How to Pitch Afar: Contributor Guidelines

Afar aims to make a positive impact on the world through high-quality storytelling that inspires, enriches, and empowers travelers who care. In everything we do, our brand values lead the way: We aim to be inclusive, authentic, empathetic, curious, intelligent, and joyful in our approach to travel.

Afar Magazine publishes a range of reported features, personal essays, photo essays, and shorter middle-of-the-book pieces. Instead of more traditional aspirational lifestyle travel stories, we tell the stories of places and the people who live there. For feature stories, our rate starts at $1/word.

Afar.com publishes stories in the following categories: travel news, intel, destination inspiration, cruise, features, and hotels, all aligned around the belief that travel can be a powerful force for good. Most of our stories are commissioned based on our current needs, rather than accepted via cold pitch. Our rate starts at $0.50/word.

The best way to understand our requirements is to familiarize yourself with our coverage. Prior to pitching any ideas, please take the time to read our articles in Afar magazine, on afar.com, on our social media channels, and on our podcasts.

All pitches should include:

• A synopsis of the story you’d like to report and write, with specifics including—but not limited to—any potential characters and sources, relevant news pegs, and estimated word count
• A brief bio and relevant clips that outline why you’re the right writer for the story you’re pitching, as well as an explanation of your particular knowledge or expertise about the destination or topic
• Information on whether you took video clips that could be useful for a related social post
• Transparency about whether you accepted or are planning to accept a press trip or other comped/discounted support for the story (Afar does allow press trips, but we appreciate the communication)
• Headline and dek possibilities
• NOTE: We do not accepted unsolicited, completed stories or drafts.

Although we aim to respond individually to each pitch, we regret that sometimes we are unable to. If you have not heard back from us in two weeks or your story has a timely hook, please feel free to follow up once.

Digital Pitch Guidelines

Travel News

When it comes to air, cruise, hotel, and destination news coverage at Afar, we are looking for stories that offer color and context to a new offering, policy, or issue relevant for travelers. In our news stories, we include industry analysts, executives, travel experts, or travel associations that can weigh in on any given topic or debate. We also tackle larger issues, whether they revolve around sustainability, legislation, design, accessibility, inclusion, or health and safety. We look to embrace both the positive change as well as the pain points. Trends are key, too, but we aren’t simply looking to cover a trend—we want to explore how it affects travelers who care.

To pitch a travel news story, email Michelle Baran at [email protected] and Shayla Martin at [email protected].

Intel

Afar’s intel coverage empowers travelers to make their travels easier and more rewarding. In addition to publishing travel tips and providing in-depth insight into travel trends, we also answer questions about air and train travel, cultural experiences, booking trends, climate change, and more. Pitches should outline why your story will help readers travel smarter or lessen their footprint along the way, and why you are the person best positioned to write it.

To pitch an intel story, email Michelle Baran at [email protected] and Shayla Martin at [email protected].

Destination Inspiration

Afar’s combination of experiential narratives and deeply reported service journalism meets travelers at every step of their travel planning journey—from dreaming to booking. We offer highly curated perspectives on where to go next: timely, off the beaten path, and with unexpected angles. Areas of focus include our 4 Days In series, off-the-tourist-trail recommendations, in-depth and locally informed itineraries and experiences, beaches and islands, history/arts and culture, outdoor adventure, family travel. If you have geographic expertise and local knowledge, we want to know.

To pitch a destination inspiration story, please email Danielle Hallock at [email protected] and Lucy Kehoe at [email protected].

Cruise

Our cruise focus is on ships and sailings that have a smaller footprint, visit lesser-known ports, and/or offer a deeper look at a destination. Our cruise coverage is curated for an audience that is looking to get away from overtouristed locales and have meaningful travel experiences, whether on land or by sea. We cover everything from cruise news (including new ship launches and itineraries) and roundups that offer the Afar take on the best cruises in the world, to first-person reviews of ships and itineraries that help our readers find the right cruise for their needs.

To pitch a cruise story, email Michelle Baran at [email protected].

Reported features

Afar’s features enrich, inform, educate, and spark conversation. As well as diving into unplumbed places and parts of the travel experience, these approaches expand the definition of what makes a travel story. We are interested in ambitious works about the natural world, profiles of fascinating people and collectives, scientific oddities, deep dives into subcultures, compelling takes on industry trends, and the never-before-told tales behind some of the world’s most storied places.

Please pitch the appropriate beat editor listed above.

Hotels

Afar reports on the world’s most extraordinary hotels and accommodations that enrich on-the-ground experiences for travelers—while also helping travelers leave a positive impact on the communities and places they’re visiting. Our reviews focus on luxury, premium, and boutique hotels. We also publish hotel news, trend stories, and timely interviews with hospitality leaders.

To pitch a hotel story, please email Jennifer Flowers at [email protected].

Sponsored Content

Sponsored Afar stories generally fall into one of two categories: articles and itineraries. Both integrate the advertising partner within the content itself and should have distinct angles that are broad enough to appeal to readers while also differentiating the sponsor from competitors.

If you’re interested in being considered for sponsored content assignments, please send a short bio and clips to Ami Kealoha at [email protected].

Photo Essay

Afar has always prioritized photography that evokes wonder, awe, and the joy of travel. Our photographs are cinematic and inspirational, yet deeply grounded in human experience, capturing everyday moments that invite our readers to not only see a place, but to feel it.

We typically publish one photo essay per issue in our quarterly print magazine, with additional photo essays publishing as digital articles on afar.com. We are interested in featuring photographers that may have a book publishing in the near future like this collection of images documenting the American West, or a photographer returning to their home country to highlight the local side of a tourist destination. Or perhaps it’s a collection from a long-term project in which a photographer revisits a destination over the course of several years to give an in-depth perspective on an otherwise lesser known community.

How to pitch a photo essay: Please submit a PDF or link to 20–40 photos along with 100–300 words briefly describing your photo project and why it’s a good fit for Afar. Submissions should be sent to the photo team at [email protected].

Magazine Pitch Guidelines

The print magazine is published four times a year, and thus we only have room to green-light a limited number of stories. All of our stories fall into certain rubrics, which are outlined below. Please keep in mind that story length may change based on issue needs.

Workshop

Workshop is a reported column that dives into the process of how a company, designer, or maker produces their craft. Subjects should be high-quality or outstanding in their field. Text should cover the main figures who create the product (such as owners or founders), brief history of the company, and the particulars: materials used, the range of objects offered (including best sellers or best known lines), sustainable practices employed, interesting aspects of the production process, creative inspiration, how the location or cultural history plays into the maker’s work, and how the items are used—locally or around the world. Quotes from key people should be included to add texture and expertise to the piece. By the article’s end, readers should understand why they ought to know about this producer and why their work is exceptional.

Past topics include an Indian women’s collective reviving Rajasthan textiles, hospitality industry favorite Jono Pandolfi Design’s ceramics, Mongolian cashmere, and Woolrich blankets.

• Word count: 1,000–1,500, depending on the level of service-driven information in the piece
• Fee: $2,000–$3,000

How to pitch a Workshop story: Please submit a pitch no longer than 300 words describing the maker or artisan you wish to cover, with context as to why pursuing this story is intriguing and relevant right now. The pitch should make clear how the proposed angle is a fit for Afar as well as relevant details that make the practitioner’s process and history intriguing for readers. Include 3-4 examples of the types of details you would like to highlight about the maker’s work and why they are noteworthy. Please submit pitches to Jennifer Hope Choi at [email protected].

Connect

Connect is a personal essay that explores a writer’s deepening relationship to a place in the world. The voice-driven, first-person narrative should have a clear emotional arc that relays a takeaway the reader can understand by the essay’s end; we’ve had writers trace their family’s Holocaust-era refugee history, use their attempts to catch fish as a way to reflect on memory, and explore the uneasy overlap between the mystical and the modern world. Readers should get a clear idea of how traveling to or spending time in this locale has been instrumental to the writer’s experience and how that relates to the core tension of the piece.

Typical Connect essays will have vivid transportive language, scenes, and sensorial detail. Humor writing is welcome, with the above parameters in mind.

• Word count: 1,500
• Fee: $3,000

How to pitch a Connect essay: Please submit a pitch, no more than 300 words, capturing where the writer will be taking readers and how interacting with that place has shaped some aspect of the writer’s life. The pitch should be written in the style and voice that will be used in the essay. Please submit pitches to Katherine LaGrave at [email protected].

Good Trips

Reported stories centered around, well, good trips—usually itineraries and journeys with a set route or done with a specific company, such as a tour operator, safari outfitter, or cruise line. We’ve had writers cover trips to Yunnan Province with tour operator WildChina, to Antarctica with the expedition cruise line Ponant, and along the Vallée de la Gastronomie, a food trail created as a partnership between regional governments in France. These pieces combine first-person experiential travel writing with helpful context about the destination(s) and activities involved, including insights from local figures or interviews with relevant experts who can illuminate some aspect of the trip.

• Word count: 1,000–1,500, inclusive of sidebar where relevant
• Fee: $2,000–$3,000

How to pitch a Good Trip: In no more than 300 words, tell us about the trip you’d like to write about and what makes it a good fit both for Afar and for the current moment. Make it clear why the trip is worth covering through specific details about both the destination (e.g. relevant news or unique offerings) and the operator or organization behind the itinerary (e.g. its unique approach or sustainability cred). Also, please let us know if you have already traveled, have travel plans already in place, or would need to plan a reporting trip after a potential assignment is made. Please submit pitches to Hannah Walhout at [email protected].

Feast

Feast stories dig into a specific aspect of a place’s food or drink culture and let readers know how they can experience it for themselves. The focus can be a specific product or dish (olive oil in Tunisia, Singapore’s go-to dessert), a culturally specific culinary practice (pop-up culture in New Orleans, the secrets of Italian aperitivo), or a broader trend that provides a new perspective on a destination (like the rise of Middle Eastern immigrant cuisine in Mexico City). In addition to interviews and thorough research, these stories should include a strong sense of place—whether through first-person or through scenes and sensory descriptions that bring it to life.

• Word count: 1,000–1,500, inclusive of sidebar where relevant
• Fee: $2,000–$3,000

How to pitch a Feast story: Please submit a pitch of 300 words maximum that outlines both the food practice you would like to write about and the practitioner(s) who contribute to its longevity. Your pitch should cover the history and cultural significance, the contemporary status and relevant trends or challenges, and demonstrated knowledge of the topic or thoughtful pre-reporting, including proposed sources who could share their expertise for the piece. Also, please let us know if you have already traveled, have travel plans already in place, or would need to plan a reporting trip after a potential assignment is made. Please submit pitches to Hannah Walhout at [email protected].

Senses of Place

Senses of Place is a front of book, design-forward column that explores the secrets of a location, through photos, annotations, and relevant quotes from trusted sources (e.g. concierges, travel advisors, hotel designers). Details should be specific and lesser known, while inspiring travelers to visit and experience the place for themselves.

• Word count: 300–500 words, including dektro (50–60 words and 10–12 blurbs)
• Fee: $300–$400

How to pitch a Senses of Place story: Please submit a pitch no longer than 250 words describing the location with context as to why pursuing this story is intriguing and relevant right now. The pitch should make clear how the proposed angle is a fit for Afar as well as which sources the writer will tap to illustrate expertise. Include 3-4 examples of the types of details you would like to highlight and why they are noteworthy. Please submit ideas to Jennifer Hope Choi at [email protected].

One Great Block

One Great Block is a front of book column, accompanied by a map, that zooms in on a notable neighborhood, highlighting the local shops and stores not to miss, such as this piece on Athens. (“Block” is loose here; scope should be contained to a concentrated area, a main street and, if applicable, a few nearby offshoots.) Voice is service-driven and reported, aligned with Afar’s brand and style, without references to a first-person perspective.

• Word count: 150–300 words, including a dektro (50 words) and 7–8 blurbs (60 words each)
• Fee: 300–400

How to pitch a One Great Block: Please submit a pitch no longer than 250 words describing the block you’d like to feature and why this particular stretch is especially relevant or appealing to travel to now. Include 2–3 examples of the businesses that could be potentially featured and what makes them stand out and worth exploring. Please submit ideas to Jennifer Hope Choi at [email protected].

Behind the Scenes

This rubric is an opportunity to look into the business of travel beyond the traveler’s individual experience by spotlighting some of the people who make the industry run. These photography-led spreads include a short mini-profile that introduces the reader to what (and who) they’re looking at, incorporating the voice of the individual(s) being profiled. Some longer pieces we’ve done that embrace this “behind the scenes” spirit: Q&As with a cruise captain, a travel YouTuber, and a hotel uniform designer; profiles of a head porter and a veteran hotel housekeeper; and spotlights on guides offering unique itineraries, including deaf-led tours conducted in ASL and public fossil digs supervised by a professional paleontologist.

• Word count: 100–300
• Fee: $300–$400

How to pitch a Behind the Scenes story: Please submit a pitch, no longer than 250 words, that details the person or group of people you would like to spotlight and the access you would plan to get (whether it’s a phone interview, a full-day job shadow, or a weeklong trip). Please also address how their experience will help illuminate a specific sector of the travel industry and show a side that readers may not normally see. Timely details and “news pegs” are welcome but not required. Please submit pitches to Hannah Walhout at [email protected].

Packages and Roundups

In almost every issue, Afar has a package—magazine parlance for a collection of stories or patchwork of content of various lengths, all organized around a central theme. In some cases, one writer executes the whole package; other times, it is made up of pieces by a range of contributors, or a mix of freelancers and staff. Writers may propose ideas, but we may also slot other pitches into packages where relevant or solicit pitches on a specific theme. Past packages have included roundups of trips that embrace “slow travel” and epic cruises around the world—and even a multi-page meditation on the joy of trees (plus where to celebrate them). We also accept destination-related pitches for our annual “Where to Go” lists.

• Word count: 700–3,000
• Fee: $1,100–$3,000

How to pitch a package: Please submit a pitch of no more than 300 words describing your vision for the package—the broader theme, but also the scope and the range of stories it will help us tell—and why it’s particularly timely or topical in today’s travel landscape. Please include 3-4 examples of specific pieces or other “parts” (such as sidebars) that you would propose including. Pitches should also make it clear why the package approach is the best fit for the topic(s) you’d like to cover.

For many print packages, the editorial team develops a concept internally and solicits ideas from freelancers to populate the pages. In these cases, specific guidelines will be included in the call for pitches. Please submit pitches to Hannah Walhout at [email protected].

Features

Our features prioritize immersive reporting and vivid storytelling, and we’re drawn to ideas that combine strong reporting with a clear sense of place and perspective.

Afar’s features enrich, inform, educate, and spark conversation. As well as diving into unplumbed places and parts of the travel experience, these approaches expand the definition of what makes a travel story. We are interested in ambitious works about the natural world, deep dives into subcultures, compelling takes on trends, and never-before-told tales behind some of the world’s most storied places—think the incredibly true story of renting a friend in Tokyo; whether we’re loving Venice to death; what it’s like to chase memory—and adventure—in Oman; and how climate change is transforming Greenland’s landscapes.

Feature stories typically run 1,500–2,500 words, though we are open to considering stories that are shorter or longer.

How to pitch a feature story: The strongest pitches uncover an untold angle, overlooked subculture, surprising tension, or deeply reported narrative that only travel can illuminate. Please submit a pitch of no more than 300 words that includes how your story goes beyond destination coverage and reveals something larger about the world, culture, environment, or the way we travel now. Make a clear case for why this story matters, why you’re the right person to tell it, and what readers will discover that they haven’t encountered before. Include 3–5 people you plan or hope to include as sources, and indicate if the travel is complete, scheduled, or if a reporting trip must be planned on assignment. Please submit pitches to Katherine LaGrave at [email protected].