Paris Eiffel Tower News: travel writers wanted!

Travel Writers Wanted!

Dear Fellow Writer,

Thank you for your interest in our Writers Wanted ad.

First, a bit of background information:

Paris Eiffel Tower News is all about helping other people to discover Paris, giving them a whiff of Parisian life, and - hopefully - bringing them really helpful information to prepare for their next trip to the French capital.

Our web site is maintained by a community of writers and editors who love Paris, live or have lived in Paris, and are more than happy to contribute their time, talents, and creative ideas to make the site richer and richer in contents.

After a year and a half of existence, we found we had to write an increasing number of articles to satisfy our readership (we have a free subscription-based newsletter). With the number we are, we simply can't keep up with the many exhibitions and a myriad of other interesting events which occur every week in Paris!

So we asked our sponsor to increase their sponsorship, and allow us to hire other talents: writers and photographers.

Hence the ad you saw.

What are we looking for? How could you help us?

There are many kinds of articles you could contribute to our site. Here are but a few examples:

Articles about Parisian monuments from a historical or architectural perspective
Articles about a personal experience which took place in a certain area, and of which you made special memories
Articles describing particular streets, buildings, squares, churches, etc.
Articles about local people you met and with whom you had great connections
Articles about (perennial) shops you are particularly fond of
Articles about restaurants where you had a terrific dining experience
Articles about exhibitions you went to, museums you visited
Articles about famous people who lived in Paris
Articles about Paris hotels you stayed at
Other brilliant ideas you might have!

All these possibilities come under two broad categories:

Things you saw, lived, and write about
Things you research, and write about

Our favorites are what we call "research" and "objective" articles, vs. "subjective" ones.

If you tell a story about you, that may be a great story, but something of relatively small value to other people, because they won't be able to perceive physically what you saw, heard, felt and experienced. This kind of article is "subjective".

On the contrary, if you describe something anybody else can see and touch, you have an "objective story", a "research article". And these are the ones we are after.

Do you need to have been in Paris to write about Paris?

Yes, we think so. We believe you need to have at least visited Paris, and got a feeling for the city to write about it. If you lived in Paris, all the better. All of us have, so we are looking for writers with a Parisian experience.

How do we select articles? What will we pay you?

Paris Eiffel Tower News editors select articles based on five basic guidelines:

interest we find the story to have for our readers,
thoroughness of the research you undertook
correctness of English grammar
richness / accuracy of your vocabulary
timeliness of article if the subject is of a temporary nature such as an exhibition.

There are two basic rules: we want to give quality information to our readership, and we retain sole discretion over which stories we publish.

As described in our ad, we pay $4 to $10 per article, depending on style and quality. In fact, we can pay a bit more, up to $25 per article if it's good and fully researched. We may pay more, but we live on a budget, and our pockets are not deep. So if you feel your talent is being underpaid, tell us at how much you value your story - and we'll see whether we can buy it or not. There is no obligation on your part, none on ours.

If you research a subject heavily, and believe a higher fee is in order, please let us know what you intend to write about, how many words you are aiming at writing, and how much you believe you'll want for it. We'll try to tell you beforehand if we are interested.

What format should an article have? Any other editing guidelines?

A story can be 100-word long, it can be 250-word long, it can be 500-word long, it can be any length you want. If we are interested, we'll publish it.

Because we publish on the web, certain keywords are to be used in the copy of an article to allow it to be found and indexed by search engines. We will impose the use of certain keyword combinations.

Lastly, never submit to us anything defamatory, heinous, written in terms so general it cannot help anybody, racially prejudiced, or things of the same nature.

That's all!

Where will you be published? Can we edit your writing? Will your very own name be quoted?

When your articles are selected, you will be published on Paris Eiffel Tower News, and quite possibly on our network of partner sites. Our goal is to allow a (very) large crowd of people to discover Paris, and so your articles may be re-published on other sites which give visibility to our site. Please note: our sponsor does not pay royalties. Whether any of your articles is published only on Paris Eiffel Tower News or on 200 other websites, each article is purchased only once.

To the second question, we say YES! Your article may be edited, cut short, corrected, etc. We publish as we see fit, along the five guidelines mentioned above.

And lastly, in regards to mentioning your name: on Paris Eiffel Tower News, your name will always be quoted (unless you forbid us to do so). On partner sites, we'll try to have your name quoted as much as possible, in a format similar to "first-name last-name, writer for Paris-Eiffel-Tower-News.com").

How many articles do we need?

In fact, as many as our monthly budget allows. We are looking for long-term relationships with fellow writers.

What specific subjects may be of interest to us?

This is a temporary short list of topics we are interested in. This list will change over time. Please bookmark this page, and come back to it regularly later on.

Specific topics

Arc de triomphe

Invalides

Eiffel Tower

Saint Germain des Pres

Paris metro

Ile de France

Place de la Concorde

Louvre museum

Louvre pyramid

Orsay museum

Paris nightlife

Rue du commerce

Champs Elysees

Notre Dame de Paris

Place de la Bastille

Paris Opera

General topics

Statues

Streets

Buildings

Quaint museums

Known and unknown monuments

« Villages » in Paris (small quaint areas)

Hotels

Restaurants

Bridges

The River Seine

Historical research

Toponymy

Administrative guidance (how to obtain this document for this local administration, how to survive a specific department of the French administration, etc.)

Places where NOT to go, places NOT to be visited

Help on how to find your way around Paris

Other interesting and practical ideas you may have...

Frequently Asked Questions

Question: While I understand that Paris Eiffel Tower News has the right to edit my work as it sees fit, would I, as a writer, be able to withdraw a piece from consideration if for some reason I deem it necessary?

Answer: First of all, copyright law provides unequivocally that you, as the author, retain all intellectual rights in your work forever. Which means that if you don't like the result of an editing job, you can always say you don't want the piece to be published.

Our general approach to the editing task is as follows: we won't undertake the task of editing an essay we do not find interesting, and accurate enough to be informative. Our goal is not to edit articles, but to publish valuable information for the readership, and give it an exposure as broad as possible. As we are already overworked, the less time we spend editing an essay/article, the better we are.

So, once you submit an article and we like it, and we say "Yes!", we'll try to keep your writings as wholesome as possible, and publish them as-is. For reasons of space or "rythm", however, we might cut parts of it. As this only occurs after we commit ourselves to pay you, and as we really don't want to spend time working for nought, we'd rather not have to withdraw your piece once edited. Should you wish so, however, we'll consider that the deal never took place, and we won't publish the piece. But since we wish to invest our time wisely, we'll have a hard time accepting further submissions from you. "Too much botheration" as would say our beloved Chuck Berry.

Question: Would I retain copyright on this work? I do not care if Paris Eiffel Tower News reprints my work elsewhere, but I prefer to retain my right to publish my work elsewhere.

Answer: Yes, we do not purchase exclusive rights in your article. You will be free to republish your works as you wish, but not to execute a contract giving the new publisher exclusive rights over the piece (since you will already have sold us the rights to publish and re-print it).

Question: Could I give you the first publishing rights and maintain the rights to the story if an editor feels like publishing it in print media or elsewhere on the web?

Answer: You retain the rights to have the story or article published anywhere else. We only purchase the right to publish your story on Paris Eiffel Tower News and on partner sites.

So here you have it as we see it. If you are still interested in working with us, please fill out the following form, and submit it to us. Thank you!

Writer Application Form

First, check this box to show that you understand how we intend to work, and you accept these general terms.

When you submit any of your articles, we'll agree on a price for this specific article. And if we don't agree on a price, you remain entirely free not to allow us to publish it. It's a simple as that.

First Name:
Last Name:
E-mail Address:
Re-type E-mail Address:

Please tell us the topics you feel most comfortable with (use one line per topic):

Please tell us whether you like to write rather short (under 300 words) or rather lengthy features (500+ words):

300 words and less 500+ words

Please tell us how you see our collaboration develop:

A couple of articles at most A few articles Long-term, many articles

Tell us how you know Paris:

I live in Paris I used to live in Paris I visited Paris several times

I visited Paris once or twice I never was in Paris but I read a lot about it

Please tell us how you would prefer to be paid:

Through Paypal By wire transfer

Considering bank costs and the like, would you prefer to be paid:

One article after each other provided the payable amount is not too small

Several articles at a time, for a better money management