Submission Guidelines

Dear Traveler:

Due to the large number of submissions received we will only contact you if we decide to include your submission in a Travelers' Tales collection. Sometimes books take as long as a year to be completed following our submissions deadlines. Final decisions are made near the end of the editorial process, and all authors whose stories have been accepted are notified at that time.

Thank you for your inquiry and interest in submitting your personal nonfiction essay for consideration in one of our anthologies. Below are the Travelers' Tales submission deadlines and guidelines. We highly recommend you read some of our books and visit our Web site at www.travelerstales.com to get a better sense of the kind of stories we're looking for. Read on for more details.

Note: We are accepting stories only for those titles listed below whose deadlines have not passed.

Submission Deadlines and Tentative Release Dates
Our deadlines often shift, but to be guaranteed consideration for any of our upcoming anthologies, please meet the following deadlines.

Solas Awards for Best Travel Writing
Travelers' Tales runs an annual award to honor great travel writing. Go to BestTravelWriting.com to learn about the Solas Awards and the $1,000 Grand Prize for Best Travel Story of the Year. We offer awards in many categories covering the full scope of travel writing, from adventure to funny, spiritual, women's, food related, memoir, destination, and more. Check it out and enter to win. All entries will be considered for Travelers' Tales books.
Deadline for the Solas Awards is September 21, but we run the awards annually, so stories submitted after the deadline will be entered in the following year's contest.

Women's Travel Humor
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
Sand in My Bra and Other Misadventures has been a huge hit, and More Sand in My Bra is coming out soon. We're always looking for hilarious, outrageous misadventures for future books, so send us your stories.
Deadline for submission: OPEN

The Best Travel Writing 2009
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
Send us your best stories about travel throughout the world for our annual series The Best Travel Writing. We're looking for the full range of experience: adventurous, mystical, funny, poignant, food-related, cross-cultural, transformational. To get a sense of what we want, we highly recommend you read The Best Travel Writing 2008, The Best Travel Writing 2007, The Best Travel Writing 2006, The Best Travel Writing 2005, The Gift of Travel, The Road Within, A Woman's Path, A Woman's World, and Food.
Deadline for submission: September 1, 2008
Est. Release Date: February 2009
Note: We collect year round for this annual collection, so if you miss the deadline your story will be considered for the following year.

The Best Women's Travel Writing 2009
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
Women writers, please send us your best stories about travel throughout the world for our annual series, The Best Women’s Travel Writing. Previously published essays (within the last year) are OK. We're looking for the full range of experience: adventurous, mystical, funny, poignant, cuisine-related, cross-cultural, transformational—as well as solo travel and travel with friends, mates, and families. To get a sense of what we want, please see The Best Women's Travel Writing 2008, The Best Women's Travel Writing 2007, The Best Women's Travel Writing 2006, The Best Women’s Travel Writing 2005 and the other titles listed above for The Best Travel Writing 2007.
Maximum 3,000 words (short pieces are welcome too).
Deadline for submission: June 1, 2008
Est. Release Date: February 2009

Please include on your essay all of your contact information, plus a 3- to 10-line bio about yourself. Multiple submissions OK. Email your submissions to submit@travelerstales.com. Essays will not be returned; notification of acceptances only, close to publication date. Essays not selected will be considered for future Travelers’ Tales books, unless author explicitly requests otherwise.

More Humor and Misadventure
More Laughing Hyenas
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
Hyenas Laughed at Me and Now I Know Why got lots of laughs, so we're seeking funny stories for another volume. The book will include stories from both women and men. No length restrictions but for humor, shorter is usually better.
Deadline for submission: OPEN
Est. Release Date: TBA

Travelers' Tales Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
We're collecting poignant, meaningful, and entertaining true stories for this collection on Indochina. Send your best writing about Cambodia, Laos, and Vietnam, from the present day to the war era. War stories should be tied to the present with reflections on lessons learned, mistakes made or avoided.
Deadline: OPEN
Est. Release Date: TBA

Destinations: 30 Days in...
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
We're planning a new line of short destination titles, each of which will include 30 stories. For a description of the kinds of stories we're looking for, see "Type of Story" below. Titles in the works:

30 Days in Baja
30 Days in the Caribbean
30 Days in England
30 Days in the Himalayas
30 Days in Japan
30 Days in New Zealand
30 Days in North Africa
30 Days in Panama
30 Days in Switzerland

Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
Deadline for submission: OPEN
Est. Release Date: TBA

Women on the Edge
Submit your story for the Solas Awards here.
True stories of high adventure and danger around the world, from ice climbing to white water rafting, from war zones to animal encounters, from dangerous border crossings to besting the world's most dangerous predator-man.
Deadline for submissions: OPEN
Est. Release Date: TBA

The following titles have been postponed: Africa, The Soul of Service, Israel, Egypt, The Gift of Gardens, Scandinavia, and Holy Men and Women. Previously received submissions will be kept on file for future consideration.

Anthologies already available in the series: 365 Travel, The Adventure of Food, Adventures in Wine, America, American Southwest, Australia, The Best Travelers' Tales 2004, The Best Travel Writing 2005, Brazil, Central America, China, Cuba, Danger!, It's a Dog's World, Family Travel, Food, France, The Gift of Birds, The Gift of Rivers, The Gift of Travel, Grand Canyon, Greece, Gutsy Mamas, Gutsy Women, Hawaii, Her Fork in the Road, Hong Kong, India, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Love and Romance, Mexico, A Mother's World, Nepal, Not So Funny When it Happened, Paris, Pilgrimage, The Road Within, Sand in My Bra, San Francisco, Spain, The Spiritual Gifts of Travel, Testosterone Planet, Thailand, There's No Toilet Paper...on the Road Less Traveled, The Thong Also Rises, Tibet, Turkey, Tuscany, The Ultimate Journey, Whose Panties Are These?, A Woman's Europe, A Woman's Passion for Travel, A Woman's Path, A Woman's World, Women in the Wild.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
Please Note: We are no longer accepting book proposals.

In addition to publishing books, we like to promote the best travel writing we can find and do so in our Editors' Choice section and elsewhere on our Web site. By submitting your story to Travelers' Tales, you agree that we may post it on our site as an example of good travel writing. You will not be paid for this use, but you will retain all rights to your material, and as a Travelers' Tales contributor you will be able to purchase any TT books at 50% off. If you do not wish us to post your story, please indicate this clearly at the beginning of your submission. If we select your story for publication in one of our books, we will contact you regarding permission and payment.

Type of Story
Stamp We're looking for personal, nonfiction stories and anecdotes-funny, illuminating, adventurous, frightening, or grim. Stories should reflect that unique alchemy that occurs when you enter unfamiliar territory and begin to see the world differently as a result. Stories that have already been published, including book excerpts, are welcome as long as the authors retain the copyright or can obtain permission from the copyright holder to reprint the material.

Length
Whatever it takes without being self-indulgent-anything from a paragraph to fifteen pages. Shorter stories have a better chance of being accepted.

Biographical Information
Please include a few sentences about yourself, something quirky and fun in addition to the usual list of accomplishments.

Form of Submission
Email: submit@travelerstales.com
If sending attachments, they must be in MS Word or RTF format. Please put the book title that you are submitting for in the subject line, and make sure that your name and contact information is in the attachment, not just in your email! Submissions will not be returned.

Regular mail: Send hard copy to:
Travelers' Tales
853 Alma Street
Palo Alto, CA 94301

Rights
We are interested in non-exclusive rights, in all languages, throughout the world. Our use of the material does not restrict the authors' rights in any way to have their stories reprinted elsewhere.

Remuneration
Travelers' Tales offers a $100 honorarium for stories of any length. In addition, authors receive a free copy of the book in which their work will appear, and the right to purchase an unlimited number of any Travelers' Tales titles for 50% off the cover price (plus shipping and handling). Other advantages include the opportunity to appear in print with many well-known writers, and the ongoing promotion of your name and work in the literary marketplace, and on our web site. Those whose sidebars we publish will receive a free copy of the book, plus the right to buy all Travelers' Tales books at a 50% discount, but no payment.

Caveat
In most cases we will do some editing of accepted stories for considerations of style, grammar, or length and may also alter the story title. Due to the large number of submissions received we will only contact you if we decide to include your submission in a Travelers' Tales collection. Sometimes books take as long as a year to be completed following our submissions deadlines. Final decisions are made near the end of the editorial process, and all authors whose stories have been accepted are notified at that time.

Thank you again for your interest.

Submission Guidelines

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