The best travel writing brings together a fluent mix of information, insights and experience or impressions. Add a sense of curiosity, of humor and of humanism and we’ll follow you anywhere. This is true whether writing about sights, art, food, places, people, culture, history, a point of view or one’s own travels.
Writers, photographers and videographers who share that view are welcome to submit material for consideration for publication on France Revisited, the web magazine for savvy readers and experienced travelers.
France Revisited pays 2 euro cents per published word (maximum 40 euros). Payment for original photo reports and videos varies from 10 to 30 euros. Writers should be paid for their work, and we recognize that this is just a token amount. Submit—and be willing to rewrite for our needs, if necessary—only if our policy of a token payment upon publication is acceptable to you.
Do not submit without reading this entire page
Our goal is NOT to sell readers sights, destinations, restaurants, etc. Leave that to travel agencies, tourist boards, PR agencies and sales folk. Instead, present or explore sights, destinations, restaurants, art, history, etc. in ways that are interesting/entertaining and informative. Be well informed yet think in terms of story or theme or experience rather than basic information or hype. For a destination piece, don’t feel that you need to throw in every sight and museum or to list a bunch hotels and restaurants if you know nothing about them. Ask yourself: Do I have a story to tell?
If accepted for publication your article will bear your byline. It may include mention your expertise with respect to the subject of your article/post and possibly your principle business activity. However, we will not necessarily link to a commercial website.
Who are our readers?
Many of our readers have been to France before, a good number have traveled extensively in Europe or would like to experience someday an extended stay on the continent, and others actually do live or have lived in France or elsewhere in Europe.
While more than 50% of our readers are North American, we also have a significant number of English-speaking and French-speaking readers in France as well as readers in the U.K., Canada and Germany.
Types of work we publish
The work available on France Revisited runs the gamut of approaches to travel writing: journalism, review, analysis, experience, interview, opinion, essay, humor, vignette, video, photography. All sections open to contributors.
As with all magazines, the best place to start is to read some of the articles that have already been posted in the various departments. Though many of the articles on France Revisited are written by editor Gary Lee Kraut, we are not looking for contributors to endorse his style but rather to have their own voice, to be highly informed and to think creatively when writing about travel, people and place.
Our readers want to know that there’s an authoritative or curious or unique voice behind each piece. Subject matter is very open. Know your stuff, know where to get accurate information and have fun with the article. We like writers/photographers/videographers who can tell a good story and/or are highly informed about their subject.
There are no formulas, but please avoid self-dramatization. Use first-person when your experience or interaction with people or place really matters, otherwise let your authority as observer or analyst or journalist do the work. Using second-person is tricky business; if you’re going to use it you better make pretty good.
We prefer original material—and will only pay for original material—for which you give France Revisited first electronic rights (see Rights below).
In limited circumstances we are willing to consider material that has been previously published provided that you hold all the rights to it. In that case, let let us know in submitting it where it has been published in print or on the internet. We do not pay for previously published work.
Contributors may be asked to rewrite their submissions or have their work edited. We will ask for your approval in the case of significant editing. If you prefer to have your work published only as you first submit, then France Revisited may not be appropriate for your work.
Journalistes et écrivains francophones
We are willing to consider material in French (including previously published material) from native French-speaking writers/journalists and in some cases to translate their work into English for publication on France Revisited. If we do translate, you will not have permission to reuse our English translation without our express permission and certain terms.
Payment
We pay contributors 2 euro cents per published word with a maximum of 40 euros per article or story. On occasion we may have more funding for regular contributors. See Support France Revisited to understand how writers benefit from “fostered” and “adopted” work. Payment is made upon publication via Paypal. In accepting payment you agree that you will not publish the work elsewhere within 6 months of publication on France Revisited and will always indicate that it was “First published on France Revisited, www.francerevisited.com.”
Payment is not made for previously published material, even with some modifications. Payment is halved for previously unpublished material written in French that we have translated.
Payment for original photo reports and videos varies from 10 to 30 euros.
We are usually unable to pay expenses at this time, however in the case of “adopted” articles we may be able to provide funding for transportation within France.
Rights and Responsibility
Acceptance of material for posting on France Revisited gives us the right to post the work on this site. We reserve the right to remove the article of our own accord at any time and for any reason and to update any timely information contained in your article.
Nine months after publication on France Revisited, you are then free to republish your text elsewhere provided that you indicate “First published on France Revisited, www.francerevisited.com.” You naturally cannot reuse photos that we may have used to illustrate your text and to which you do not have copyright or other permission. Same for any introduction, lead or postscript that we may add.
In submitting your work to France Revisited you agree that you are fully responsible for any plagiarism, infringement or slander it may contain and for any consequences of such.
How to submit
If interested in contributing content to France Revisited, send the completed article/photo reportage/video or a detailed query, along with a brief bio to gary [at] francerevisited.com. Include your full name, where you live, your phone number and, if you wish, information about your writing and/or travel experience and link to any published work.
A place or a product or an event in and of itself is not an article. By that we mean that you should not send a query such as “I’m wondering if you’d like an article about Toulouse since I’ll be visiting there next month” or “I attended the Cannes Film Festival, would you like an article about it?”
Unless we specifically commission an article, our interest in a query from someone we’ve never worked with does not signify acceptance of an article. The decision to publish can be made only on the basis of an extensive draft.
Your first correspondence with us should contain no attachments. All text should be included in the body of the e-mail. File attachments will not be opened unless we have requested that they be sent.
Please note in your query whether you have your own images to accompany your article. It isn’t necessary to send them until requested.
For video submissions, send an e-mail describing the video (if not yet filmed) or containing a link to the completed video.
Do NOT send queries of the kind “I love France and would like to write for you, what subjects would interest you?”
Do NOT expect us to respond to a message saying that you can supply great free content in exchange for a few embedded links.
Do NOT expect us to get too excited when you explain how your article will increase traffic to France Revisited because of your talent as a social networker.
DO send all queries and completed submissions to gary [at] francerevisited.com. Note “Submission” plus your full name in the subject line. Otherwise we will assume that you did not read these guidelines and we are therefore unlikely to respond.
We try to respond to all queries and submissions within 1 week.
The editor reserves the right make the final decision as to the title of your work, but feel free include your working title.
Endnote
We appreciate your interest in writing for France Revisited. We are unable to make extensive individual comments on all submissions. If it turns out that we don’t consider your work right for France Revisited please don’t take that to mean anything other than that we have a particular approach to travel writing.