Our publishing process is unique and simple - we will lead you to a succesful publication, step by step, always keeping you up to date on your progress and the next task.
1. You apply
Please fill out the application form. We want to make sure you have a well-defined concept and there is a market for your guide.
2. Follow the steps
After you submit the application form, you will be directed to your profile page. This page will contain a new section with the next steps. Just follow the steps in the given order. In Step 2, you will choose your web publishing option. Web publishing is optional. In Step 3, we will present you our publishing agreement.
3. Write your guide
After you have chosen your web publishing option and accepted our publishing agreement, we will set up our system for you. When we are done, you will see a new link to your starting page in Step 5 on your profile page. Please contact us if the link does not appear within 48 hours. While you wait, check our video tutorials! Once the link is there, open the starting page. You enter your content directly on this website. You do not need to do any design, but it would be good if you have a decent photo for most articles/listings. You can use Creative Commons photos as well. To get started, simply click on 'Add Something' on the starting page.
4. We produce the app and eBook
Simply send us the table of contents when you are done (see Step 5 on your profile page). We then produce the app and eBook directly from the content on the website, and distribute them to iTunes, iBookstore, Amazon Kindle and other eBook stores. This step only takes a couple of days.
5. You earn royalties
We pay you on a quarterly basis and send you sales reports wherever available. We pay you in U.S. Dollars - via cheque, bank transfer or PayPal.
Get started: Apply now!
Itinerary-style guides lead users through a destination by suggesting a certain visiting sequence. This applies to suggested itineraries, walks and tours. Itineraries are highly recommended, because they release the user from the burdon of trip planning. They also allow writers to focus on the most important listings, without having to include less important sections and entries.
Note: If the below sounds complicated, simply take a look at our example.
1. Get started
- Go to the 'Walks, Tours & Itineraries' section in your destination.
- Click on 'Add Something' and add a new listing for each day of the itinerary or each walk/tour. Use names such as Day 1 of 3 Day Itinerary or Chinatown Walk.
2. Enter main itinerary texts
Enter your main itinerary texts into these newly added pages. These texts should not include all the details for the individual places. Instead, they serve as summaries that list all places in the suggested sequence, with some highlights for each place. Also add a few photos of highlights to these pages. Place the map marker on the starting point for the day.
3. Enter individual listings
For each place in your main itinerary texts, add a new listing under the respective section (e.g. Attractions under 'See', Hotels under 'Sleep', Restaurants under 'Eat', etc.). Remember to add a description, opening hours, costs, etc. on the listing pages, and locate them on the map. Also add a photo for each place. You may use Creative Commons photos.
4. Link itinerary to listings
Go back to your main itinerary texts and add links to the individual places. That's it!
Users will be able to follow the tour by reading the main itinerary text and clicking on the links. The linked pages provide more information for the individual places and locate them on the map, thus informing the user where to go. Please see our example.
Once you are familiar with the process, it may be faster to start with the individual listings (3.) and then only compose the main itinerary texts (2.). In this way, you can immediately add the links (4.) in one go.
The above process should be used when you choose our recommended web publishing Option A (Integration).
If you choose Option B or C, we will provide you with a new environment that does not have any sections. You may then add a section for your itineraries and additional sections for places to see, stay, eat, etc. You can then follow the above process accordingly.
Alternatively, you may also add a new section for each walk or day of the itinerary (as opposed to a listing in the general 'Walk, Tours & Itineraries' section). If you do this, each walk will have its own entry in the menu. You can then add each place that you mention in the main walk/itinerary text directly as a listing in the same section. This only works with web publishing options B or C.
Adding content to your guide is easy, and you do it directly on our website. We produce the app and eBook directly from the content on the website.
QUICK START
- Open any page of your guide (e.g. from the link on your profile page) and click on 'Add Something' (located above the map).
- Add Sections, Listings and Articles: Just enter the title and click the appropriate button. A new page will be created and open.
Note: You cannot add listings and articles on the 'Travel Guide' page of a destination directly. Add a section first, and then click on 'Add Something' on the section page.
- On the new page, click the 'Add description' button and enter your text.
- Click on 'Upload Photo' (located above the map) to add photos. Always enter a meaningful photo description.
VIDEO TUTORIALS (all the details)
1. How our guides are structured
Our guides are organized in sections, articles and listings. Click on 'Add Something' to add one of these.
The main 'Travel Guide' Section of any destination shall be used for an introduction to the city or country. It serves as a landing page for your users, and has links to the other sections.
For this reason, you can also not add articles and listings to the 'Travel Guide' Section directly.
Instead, you need to add another section first, and add articles and listings to this section.
You should use sections like chapter headings in a book. Check the sections in our Singapore Guide as examples (Travel Guide,
Getting in, Hotels, Sights, etc.).
How to add sections (Tutorial 1)
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How to add articles and listings (Tutorial 2)
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Listings are points of interest that can be placed on a map, for example places to see, eat, sleep, walks & tours, etc.
To add a listing, click on 'Add Something', select the type and enter the listing's name. Each listing belongs to a section, so add the section first.
Articles are listed below the main section text. Articles do not have a map location and no quick facts (e.g. no opening hours, no costs, etc.).
To add an article, click on 'Add Something' and enter the article title. As with listings, each article belongs to a section - add the section first.
2. How to add your texts and photos
A new page will be created for every article, listing and section. You enter your description text directly on these pages.
Click on the blue 'Add description' button to enter your description text. You can also upload photos and videos.
To edit the quick facts (e.g. opening hours, costs) for listings, click directly on the (empty) field.
Place the listing on the map by dragging the map marker to the correct position. Be as precise as possible. When you are done, don't forget to click 'Save'.
You may also add quick reviews by clicking on the link.
How to add descriptions (Tutorial 3)
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How to add quick facts and maps (Tutorial 4)
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You should also enter a description text for the section pages. This text shall provide an overview for the respective section.
On the main 'Travel Guide' page, write an introduction to the city as a whole (see e.g. Introduction to Singapore,
Eating or Sightseeing).
Simply click on the blue 'Add description' button on the section pages, and add hyperlinks within this text to other articles and listings where appropriate.
How to add photos (Tutorial 5)
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How to select photos (Tutorial 6)
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Some people have reported problems with fonts and formats when they copy texts directly from Word. One way to avoid this is to copy your texts to Notepad first.
Then copy&paste from Notepad into the description field.
You can format your texts with headlines, lists, bold and italics directly in the description field.
See this example of a text with H1-style headlines.
3. FOR ADVANCED USERS: Multiple destinations and how to add districts
Some guides cover multiple destinations, e.g. a country guide covers multiple cities. The information below does not apply if you cover only a single city.
If you write a guide with multiple destinations, make sure that you are on the correct destination page before you add anything.
We have continents, countries, regions and cities.
You will find links to the sub-destinations (e.g. cities in a country) in the middle of the parent page.
If you are adding an article that covers multiple destinations, always add it to the next higher level.
For example, an article that covers Berlin and Munich should be added to Germany.
How to add districts (Tutorial 7)
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You may also add districts if needed. For example, you may add a disctrict 'East Malaysia' to Malaysia or a district 'Chinatown' to San Francisco.
To do this, click on 'Add Something' and then on 'Add a District'.
If you have further questions, please check the other FAQ here on this page. If you can't find the answer, please ask in the forum of our Writers' Café.
Use the Telephone field in the quick facts to enter a telephone number for a listing.
If telephone numbers are not formatted corerectly, they will not work on the iPhone.
Please strictly follow these guidelines:
- Enter only the telephone number, without any explanations or any other description.
- Enter only digits "0" to "9" and the "+" sign, e.g. "+49 30 123456". Do not use any other symbols.
- Enter numbers that can be dialled as they are given. Numbers in the format "+49 (0)30 123456" will not work.
- Enter only one (1) telephone number in this field. If you have multiple telephone numbers, you can mention them in the text. But there can be only one number in the field.
No, of course not.
We will provide you with a link where you can compose your guide. On that page, you may see a list of regions and cities. For example, the page for your "France Food Guide" will have a list of regions and cities in France, but you do not need to add content to all of them. Just pick the regions and cities where you want to add content. You can also add your general articles (e.g. on French cuisine) directly to the France page.
Your app and eBook will only include places and pages where you have added content, other cities and regions will not appear.
Rather than a general rule, the number of articles and listings should be determined by your type of guide and destination. All our publication formats are well-suited for short guides with a limited number of entries as well as for guides with hundreds of listings.
For traditional guides with sections for places to see, eat, sleep, etc., we usually suggest to include at least 80 listings and articles. This would make it a "Best Of" kind of guide. 100-200+ articles/listings would be better for a comprehensive guide that can sell at a higher price.
Typically, itinerary-style guides can have fewer listings.
There is no word limit for articles and listings. Browse through our Singapore Guide for some examples.
How can I include photos?
You can (and should) include photos for sections, articles and listings. Click on Upload Photo above the map to add photos.
How to add photos
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How to select photos
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You do not need a photo for every entry, but the entries in the app will look better with a photo. If an entry does have a photo, we use a small thumbnail in the section overview screens of the app. If the entry does not have a photo, we use an unobstrusive placeholder instead.
See the screenshot below. The listing for Hotel Arcata does not have a photo, therefore the app shows the placeholder image. Compare that to the listing for Curly Redwood Lodge, which has a photo.
Hotel Arcata does not have a photo, therefore the app shows a placeholder image.
You may also use photos under a Creative Commons License from sites like Flickr or Wikimedia Commons. If the license requires it, do enter the author's name and license information in the Attribution field when uploading photos. Use the sample format provided for the attribution field.
You can upload multiple images for the website. The first image that you upload will automatically become the main image, and will be displayed as the header image at the top of the page. The header image may be cropped at the top and bottom. You should therefore use an image that has the main part in its (vertical) center. If you want to set another image as the main image, you can do so by clicking on Use as main image on the photo page. Contact us if this link does not appear for you.
The main image will also be used for the eBook. We will use the complete (uncropped) version for the eBook. The eBook will only have one image per article.
You can include one image for each entry in the app. Check the iPhone box below the photo on the photo page to include the image in the app. If you select multiple photos, only one will be chosen.
To upload a video, click on Upload Video. Videos will only be displayed on the website. Currently, videos are not included in the app or eBook.
You can now also insert images inside the description text. See how.
What resolution should the photos have?
Always upload your photos in the highest resolution available to you. Good quality photos should have a file size of at least 1MB, and more than 2000 pixels along the longer side. We will automatically reduce the file size to achieve fast download times, so you do not need to worry about big file sizes.
Can I add links to external websites?
You can add links to external websites in the special External Resources section in the right column. External links will be displayed on the website and in the app.
Think twice before adding links, and only add links of high relevancy (e.g. to the official website of the place). Every external link may also imply that a visitor will leave your site. In doubt, you should rather include the information on the page than linking to another website.
Can I update my guide once published?
You can update your guide at any time on the website. However, these updates will only appear in the app and eBook when a new edition is released, which we typically do after 12 months.
We are working on an automatic update functionality for the app, but currently do not have a release date yet.
No. You can lock all your articles and listings. This means that no one can edit them until you unlock them again.
However, you may choose to keep some articles and listings unlocked. This gives other users the chance to update facts (e.g. opening hours, costs, etc.) and to correct typos. It also enables you to build up a community around your content. You need to apply to make a guide to lock your pages.
The above only applies to web publishing options A and B. With web publishing option C ("no web publishing"), others have no access to your content on the web, and can therefore also not edit it.
