we'll be in touch"   

I've since enrolled  as a BBC Magazine Insider having ticked the boxes of just about every magazine they want involvement in, including Lonely Planet.

What the site claims:

"BBC Magazine readers and website users are invited to take part in regular surveys and questionnaires. As a member, you will be essential in shaping our magazines and websites - we want to hear your views on what we do.

• Get a sneak peek at what we are working on
• Offer your feedback - what are we doing well? What can be improved?
• Have a direct link to our Editorial team helping to shape our magazines"

Naturally I'm interested in all of the above - what a great way to influence and find out what subjects magazines are looking to cover next.

Not sure what to expect. Might not be much as there's little in the way of content once you have signed up and only two newsletters since autumn 2009 (and they're a bit thin).

I'll let you know.

Keep Writing...

Brendan

Contributor Guidelines - California Diving News

Back in the early 90's I used to visit San Diego a few times each year to visit my good friends Steve and Renee. As well as diving, we'd knock around the dive stores poking around at the latest stuff and collecting as many diving magazines as we could.

California Diving News was one of my favourite free reads - it had really interesting reviews of diving locations up and down the coast as well as fascinating write ups of spearfishing adventures (mention this in the UK and you'll be cast out to an eternal hell!).

If I'd known then what I know now I would have written up many of the dives we did in the San Diego area for them, but I mistakenly believed back then that you had to be a professional journalist to get published.

Last year CDN had "Editorial Guidelines" available on their website, now you have to write in for them. However, Dale and Kim from the publication are pretty sharp, they've always replied to my queries within 24 hours.

There have been a few changes to the guidelines, the pay has gone up, the word count has dropped from 1000 to 800 max and the want list of diving destinations (Northern and Central CA, San Luis Obisbo and San Diego Counties) has disappeared to be replaced by inland diving sites. This is an example of how it is always worth checking for current guidelines and editor wants - as the magazine develops these will always change.

CDN has a media kit available on their site for download and just in case it disappears for any reason you can find it here:

Download CDNMediaKit.pdf

I've included this as it provides a massive amount of useful information from the circulation data to diving interests and the next purchases of their readers. To demonstrate the importance of knowing your readers to this extent I'll add these snippets to my analysis of the contributor guidelines.

Editorial Guidelines

                                                                        

California Diving News is published eleven times a year and dis­tributed mainly in the Western United States. The editorial drive of the publication is to inspire and inform the beginning through intermediate divers into seeking the full underwater experience that California waters have to offer. All material is upbeat and positive. Please, no “Why this diver died” or shark attack type articles. Our goal is to encourage divers to get out and enjoy California scuba diving more often.

                                                             

The media kit outlines the fact that the majority of their readers are PADI OW to Rescue, so, there's no point in trying to write about a deep technical dive in the La Jolla canyon. As their readers also tend to be 'local' there would be no harm in contextualising your copy to include some local interest anecdotes.

                                                                     

Subject matter is 90% California oriented. All equipment and “How to” articles should have a California slant.

Article lengths are generally 500 to 800 words. Shorter, light pieces are preferred over long pieces. Submissions should be emailed to [email protected].

                                                                            

As they have trimmed down the word count max from 1000 to 800 words this should tell you something - make it easy for the editorial team to say 'yes' by not going over the word count limit.

                                                                  

The large majority of our articles are done on speculation. Queries will be considered only from well known and experienced writers.

                                                                     

If you're a budding photojournalist you'll need to submit the whole package, but as the word count is really small, and their articles tend to be quite factual this shouldn't be too much of a bind.

                                                               

Articles should be emailed with good quality photos and/or graphics. No photos or poor quality photos is frequently a cause for rejection.

                                                                        

So don't submit rubbish shots! Take a look at what they like to publish and take pictures like these.

                                                                        

If possible accompany dive spot articles with good quality original maps.

                                                                               

Watch out for copyright issues here - you may have to draw one but make sure it follows the style used in each copy of CDN.

                                                             

CDN buys first time North American publications rights. Payment for articles range between $40 and $150 with most payments rang­ing between $60 and $100. Payment is on publication. Payment is based on article length, amount of editing needed, quality of photos, experience and notoriety of the author, and publication’s need for the material in question. Although submissions are usually evaluated in a couple weeks, they may be held for up to four months before acceptance or rejection.

                                                               

"Notoriety??" Not sure if this is what they really mean? If they haven't replied after four months an e-mail or phone call nudge would be acceptable.

                                                                        

DIVE SPOTS: Specific dive locations up and down the California coastline and around its offshore islands. Prefer locations the aver­age diver can dive. Cover marine life, bottom terrain, depths, facilities, how to reach, etc. Include a “Dive Spot At-A-Glance” (see publica­tion) and a map if possible. Unknown or little known dive sites are always appreciated. We also have need for inland freshwater dive sites. Write-ups on general areas such as “Diving Catalina Island” should overview and highlight the location’s best dive sites. Again, good quality maps are a must.

                                                                               

If you want to get in with this publication I'd submit my first story on an inland freshwater dive site that hasn't been covered yet. Kim from CDN is really good at answering e-mails, the below response on the question of what they are looking for came back within 48 hours:

"We seem to be fine for most areas. Well written factual articles satisfy the most important criteria."
                                                                     

“HOW TO” ARTICLES: Approach this material not so much a “How to” but more as a “How to do better.” Deal with how to better handle particular situations for better diving enjoyment. Subjects covered in past include: Freshwater Diving, Surf Entries, Night Diving, Deep Diving, and Boat Diving.

                                                                                 

And as 14% of divers want to buy a kayak I'd go for Kayak Diving - if the list above is up to date, they haven't covered it yet.

                                                                           

MARINE LIFE: Stories should be accompanied by excellent photos or illustrations and briefly give an interesting and informative and perhaps humorous view of the animal in question. We are also looking for first person stories on unusual marine life encounters. Stories of this nature done in the past include: Encounter with a Giant Black Sea Bass, Diving with Seals, and Gray Whale Encounter.

If you're new to the photojournalism world I would avoid humour - really hard to do unless you really are the next Bill Bryson. The CA coastline is full of encounter opportunities, plenty of mileage here.

                                                                        

WHO’S WHO IN CALIFORNIA DIVING: Brief personality profiles on those that make diving work in California.

                                                                              

Who do you know? Or does someone you know know someone? Make sure you take advantage of every chance meeting to exploit this editor want. I'll give you an example, I mentioned my blog and my 'other world' of diving photojournalism - how I was looking to interview individuals connected with a certain aspect of the industry. Turns out his wife is good friends with one of the chaps who is top of my list - they're going to speak to him and arrange an introduction. Result!

                                                                                                

PRODUCT REVIEWS AND DIVE BOAT REVIEWS are generally written by the staff. Must be upbeat and positive yet honest. We like to highlight advertisers.

                                                                                                 

If you use a dive boat, make sure it is one who advertises - nothing to do with impartiality, this is about doing what the editor is asking for. As this is a free publication they have to cater to advertisers needs, and is there anything really that wrong with highlighting a quality operation that advertises with them?

                                                                                                

There is rarely payment for NEWS BRIEFS and HEARD THRU THE KELP VINE and never for NEW GEAR and NEW BOOKS

EQUIPMENT BUYER’S GUIDES are generally written by the staff. Specific guidelines are necessary if interested.

                                                                            

I wouldn't bother with the above - they don't sound keen.

                                                                                          

"HOW TO" PHOTO ARTICLES: Focus on a specific aspect or technique of underwater imaging (still and video).

COVER PHOTO SUBMISSIONS: Cover photos are usually purchased in conjunction with a story inside the issue. California orientated photos only! Must be very sharp, light tone with bright colors preferred.

                                                                                        

Take a look at previously published cover shots and duplicate the style they have used before.

                                                                            

CARTOONS are occasionally printed. Will consider regularly submit­ted strips. Pays $25 per cartoon or strip.

BEST SHOTS: This section highlights diving related photos of our readers. California material preferred. No pay.

                                                                        

Good way of getting exposure, although I would go for pics and words if I could.

                                                                         

Tips:

• Tie articles into current advertisers. CDN loves to support those that support us.

• A well written dive spot article with map and good photos are always welcome.

• Submit articles in by email with excellent quality JPG images

• We would like to develop working relationships with good, reliable, regular writers.

                                                            

Second time they have mentioned advertisers - take note.

                                                               

They want to develop a working relationship with you!

                                                            

Keep writing...

                                                                        

Brendan

Contributor Guidelines - Dive Zero (with added interesting 'stuff')

Dive Zero is a free Internet based publication, the dream-child of its editor and Director of Operations, Luke Boychuk. To give you a flavour of what they are about go to the About Us section.

A week ago I wrote in to ask for their Contributor Guidelines, Luke replied within 24 hours with: 

Thanks for your email.  We are looking for article contributors for the virtual magazine, and video submitters for Dive Zero TV.

The article must be unique.  Contributors would send a write up and photos, then we do the layout, credit, etc…

Do you have any ideas in mind?  If so, please let me know.

Which tells me that they don't really have anything specific in mind - if you write to the style of the magazine you are likely to get published. I did ask about payment but this subject was left out in Luke's reply - I suspect they don't pay.

I decided to use a recent article as a case study to find out what they were looking for and settled on: Diving in the Okinawa Ruins by Lisa Slater and Lee J Cowan.

By comparing this with other articles I came to the conclusion that there is no real house style - if it's 'kind of like the stuff' published previously then your copy will probably work for them.

What I did find interesting about Lisa Slater's article was the dive travel company mentioned in the article - Open Coast Travel.

If you go to the About Us page of Open Coast Travel's site guess who you bump into?

That's right - Lisa Slater, the author of the article about diving in the Okinawa ruins - all about diving with her own company!

What a great piece of marketing - no need to fly a journalist from another country and pay for all of their accommodation, food and diving, just write the article yourself.

And it gets better - go to the Press part of their site and you'll find more articles where Lisa has either written them or been featured as a central character.

A stunning bit of marketing, especially when you see how she has taken what amounts to 50 pieces of a journalistic 'jigsaw puzzle' about diving and travelling in the area and placed 20 or so of them in each article. Just enough to make each one different - an outstanding example of 'product placement.'

Anyway - back to Dive Zero and my analysis. Quite simply, a good place to get your first article published.

Keep writing...

Brendan

   

Writing for Free?

On my seminars and workshops I go into the different paths you can follow to get your photographs and words published.

One route I found very useful in my early days was in the diving travel sector. I'm sure this advice will horrify 100's of underwater photographers out there, but I used to provide my photographs for free to diving travel companies to illustrate their brochures. Eventually I built up a relationship with one called Harlequin, to the point where they would provide flights and all the ground arrangements for my assignments, and I would get an article on the destination published in DIVER. Harlequin would be included in the fact-file and I would provide them with more photographs for their brochure - it's a horrible cliche, but it was a 'win-win' arrangement.

I can think of several trips that would not have happened if I had not initially provided my photographs for free. So the question is - did I really provide them for free?

So, if I were starting off, on my return from a diving holiday I would call the company I used to arrange the trip and offer them photographs and a short write up for their site or brochure. It's a foundation, and you never know where it will lead to.

Here's an example of something I did recently for Dive Worldwide. They sponsored an assignment to Utila and Roatan, and as I wasn't overly complimentary about the diving in the resulting article, I offered to help them by writing something about another destination for their website. As I particularly love the island of Saba, and they were trying to promote it, I put together a short piece on this location. Note how it isn't written in a particularly publishable (for a magazine - unless it's a U.S. one!) style - it's in what is often referred to as advertorial. Not a problem here as this is what their site is. As an aside, it's all true, even if it were for an advertorial piece, I wouldn't tell any lies about a location in my writing.

You can find their website here.

DIVE WORLDWIDE - August 2007

"So, where is the best place in the world to dive?"

As a regular contributor to DIVER magazine I'm often asked this question. The answer? Well, it all depends on what you're looking for. If your search is for a remote island in the Caribbean, with stunning pinnacles, plenty of marine life and bags of character, then you'll be looking for the island of Saba.

"Isn't that in Malaysia somewhere?"

No it isn't, that's Sabah - for reasons I cannot fathom, Saba still remains relatively unheard of. Bizarre as it offers some of the best dive sites in this region and one of my top five dive sites, 'The Pinnacle'. Rising at an angle from 60 metres to its peak at 30; this tower of coral and barrel sponges is only a few metres in diameter. As you spiral round the summit, take a look below, there's almost certainly going to be a shark patrolling the base.

Saba's signature dives are its pinnacles and seamounts - peaking at about 28 to 30 metres they always provide something of interest, shoals of jacks, collections of brightly coloured sponges, frogfish, sharks, turtles. And then there are the drop offs - stunning.

On dry land, the red roofs of the gingerbread style cottages and the people who occupy them take you back to the Caribbean of yesteryear. It's an overused cliche, but the people of this island really are the friendliest I have ever met (try standing on one of the roads for more than 5 minutes without being offered a lift). They also care passionately about their environment, the marine park is well run and where else would you find workers who built one of their roads around a tree, they just couldn't bear the idea of chopping it down.

And for the non-diver, or a diving day off, there is Mount Scenery. Like the underwater pinnacles around it, this island's peak is veiled in year round mist, its rainforest making for a challenging day of exploration.

So, back to the question, where is the best place in the world to dive? If it's the Caribbean you're thinking of, Saba, with its handful of quirky hotels, restaurants, rain forests, remote villages and of course, great diving, is your destination.

Brendan O'Brien

Keep writing...

Brendan

Behind the Scenes - anatomy of a diving and travel article

Have you ever read a diving travel article and wondered what goes on behind the scenes?

I've just had an article published in DIVER magazine called, "Market Forces," about diving in the Algarve, Portugal. Click on the thumb nails to read it, and at the same time I'll explain how it came about.

Like most assignments, it started with a phone call from the editor asking if I would be interested in the trip. Prior to this the PR agency who represent the Algarve had been in touch with the magazine to offer one of its journalists an opportunity to visit the area with a view to putting together an article on the area's diving.

I found out later how for 2007 Algarve Tourism were targeting niche markets as opposed to geographic areas. In previous years they had promoted their business in countries where they wanted to increase the number of visitors. But in 2007 they changed their strategy to attract visitors who wanted to do more than just lie on the beach. So if you were a journalist in a niche area: golfing; cycling; windsurfing or diving, you were an attractive proposition. Hills Balfour Synergy handle the contract for the Algarve in the UK and helped arrange the flights, hotel,diving and hire car through the Algarve representatives in London and Portugal.

So, back to the Algarve. This was one of those trips where I had to find the angle on arrival, and fortunately the first contact we got to dive with was a real character. Salvador provided more quotes than I could use, and also provided a wealth of information about the environmental issues in the area (over-fishing and coastal building work). He's also one of the most prominent figures in the Algarve diving sector and was able to provide invaluable introductions to some useful contacts.

With the blessing of the Algarve Tourism representative assigned to this visit (who met us at the airport with a big smile, despite it being about 2200 on a Friday night following a full day at the office - PR is a long hours game) we changed the programme. Budgets would have been set for this visit, so to go outside of the programme without OK-ing it with the representative would have been poor form.

On the second evening we had dinner with the representative. This is common practice, a way of making sure, in an informal way, that everything is going to plan, and more importantly, whether the journalist is getting enough material. A few evenings later we went back to the same restaurant - our representative was there again, only this time she was entertaining ten Czech journalists. You need to be nice to the representatives - theirs is a busy life.

Unfortunately, the week was set back by poor weather, so we went on a tour of the Algarve checking out every dive operation we could find. Only a small part of our findings went into the article, just enough to rescue the piece as we had only completed five dives before the weather closed in.

We picked up several pages of quotes from visitors, locals and dive guides as well as detailed descriptions of dive sites and the history of the wrecks we dived on. I collect everything while I am on assignment, pamphlets, maps, booklets, photographs of dive sites, I even photograph restaurant menus. I operate on the premise that the one piece of information you decide to leave behind is the one you will need at a later date.                                                                                  

I'm a big believer in quotes - they "people the landscape" with characters and enhance the narrative so it's not all your opinion. The quote which really stood out was Salvador's, the one about the fish being in the market. I knew I would use it when Salvador said it, but just how remained a question at the back of my mind until our last night when the local fishermen were trying to get Salvador to reveal where the fish could be found. Sometimes it really does work out just like this, I knew instantly that I had my beginning and my end. Even after a plateful of good seafood and several glasses of wine, you still have to be alive to the opportunities as they present themselves.

Salvador at the restaurant Marisquera Fialho in Sino de Pinheiro, Luz de Tavira, great place - the best seafood

Back in the UK the process of writing it all up started. I sometimes meet people who think you might do two or three drafts before you send your copy off, but the reality for me is about 40 drafts, sometimes more. So, if you're about to put your first article together, and it all looks a bit messy after your first draft, don't worry, this is the way it is!

While doing this I also contacted Hills Balfour Synergy to provide them with an update on the assignment. I believe it's professional courtesy to report back on how the trip went (but not before you do so with the editor!). They tried to push Monarch Airlines by sending me a proposal for a paragraph that could be placed in the fact-file. We really appreciated the extra legroom seats, the free meal and drinks on board, and they are a quality airline, but they are also competing for the word count. They got a sentence.

As the week progressed it became clear that Algarve Tourism didn't know anything about the diving in the area, so, I prepared a set of bullet points for them on who could be trusted to provide them with some guidance for future trips. Always look after PR contacts, they may be the key to your next trip.

To go with the article I sent about 20 photographs, all captioned with a mix of landscape and vertical,

This one didn't appear in the article - but I kind of like it, and it links in with the opening sentence

above and below the water, including some 'arty' shots of all the anchors lined up on the dunes. This is the sort of shot the art editor might use to illustrate the article as a background shot. But on this occasion it wasn't selected.

Several months after the trip, the article appeared in DIVER.

Are you persuaded yet? Do you still think these assignments are journalist jollies?

Keep writing...

Brendan

Just write an article - that will be fine

I believe the best way to find out how the world works is to just get stuck into it. You can read all you want about a subject, but until you experiment and get your hands dirty the real learning doesn't really start. (And for those of you really interested in the theory behind these statements go to: Some of the stuff I learnt about for my MEd)

Which is why I like to talk to people, to get involved in their things, to share their problems, and help find solutions - all very satisfying.

I can't remember how I found it, but when I did this website caught my eye - it's for, "Dive St. Abbs and Eyemouth."

I've had some very memorable diving experiences in this area, there's some great shore diving, and a really pleasant B&B by the harbour (or at least there was 15 years ago).

I found the website interesting, very professionally put together and full of useful information.

But in a section called articles, there was just one lonely write up. The thing is, it wasn't an article at all, it was a few paragraphs about one dive over the May Bank Holiday written in the style of a press release. 

The site has all the appearances of being a fairly new venture, so perhaps they're just getting started on building up a bank of articles - but if they are all written up in this way, readers will instantly get turned off. This is what you read about in newspapers as advertorial self promotion.

As far as newspapers go, the group behind the site has done quite well in getting their name out there, short pieces in the local newspaper like this one are a useful way of locally marketing your own national marketing campaign. 

Intrigued about their plan to populate the site I e-mailed them to ask for their Contributor Guidelines, which led to a phone call two evenings ago from Dawn, "Hi Brendan, so, when are you going to write this article for us?"

Once I had explained my interest was in finding out more about their plan for populating their site with articles, I discovered that the group had no idea what they wanted, "we'd be happy if people just wrote an article for us," said Dawn, "we can't pay, but it's a way you could promote yourself, we'd be happy to add your e-mail address." Actually, they will do more than that - the one author on their site has a link, a short bio, photograph and an e-mail link.

Thirteen years ago I started to get my name out there and known in a similar manner - for those of you looking to build up a clip file, this opportunity is perfect. You just need to have done some diving in St. Abbs and Eyemouth. But then again, what local opportunities exist closer to home, or in locations where you have dived recently?

During my conversation with Dawn I asked what they would do if someone sent them a 4000 word article? "Mmm... don't know," was her reply. Dawn had just said how they wanted, "articles," but this word can mean many things to different people and clearly the current author on the site hasn't quite got it yet.

So, I said I would put some basic contributor guidelines together for them:

• 800-1000 words (online isn't as easy on the eye as on paper, and people's attention span isn't as great, shorter punchier articles would probably work better - but not press releases!).
• Should have a theme - for example, our first dive in the marine reserve, the difference the reserve is making, a local wreck site, shore diving, unusual marine behaviour.
• Articles which include information in a fact file about where to stay, family activities and where you would recommend to eat will be very welcome. (This links in with their website and their objectives as a group)
• Your article should have a distinct beginning, middle and end.
• Answer the who (went diving), when (best time? Weekend vs. weekday?), what (did you do?), where (the dive sites, stuff you did outside of the diving), how (any logistical challenges, method used to go diving), questions in your article.
• If you can, include some quotes from others, this helps liven up your writing.
• Send in some digital pictures if you can to illustrate your article - if you can't, don't worry, we can supply some, but think about the pictures you might take of your group? Getting in the water, kitting up, at the restaurant in the evening, photographs of the families enjoying the area outside of the diving?

I would suggest Dawn also takes a look at the Contributor Guidelines elsewhere on this site for more ideas. Word of warning though, you don't want to make them so complicated that people don't bother.

So - if you have been diving in the St. Abbs and Eyemouth area, and you want to get published, here's your chance!

Keep writing...

Brendan