Editor Interview: Adventure Cyclist

bicycle travel stories

The New Yorker, Atlantic Monthly, Mother Jones

P.G. Wodehouse, JRR Tolkien, Anton Chekhov, Arthur C. Clark, Harlan Ellison, Philip K Dick, Umberto Eco, William James, Bertrand Russell and too many others to mention.

Not many other publications do what we do. Many cover cycling in general, but non focus on bicycle travel and touring, on or off road.

Write a compelling bike-travel story and back it up with excellent action photos, not scenic snap shots that we can get from any stock photo house. Since almost all of our articles are location related, do a bit or research and don't submit materials or queries about an area we've recently covered.

The story makes readers want to replicate the trip themselves. It includes compelling story telling, valuable travel information, and excellent photos, including possible cover shots.

They assume they've stumbled on to something that few others have and that we're short on materials to publish. We've been publishing Adventure Cyclist magazine for over 30 years. We publish less than 5% of materials that come to us so people shouldn't assume because they took a bike trip and wrote about it that we're interested in publishing it.

A cover letter isn't necessary but publication credits matter. We print a bio for each person we publish so basic info is required.

It depends on various factors but I can usually tell within the first few paragraphs or by the end of the first page.

It is read by me first. If I like it, I pass it on to various people to get their feedback.

We are a very small staff and producing 9 issues of Adventure Cyclist magazine takes up most of our time. We only accept queries and submissions between June 1 and Oct. 31. During that time, we're focused on production because we've already contracted materials for an entire volume. Between June 1 and Oct. 31, we're still in production but we eliminate submissions we're not interested in and focus on the ones we are. It's then a matter of constant communications with the writers and photographers to make sure their story is the best it can be.