Writer Profile: This section highlights a BootsnAll contributor. Check out this section for stories on how people snagged paying gigs, why they enjoy writing about travel and tips and tricks to improve your stories.

Behind the Screen: What goes on at BnA after you submit a piece? How can you find all of your articles? Behind the Screen covers writer-related news at the office.

Wet Your Quill: If you're searching for more more writing opportunities, check out Wet Your Quill. It includes resources both in and out of the BootsnAll Travel Network.

Section Specialty: Did you know there's more to BootsnAll than just travel stories? Section Specialty showcases another section of BootsnAll than can use your contribution.

We encourage your feedback. Please contact us with any suggestions on how we can make Wordsmith the best resource for BootsnAll writers. Haven't contributed to BootsnAll yet? Check out our writers' guidelines for the most up-to-date info.

What's in this issue?

• BootsnAll Writer Profile: Craig Guillot
• Behind the Screen: How we edit
• Wet Your Quill: BootsnAll Seeking Content on Specific Destinations
• Section Specialty: BootsnAll Theme Guides

BootsnAll Writer Profile
Craig Guillot
BootsnAll member Craig Guillot was one of BootsnAll's first contributing writers and author of the guide to New Orleans. After writing for BnA, Guillot eventually moved on to becoming a full time writer through perseverance, good clips and knack for hounding editors.

• Why did you write for BootsnAll?



At the time, BootsnAll was the only place that would take my work. But the guys offered great feedback on my stories and the countless reader comments were really encouraging. BootsnAll really built my confidence to pursue this travel writing thing. And, the site really has a community type feel to it. The staff is great and the writers and readers all communicate with one another. One thing I will certainly vouch for is that BootsnAll offers massive exposure - I'm still receiving comments and emails on pieces that I wrote five years ago.

• What advice do you have for budding travel writers, or those that simply want to tell a good story about their last family vacation?



For those who just want to tell a good story, I say start by leaving out the insignificant details and events. Many beginning writers tend to elaborate on things that just aren't pertinent to the story - details are great but only if they spice up the text or are relevant to the piece. And, try writing short - a perfectly-woven 900 word piece on your family vacation is always going to be a better read than a 10,000 word rambling of everything that happened. In narratives, take your reader on a journey by showing them what you experienced, not what you saw or toured. Use dialogues and interactions with the locals.

Read what else Craig has to say about being a full-time writer, pitching stories and starting out by reading the whole interview here.

Behind the Screen
How we edit

We get lots of questions about what goes into the editing process. Sleep well - you don't have to worry any more!

Each submission enters an editing queue, which is cleared out once or twice a week. We accept a majority of the submissions each week, reject a small handful and debate the merits of publishing one or maybe two.

Our editing style focuses primarily on retaining the author's voice. Due to the volume and our small editing staff, we are unable to fact-check, send back for revisions or make major corrections.

Most of the time, we're reading for typos, spelling errors in common words (not names, or those written in other languages) and major fact boo-boos - which relies on our rusty knowledge to raise a red flag, and then all-knowing Google to tell us the correct answer. We also do the formatting and tinker around with links and other such nonsense.

Our editors aren't perfect, however, so if you notice an error in one of your articles, please contact us.

Wet Your Quill
BootsnAll Seeking Content on Specific Destinations

Thanks to submissions from BootsnAll members, we've added a lot of stories, guides and articles to BootsnAll in the past 6 years. However, there are some areas of the world that could use a little extra attention. If you've been to any of the areas on our Dream List (or know someone who has!) we encourage you to submit stories and guides. Please note this is not an exclusive list - feel free to continue to submit articles on other parts of the world!

Section Specialty
BootsnAll Themed Travel Guides

BootsnAll publishes more than just destination travel stories and guides - we also have an extensive number of themed travel guides. These guides cover an array of topics including solo travel, female travel, family travel and more! We're always looking for more content to add to this area of the site. Expert in a particular topic but don't see it listed? Contact us and we'll see about adding it to the site.