Hey, thanks to all the ladies that told me about this new book! Seal Press is publishing a book by women about traveling solo. I think that’s great because it seems that every where I go, whether speaking on a panel or at a bookstore reading– this is a hot topic. And nobody knows this better than Seal Press. Their adventura series has a great collection on this theme.
The new book is called Go Your Own Way, and it’s going to be edited by Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick, and Christina Henry de Tessan. It follows their previous book, A Woman Alone (2001). That would be a good book to study to see what Seal Press likes, but their full submission details and story topics their looking for follow.
Good luck everybody! I know there are lots of you out there that have stories to share. And don’t be shy about it if you’ve never been published. Seal Press, like Traveler’s Tales, is a great place to get your feet wet. Have at it!
GO YOUR OWN WAY
An essay collection by women writers on traveling solo
Edited by Faith Conlon, Ingrid Emerick, and Christina Henry de Tessan
We are seeking original, personal stories by women on the experience of traveling alone – the highs, the lows, and everything in between – in all corners of the globe.
Go Your Own Way is intended as a companion volume to our popular
collection of travel essays, A Woman Alone published in 2001. The success of that book proved our original hunch, that women are eager to find their experiences reflected in the pages of travel books. Women of all generations are traveling more freely and independently than ever before, but our personal stories are just beginning to be told. We hope that Go Your Own Way will inspire and intrigue readers to head out on their own adventures, from river rafting in Nigeria to café hopping in Buenos Aires.
We are looking for essays that evoke a rich sense of place and present a strong narrative arc. Traveling alone as a woman can be thrilling and liberating, it can also be challenging and occasionally terrifying (if only momentarily). We are interested in stories that might reveal an insight, provide a glimpse into another culture, offer advice – in
short, writing that informs, intrigues, and inspires. Humor is welcome, of course – the recounting of travel disasters survived and surmounted is a perennial favorite.
Like our previous book, we wish to include stories that span the world. While we will not rule out essays that explore travel in the United States, we are primarily interested – and want to encourage – the experience of global travel, especially in our post-9/11 world.
SAMPLE TOPICS· Finding your groove: How you travel differently on your own.
· Travel in a post-9/11 world: What new issues arise today that didn’t five years ago?
· Issues specific to traveling alone as a woman: overcoming fear and others’ expectations.
· An incident that was harder or easier solo than you expected it to be.
· Leaving the family behind (don’t touch that cell phone!).
· Cross-cultural experiences that you may not have had if youhadn’t been alone.
· The particular joys and freedoms that come with solo travel.
· Visiting the same place alone/with someone else: How you interact differently with the people in a given place.
· Lessons learned: first-time solo vs. experienced solo.
· Travel misadventures and lessons learned.
EDITORS: Faith Conlon was previously publisher of Seal Press and is now a freelance writer and editor. She is the co-editor of two previous books of travel essays, Gifts of the Wild: A Woman’s Book of Adventure and A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe. Her most recent book is I Wanna Be Sedated: 30 Writers on Parenting Teenagers, which she co-edited with Gail Hudson. Ingrid Emerick is a former senior editor of Seal Press and the co-editor of two published books of travel essays, Gifts of the Wild: A Woman’s Book of Adventure and A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe, where her essay on traveling solo in Ireland appears. She is currently working as a freelance editor. Christina Henry de Tessan is currently senior editor of Pulse Guides’ Night+Day series. She is the author of City Walks Paris, City Walks San Francisco, and City Walks Chicago, editor of Expat: Women’s True Tales of Life Abroad, and co-editor of A Woman Alone: Travel Tales from Around the Globe.
PUBLISHER: Seal Press, an imprint of Avalon Publishing Group, Inc.
DEADLINE: May 15, 2006
LENGTH: 1,500-4,000 words
FORMAT: Essays must be typed, double-spaced, and paginated. Please include your address, phone number, email address, and a short bio on the last page. Essays will not be returned.
SUBMITTING: Electronic submissions are preferred. Send essay electronically as a Word or Rich Text Format file (with .doc or .rtf extension) to solotravelcollection@hotmail.com. Put “GO YOUR OWN WAY†in the subject line. If email is not possible, mail the essay to
Go Your Own Way Editors
1000 N. Northlake Way, Suite G
Seattle, WA 98103.
Please direct any inquiries to solotravelcollection@hotmail.com.
PAYMENT: $150 plus two books
REPLY: Please allow until September 1 for a response.