Michelle Bacallao Writing for Publication September 20, 2012 mbacallao@knights.ucf.

edu Traveler at Heart (Word count: 2,576)

Introduction to Publications Analyzed My love of travel led me to analyze National Geographic Traveler and Big World Magazine (bigworldmagazine.com). National Geographic Travelers photography beckoned me immediately. This led me to search for an online publication also dealing with travel. I found Big World Magazine, a publication whose wide range of subject matter offers writers a wide-open field. Subjects Covered in Publications The theme of the June/ July 2012 edition of National Geographic Traveler is Endless Summer. Content focuses on great activities and trips. Diverse articles range from seven classic lake escapes in the U.S. to the best food to eat in Montreal to a trail along the path of the Civil War. Other articles include places to explore in Samoa, best places to see in Columbus, retreats in Norway, activities to enjoy in Vancouver, facts about the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and more. The writers share an energetic, on-the-spot style. Big World Magazine lives up to its title. Subject matter includes: culture, ideas, voyages, food, people, and trends (as we learn from the submission guidelines). Stories are taken from all over the world, including Chile, Egypt, Italy, Cuba, Poland, Africa, and more. Big World seeks a unique angle, something that makes it stand out from other travel publications. Quoted by Michael Krebs on digitaljournal.com, Mary DAmbrosio, founding editor of Big World magazine says: very few publicationspay attention to reporting and storytelling about places. Most take a how-to, or service journalism, approach. She states that a typical magazine carries features like, The Worlds Best Beaches: 13 Great Value Escapes in Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay. Her approach is rather to go and report on who lives in those beach towns, and how they live Big World Magazine utilizes an investigative approach to journalism. Its writers tell stories about specific peoples, cultures, and experiences, not just superficial, generic information. Articles include a story about a prairie adventure in New Mexico, a report on child slavery in Ghana, and a walk through an old town in Poland. Audience of Publications Published eight times annually, "National Geographic Traveler is the world's most widely read travel magazine," according to its online companion. This is no surprise, considering
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National Geographic's reputation. Their adopted theme is "Nobody Knows This World Better." The magazine "makes a distinction between tourism and travel, and stresses inquisitive not acquisitive trips." Traveler introduces fresh stories and pristine destinations. This magazine appeals to the traveler at heart. However, clues based on the magazine's style can lead to further deduction. The allure starts with the cover, displaying a dock and boat in the middle of a purple, pink, and blue sunsetthe perfect setting for the theme, Endless Summer. The publication understands that people of any age find solace in the word summer. The cover also lists feature articles with a short description under each. The main article, "Road Trip to France," is titled with bold yellow font and a description underneath in cursive. This suggests an open-minded audience curious about the world. Places like Samoa, Rwanda, Spain, Australia, and South Africa fill the magazines pages. Easier-to-reach and less costly destinations such as some gorgeous American lakes and a path through Civil War America broaden the magazines target audience, including middle-class to wealthy. The table of contents is broken into two parts on separate pages. The first, "Features," lists three feature articles with a short sentence description under each. The background picture shows a young woman holding a big float at the edge of a lake. The picture suggests a younger, twenty-something, fun-loving audience. The second part of the table of contents is titled "Departments." This is the main table of contents and lists twenty articles with a two to three word description under each. Underneath is a picture of a church in Samoa (and a lot of natives on the steps), suggesting an older audience with a love for culture. Advertisements cater to the traveling individual. Advertisements include transportation such as Jeep, airlines, etc., credit cards, hotels such as the Hilton and Travelodge, cruises such as Crystal Cruises, and cameras such as the Fujifilm waterproof camera. Based on the style of Traveler, the audience is younger and fun-loving, as well as older and more sophisticated. Target audience ranges from middle-class to wealthy as long as the reader appreciates diversity and has an interest in travel. Even those without the want or means to travel could read the magazine, if even just to learn about other places or witness vivid photographs. Big World Magazine has an audience just as diverse as Traveler, maybe even more so. Some of the authors come from or live in other parts of the world. The front page of Big World has its name on the top left corner of the page, inside what looks like a stamp. It displays a small slideshow on the left of pictures from feature articles. In the middle, some main stories are displayed. Each has a small picture, and underneath, the name of the country in which it takes place. Underneath the country is the story's subject matter, and underneath the subject is the name of the article, in yellow font. Because so many countries are listedChile, Cambodia, Venezuela, Italy, etc.,--its clear that the audience is of a very broad cultural and ethnographic range. Based on the articles, age range of the target audience is probably high school and up. Someone at the high school level should know how to navigate through the online world fairly well, and would be able to appreciate thinking about the world in a "bigger way." Readers might
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also need to be at the high school level because of the advanced vocabulary of some of the articles. For example, some use words such as "Basque" and "citadel"- words that even a college student might need to look up. Anyone above the high school age would also be suitableperhaps even more so, to read this publication. Advertisements are listed on the right side of the page. There is an ad to priceline.com (a site for finding hotels), and an advertisement for Day of Honey, a memoir of life and food in the Middle East. There are also a few small ads listed in the left bottom corner (mostly for colleges). The ads suggest a college level and above audience, because they suggest someone who is old enough to book hotels, read about the Middle East (with some level of understanding), and research colleges. The income level of the audience would not matter because the articles are written by people of all different statuses. The only thing that might matter would be the need for internet, but more and more people are acquiring access today through such means as public libraries. In summary, the audience of Big World would be very diverse in culture, age range would most likely be college to the elderly (with the exception of some highschoolers), gender would not be a concern, and income level would not matter either. Purpose of Publications What is the purpose of National Geographic Traveler? Its mission statement reveals the following: National Geographic Traveler reports on destinations of distinction and character, and we support efforts to keep them that way- believing that to enhance an authentic sense of place will benefit both travelers and the locations they visit. (8) According to this statement, Traveler takes great pride in its work. Traveler also makes an effort to seek out new, exciting places to present to its audience. For example, the article on Samoa does not reveal an obvious tourist site. It presents To Sua Ocean Trench and Papaseea Sliding Rock, both sites that locals would be familiar with, but everyday travelers would not. It also relays some inside detail about the lifestyles of Samoans. The articles in Traveler are written to entice and draw in readers, as well as inspire them to go out and explore. I love this quote from Travelers online component: A Travelers Story must capture a places essence in a way that inspires readers to follow in the writers footsteps- and equip them to do so. Readers, on the other hand, may pick up the magazine for any number of reasons. They may be reading for entertainment, information on new destinations, or even just to look at the enticing photographs. In fact, Traveler takes as much pride in its photography as it does its writing. The photographs could make even the most fault-finding individual think, I wish I was there While Traveler focuses more on sites of interest, Big World Magazine is designed to do something more: to show us the actual lives of individuals in certain places. While some may be inspired to visit a destination after reading an article in Big World, this is not its main purpose.
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Its main purpose is to give readers a greater sense of place, and a larger understanding of the world. Big World gives the reader something to reflect on at the end of the day. Its focus is authenticity: the good, the bad, and the ugly. One example is the article, Ghanas Lake Volta. In this piece, Sarah Conway explores the hardships of slave children in Ghana. She states, Hundreds of thousands of children labor in bondage, sold by their impoverished parents and left unprotected by the state. The publication, while it also has entertaining and fun articles, is not intended to simply appease its audience with an everything in the world is perfect attitude. In the letter from the editor, DAmbrosio states, Big World Magazine means to abet your curiosity: to poke into overlooked corners, to help you figure out how ideas in one place can solve problems in another, and to report back the news from places not necessarily like home. Readers of Big World view the site to learn in-depth about how other people live and things they encounter. Others may read it solely to be entertained, or to learn about sports, people, and food in other countries. Writing Style of Publications Writing style of Traveler relates to a wide range of audience in that articles vary from relaxed and descriptive to more up-beat. Variances in style cater to the older audience, who may be interested in more relaxed, scenic environments, as well as the younger audience, who is more likely to enjoy adventurous aspects. The editors note gives a brief insight to the editors love of the lake and a preview of the writing style of the publication. "Summer at the Lake" is a feature article in which several writers have collaborated to make one story. The voice is relaxed, descriptive, and informational. The introduction says, "Unplug and unwind at these lake escapes, where time stands still, nature reigns, and there's a profound sense of peace" (57). This sounds like the epitome of relaxation. Vivid language used throughout gives the article a descriptive voice. "We woke to a perfect rose-colored sunrise and the sound of jumping fish" (58). "Cradling the rounded peaks of western North Carolina, Lake Lure retains the unpretentious character and natural splendor that have attracted vacationers..." (58). tourists slurp ice cream cones, and station wagons loaded with canoes clog the streets (59). The descriptive writing style could almost be compared to that of an enjoyable piece of literaturemaybe something along the lines of Nicholas Sparks, whose stories capture the charm of small North Carolina towns. The story is informational because of all the background information and facts offered; for example, we find that Lake Lure was the center stage for the film Dirty Dancing, that Flathead Lake is the largest freshwater lake west of the Mississippi, and that Walloon Lake brought in many travelers in the 19th century and inspired a series of short stories. The tone in A Taste of Montreal is livelier than Summer at the Lake in the sense that it speaks to a younger audience. With words such as allure, eccentricity, romance and technology, its sure to capture the attention of young city-lovers. In fact, Keith Bellows, editor in chief, states in the introduction, Montreal, where I grew up, seduces me always (80). This sentence sets the tone for a charismatic, glamorous article. A Taste of Montreal highlights
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twenty five must-see areas related to the food world. In the introduction, Bellows says that in Montreal, food is not just about eating, but also about culture. This view is put into bold words when he declares, In these pages we celebrate its (Montreals) love affair with food (80). The fact that Bellows calls the article a celebration reveals this was no hum-drum assignment. After reading the full article, one can see the author is in love with Montreal. He knows his facts, and has even included first person perspectives on the city. The fact that the author took the time to interview these people speaks a lot about the quality and depth of not only the article, but the magazine itself. The writing style of Big World varies, because of the many categories in which people can choose to write, some trendy and some more serious. Writing style coincides with audience because the audience is diverse in culture, income level, and age. A shared element among the articles is that they are all first-person accounts. Two main articles, A School to Stop the Coal, and Succumbing to Starbucks Allure are stories focusing on a specific matter while relating it to a larger issue. While the story on coal is present-tense, the Starbucks story is written mostly in past tense. Both stories are personal. For example, A School to Stop the Coal focuses on a group called the Wayuu and includes conversations between the author and a child in the group. The author of Succumbing to Starbucks Allure, a native of China, speaks about personal experiences in China, and includes details down to what one of her waiters wore on a specific day. Both stories focus on a larger issue as well. While the story on coal focuses on the Wayuu, it also discusses their place in the world, and why their culture feels threatened. The Starbucks story focuses on the trend of adopting aspects of Western culture, but also speaks about the underlying issues of this. The submission guidelines also reveal the diversity of the writing style of Big World. There are eleven categories writers can submit to, all related to travel/the world. One can see there is one thing the editors really do not want to see: articles within the how-to genre. Other than that, they are open to almost any first-person story involving travel, culture, and the world. Why Do I believe I could Write for these Publications? I believe I would be a good candidate to write in one of these magazines because I am willing to do the research necessary to keep my articles up-to-date. I am a traveler at heart, and I would go practically anywhere to conduct research for an assignment. To write for Traveler, I would need to adapt to a more up-beat environment, and stay on top of things. It would not be easy to write for a publication so well-known, but I believe I have the vocabulary and style necessary to contribute. Big World might be an easier starting point for a writer because it is a newer publication, always looking for more writers. The stories are personal and meaningful, and I have no doubt I could write a top-notch story for this publication.

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Works Cited

DAmbrosio, Mary. Big World Magazine. Big World Multimedia LLC, 2012. Web. September 17-20, 2012. Grescoe, Taras. A Taste of Montreal. National Geographic Traveler. June/July 2012: 79-101. Print. Krebs, Michael. Big World Magazine launch proves the world is not flat. Digital Journal. 2012. Web. September 17-20, 2012. Multiple Authors. Summer at the Lake. National Geographic Traveler. June/July 2012: 57-66. Print. National Geographic Traveler. 2012. Web. September 17-20, 2012.

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