Contributor Guidelines

We are looking for independent women travelers who travel and tell about their adventures, tricks they learned on the road, what they saw and did, and places that they would rather not experience again to places they loved. While we love our spas and shopping excursions, we aren’t afraid to get dirt under our nails or worried about our curls going limp from sweat while rock climbing or helping to build a school. Why, because we rock!

We are looking for newbie girl roamers fulfilling their wanderlust fantasies to experienced globetrotters who have traveled to the ends of the world who have the scoop from reviews of travel goods to tips on getting around to that insightful experience turned personal essay to interviews with travel experts, and more.

To save us all time, we prefer to receive query letters of your travel story idea emailed to us.

What should you include in your query letter?

Query letters should be no longer than one page.

The first paragraph should include: Introduction of who you are, what you do, and what you are pitching (i.e. Interview with founder and owner of Jazzie’s Surfing Safari Retreat for Women).

Second paragraph should include: indicate the impact of the subject on the writer and the local area and your understanding of the need with hints of local color, setting the stage for the story. Provide specific, anecdotal details about the central topic, in addition to specific cultural details about the broader significance of your story idea.

Tell us the type of story you are suggesting (i.e. feature, profile, investigative, review, news brief, blog post, etc.), how many words you anticipate the story being (see our suggested word count for types of stories below), and mention interviews, contacts and photos that you already have on file or have access to.

Finally, don’t forget your contact information including phone number, email, mailing address, and website as well as provide links or attached files of three of your best travel clips.

Travel Features: Feature articles are 2,000 to 3,000 word articles that describe an adventure at a travel destination (i.e. “Girls join Southern Decadence’s debauchery or “Vancouver Offers Travelers Food, Friendliness and Fun”) whether it’s a Gal Pal Adventures & Getaways, Sweetheart Adventures & Getaways, Sapphic Adventures, Older Women Adventurers, Family Adventures (Mom & Daughter/Mom & Sun/Aunt and Niece/Grandmother & Granddaughter), Girl Roamer’s Abroad (stories about living abroad), Good Girl Roamers (eco-travel, social justice travel, voluntourism), and Extreme Girl Roamers (Outdoors & Sporty Adventures and Destinations) and more. These articles come in two formats, well-reported articles and travel diary, either way these articles should be well reported meaty, witty, sharp-eyed, critical pieces that get to the heart of a place, culture, people and trip.

These articles are different from iRoam (Personal Essays), which are 1,000 – 4,000 word first person narratives that can be journal-like, but we prefer more introspective articles exploring an adventure or journey. See the Best Women’s Travel Writing series from Travelers’ Tales for examples.

Girl Roamers (Interviews with Travel Experts): 1,000 – 1,500 word profiles of women travel experts that include, but are not limited to: businesses, tour guides, and accommodations.

Travel Log (Travel News): 300 – 600 word articles or blog posts covering the latest news about travel (i.e. the Stiletto Hotel opens in Manhattan) or that affects travelers (i.e. the eruption of Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull volcano or political uprisings in North Africa).

Reviews: 300 – 600 word reviews of where to dine, drink, dance, sleep as well as books, music, travel gadgets, travel gear and more.

Threads (Fashion & Shopping): 300 – 1,500 word articles covering what we wear to travel in as well as stylish gear we bring home from our adventures, profiles of designers who dress and accessorize us, women boutique owners and style experts, fashion shows, and more.

Action Girl (Health, Fitness & Spas): 300 – 800 word articles helping us stay healthy on the road as well as showing us where to go for ultimate relaxation and pampering after a day out on the field or hanging from a cliff (if you’re a rock climber).

Backstage (Celebrity vacations, adventures, and profiles): 300 – 1,500 word articles profiling celebrities and covering star vacations and adventures.

Trailblazers: (Trailblazing girl globetrotters of yesteryear): While technology has enabled more women than ever before to trek the earth, there were intrepid girl roamers who came long before us. This column profiles girl travelers or adventures from the past (i.e. Amelia Earheart, Harriet Tubman, Sacajawea, Eliza Fay, and more) in 600 – 1,000 words to honor them and inspire us.

This isn’t all we have in our travel bag, just a sampling. Contact us to learn more about how you can write for Girls That Roam.

Illustrators & Photographers

We love pictures! Pictures tell a story that sometimes can’t quite be told by words, but are a perfect companion to the written word. In a similar vein, from time to time an illustrate or captures the story the best, usually accompanying a feature story or review or an iRoamer essay. Please email us links to your websites and show us what you got! No website? Mail us your CD/DVD with your portfolio at:

Heather Cassell

Publisher/Editor

Girls That Roam

322 – 12th Ave., #3

San Francisco, CA 94118

Girls That Roam is a labor of love built on a lot of unpaid sweat that we are aiming to have pay off. If it does we all win. In the meantime, please know the publishers are struggling right along with you.

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