A lot of FWT stories are based on IFWTWA group press trips we take. That’s a great thing. But we do a limited number of those, and a lot of ground isn’t covered.
The guidance below is for stories based on press trips you take individually, or on self-funded travel and activities.
FWT’s editorial approach
We aim to become a distinctive, useful, entertaining publication for people who love to travel, eat, and drink. Given our members’ vast travel experience, geographic expertise, niche enthusiasms, and track record publishing for hundreds of websites, magazines, and books, there’s no reason FWT cannot become a top-tier outlet — a trusted source for readers and a respected outlet for PR representatives who promote food, wine, and travel clients.
We want our stories to be seen, and we encourage you to apply SEO best practices to your chosen topics and stories. But unlike many outlets, we are not obligated to maximize SEO for every post. We do not need to write listicles (though we can). We don’t need to publish “The 10 best places for families in Orlando” (though we can, but only if we can say, based on first-hand experience, that they really are the best).
This freedom from the constraints of many websites makes FWT a great outlet for writers — and a valued source of information for more discerning readers and travelers.
Food
Although “food” is in our name, FWT hasn’t published a lot of food-specific content. We’d like to change that. We have many “expert eaters” and knowledgeable food writers, and we need to take better advantage of them.
Here are some food story types to think about.
Restaurants
Our readers are travelers looking for straight talk about where to eat and what to order. Most restaurants have between 4.3 and 4.6 stars in public review banks — so people have no way to distinguish between them. Many listicles aren’t trustworthy; guidebooks are quickly dated. We can serve these readers various ways:
- One-off reviews that help readers know why a restaurant is worth their time and money.
- Your review should demonstrate your expertise, experience, or ability to create context and identify the telling details that characterize the place.
- Stories can focus on a single signature dish or kind of meal.
- If you can’t answer at least one of these questions “yes,” it’s probably not right for a one-off restaurant review.
- Does it represent some characteristic of its location, like local ingredients or techniques, or the area’s history, or culture?
- Is it a well-known restaurant or chef readers are likely to be curious about?
- Does it have a fascinating backstory?
- Does it represent a certain cuisine that people are likely to be curious about?
- Obscure or niche cuisines work best — Alabama coastal rather than Southern, Nepalese rather than Italian.
- Is it led by a chef with a big personality, unusual background, or distinctive approach to food?
- Will readers have an experience that’s different from other restaurants offering similar cuisine?
- Well-reported roundups of a small group of restaurants that center on a theme or characteristic like those mentioned above.
- These must be selected and reported with a rigor beyond what you’ll find in thinly sourced listicles.
- You should have eaten at most or all of them.
- These can be collaborations with other writers.
Food events
- Tastings of exotic whiskeys, salsas, pizzas, game meat, etc.
- Food demos, seminars, and presentations by chefs or experts (but not with a cooking-at-home theme)
- Reports on chef’s meals or special dinners that are part of a press trip.
Other food topics
We want to publish stories that feed readers’ foodie fascinations. They want to understand food and become more informed eaters. Stories can include short items or features on on:
- Food trends or news, with a how-this-matters-to-you angle — lab-grown chicken in restaurants or the tinned fish trend, for example
- Interesting ingredients or food items — seasonal, emerging, regional, ethnic, or merely interesting — ramps, goetta sausage in Cincinnati, coconut bars in Cleveland, Detroit pizza
- Cultural context of food — the rise in Cambodian cuisine
- Restaurant concepts — automated sushi restaurants or hot pot restaurants, for example
- Restaurant dining experiences that illuminate the culture of kitchens, chefs, bars, and people
Note: We are not about home cooking.
Wine
Here’s another place where we haven’t published as much as visitors would expect for an online magazine with “wine” in its name. Our readers are discerning drinkers who, like many, may be intimidated by wine and want to learn more about it. They want more confidence when they order at restaurants and buy at a wine store. Stories can include:
- Reports from wine tastings or other events — vertical tastings, for example, or educational events
- Tasting room reviews, one or a cluster
- Well-informed, properly researched tastings of certain wines, whether guided or solo
- Visits to wineries that illuminate the places and personalities, and educate readers about the varieties and styles produced there
- Stories on varietals, based on your own tastings, experience, and ambitious research
- Visits to destination-worthy wine stores with unusually well-informed owners and managers
- Anything that demystifies the complex, baffling, and jargon-filled world of wine
Travel
Destinations
We want to cover the U.S. and the world with stories that motivate, inform, and entertain readers who like to travel. No place is off-limits. We need to be clear-eyed and level with our readers. We don’t want comprehensive guides, listicle highlights, or chronologies of a single visit. We won’t publish breathless raves. We’d love stories that:
- Take us places that aren’t over-covered by guidebooks and listicles — away from the big crowds and tourist infrastructure. They can feature single elements or a small selection of activities.
- Provide unique perspectives on, and on-the-ground observations about, more common or well-known experiences. These should provide frank advice for how to avoid the pitfalls and disappointments of these places.
- Tell great stories that illuminate the people, geography, history, or culture of an area.
- Think of these as magazine stories with a distinctive approach or point of view.
- They can result from unusual experiences you have.
- They should let you stretch out as a writer.
Straight chronologies that take readers through the experiences you had in the order you had them won’t work well.
Accommodations
- Reviews (or informed, reported short-list roundups) of distinctive or unique hotels and accommodations. Reviews of chain hotels — or resorts operated by international conglomerates — will not work, unless they offer something truly distinctive. Stories can be about places that:
- Have a unique history
- Demonstrate a certain characteristic people may care about — sustainability or accessibility, for example
- Reflect a hospitality trend (tiny rooms; robotic technology)
- Reflect the character of the larger destination
- Are an unusually good match for a specific kind of leisure traveler — solo, budget, family, eco, etc.
Attractions
Stories can feature individual attractions or round-ups. Round-ups should feature seven or fewer items, and be based on your own experiences and on-the-ground observations.
- Restaurants and wineries, per the above
- Less-covered and -publicized activities and attractions
- Unusual perspectives, and/or well reported stories, on common attractions
- Attractions that reflect the history or culture of an area
- Personality-driven attractions — small museums or stores that are passion projects of charismatic or inspired people
- Under-promoted attractions that serve some group of travelers unusually well
A local’s tour
We’re looking for stories written about the places you live (or spend a lot of time). These stories will provide unique insights that come from living in a place for a long time. They should be frank and opinionated.
- They could be stories that report the places you actually take people who come to visit you.
- These do not need to be comprehensive guidebook-style overviews of your hometown.
- The tone should be one of sharing secret ideas and insights that only people who live there can provide.
- You should feel free to warn people away from tourist traps and attractions that disappoint — we have no obligation to a tourism authority here, just to our readers.