THE FORM AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS PAGE IS FOR THOSE WHO HAVE RECEIVED AN ASSIGNMENT FOR HOMETOWN TOURIST. If you would like to be a Hometown Tourist, please complete our blogger application. Thank you.
EDITORIAL GUIDELINES:
Audience:
Most of our readers travel without kids, are female, college educated, age 20 – 59, are high-income earners who are curious and open to new experiences. They want those quality hidden gems that only the locals know about or the tourist spots that are worth visiting.
Original Content:
We will examine all submissions and recommendations for originality. We only accept original content. We may reprint, share, re-purpose, reuse, any content submitted in additional articles and blog posts, on Hometown Tourist or its content sharing partners, with or without an author’s bio. Written content submitted is owned by Hometown Tourist LLC and can not be used without written permission.
Your contributions should be unbiased and objective. For example, you should not write recommendations for your own business or employer, your friends’ or relatives’ business, your peers or competitors in your industry, or businesses in your networking group.
We have a zero-tolerance policy regarding plagiarism. We do a plagiarism check on each submission. If we find that any significant portion of your work is unoriginal we will cancel our agreement with you. It’s fine to do research but it must be rewritten in your own words.
Duplicate Content:
Please make sure that you do not duplicate recommendations. Check Hometown Tourist to make sure that the places you recommend are not already listed on the site. We will not accept multiple submission for a venue/things to do/places to eat/etc.
Quality:
All content must be professionally written, with excellent grammar. PLEASE SPELL CHECK AND GRAMMAR CHECK prior to submitting your assignment. We will do some minor editing, but we should not have to rewrite your work.
Restaurants:
Restaurant recommendations should be locally owned/based restaurants. No nationwide chain restaurants such as The Olive Garden or Red Lobster. You must state why we should go there, why the locals love it, what menu item/s we must try, and provide a link to the restaurants website. Quality photos are welcomed, but not necessary. Minimum word requirement for each restaurant recommendations: 60 words.
Local Attractions:
Recommended local attractions should state why they are worth a visit, what we should do or see, and links to their website. Minimum word requirement for local attraction recommendations: 60 words.
Format:
You will answer questions on our Hometown Tourist submission form.
Write using short sentences that are descriptive, yet easy to read.
Your tone should be friendly.
AP Style
1500 Words minimum (not including links) for City Guides.
450 word minimum for blog posts.
Photographs: (Optional)
Be sure that you own the rights to any photos you submit. By submitting a photo, you grant permission for Hometown Tourist to use photos for five years (non-exclusive) after initial publication. Hometown Tourist has content sharing agreements with several media publishing organizations, and content may be reused. See Photography Guidelines
Hometown Tourist will not be liable for any copyright issues regarding unauthorized use of photographs. It is best for you to shoot your own photos. Alternatively, obtain permission from tour operators and tourist boards. Please indicate the name of the photographers so that we can put photo credit next to all images that are not your own.
PLEASE USE Google’s Google Plus/Picasa program, Dropbox, or another similar site to create an online photo gallery and send the link to us.
Relevant content:
No photos, images, or materials that have no relevance to the accommodation, attraction, restaurant, location or general travel experiences.
No duplicate photos.
No irrelevant or unhelpful photo captions.
No insulting language, personal political, ethical, or religious opinions.
Turnaround Time:
Unless other arrangements have been arranged, the contributor has seven days from the day the assignment is accepted.
Social Media:
We will notify you once your article is published. Please share on Twitter and Facebook a link to your blog post on Hometown Tourist.
Very Important:
If you can not complete the assignment within seven days (unless other arrangements have been made), we reserve the right to cancel this agreement. If you’re going to be delayed, please let us know ASAP! We typically can work something out, depending on the circumstances.
SUBMISSION PROCEDURES:
Once the contributor has accepted the assignment (by completing this form, and agreeing to the terms), you will be forwarded to the submission form. THE SUBMISSION FORM YOU ARE FORWARDED TO IS FOR SUBMITTING THE CITY GUIDES ONLY. IF YOU’RE SUBMITTING A BLOG POST, IGNORE THIS PAGE. If you’re completing a City Guide, please use this opportunity to review the form so that you know ahead of time the type of information we’re asking for. Bookmark this page so you can come back to it later. Reminder: 60 word minimum per venue; and 1500 word minimum (not including links) for the entire submission.
Step One:
Complete the Submission form. Please review your submission prior to submitting. Any submissions returned because they do not meet the editorial guidelines will delay the approval process.
Step Two:
Once we receive your submission it is reviewed to make sure it meets with our editorial and photography guidelines. This takes up 48 – 72 hours.
Step Three:
Once your submission is reviewed and approved it is published in approximately 5 – 7 business days. We will notify you once your submission is approved.
Step Four:
Payment is made upon our approval of your submission and your submission of a Paypal invoice. Contributors must be able to invoice and receive payment via PayPal or other online service. THIS IS THE PREFERRED METHOD. If you are in the United States, and you do NOT have a PayPal account, please contact us, if other arrangements can be made we will try our best to accommodate.
Step Five:
You will receive notification once your contribution is posted. Please share your Hometown Tourist blog post on social media.
Questions? Please contact (before accepting the assignment):
Terri Lundberg
terri [@] hometown-tourist [dot] com
We do not sell, trade, or otherwise transfer to outside parties your personally identifiable information. Read more on our privacy policy.
