- River Hills Traveler

About River Hills Traveler

Contact Info | Advertising Rates | Freelance Guidelines| History

Contact Information

Advertising and Subscriptions

Publisher - Emery Styron, Phone 800-874-8423, Ext. 1
Advertising inquiries and general information

Assistant Editor - Jo Schaper, Phone 800-874-8423, Ext. 2
Billing or subscription inquiries and address changes

Phone: 800-874-8423
Mail: P.O. Box 220, Valley Park, MO 63088-0220
Fax: 800-874-8423
Email: circ@rhtrav.com

Editorial Content

Editor - Emery Styron
Questions or comments about stories or editorial suggestions

Phone: 800-874-8423
Mail: P.O. Box 220, Valley Park, MO 63088-0220

Advertising Rates
Deadlines
Traveler is printed 11 times a year. (January and February are combined into a vacation planning issue.) Advertising deadlines are generally the 15th.

Rates

LOCAL DISPLAY ADS

Double Truck - $1,172 (20.5 wide by 15.5 deep)
Full page - $625 (10 wide by 15.2 deep)
Half page - $341 (10 wide by 7.75 deep)
3/8ths page - $276 (10 wide by 6 deep or 7.4 by 7.75)
1/4th page - $185 (10 wide by 3.9 deep or 4.9 by 7.75)
16th page - $131 (4.9 wide by 5,9 deep)
1/8th page - $105 (4.9 wide by 3.9 deep)
1/16th page - $62 (4.9 wide by 1.9 deep or 2.4 by 3.9)

DISCOUNTS: 10% ads for 3 consecutive insertions, 15% discount for 6 consecutive insertions. 20% for full year (11 consecutive insertions)

PROCESS COLOR: 1/16-1/8 page $35; 1/6-1/4 page $50, 1/2 page or larger $100

CLASSIFIED DISPLAY (Business card size, back pages)

1 month - $29 per month
3 or more - $26 per month ($75)
6 or more - $23 per month ($135)
Year - $21 per month 11 months. ($214.50)
Multiple spaces: 20 per cent off each additional space.

ADS WITH TRAVEL MAPS

Your location is noted on the travel map. Most maps run nine months, Feburary through October. Ads may be placed for whole season or by the month. Prices are for months ordered at the same time.

Whole Season, February through October, $369.
First month - $53
Second month - $48 - - - ($101 for two months)
Third month - $46 - - - ($147 for three months)
Fourth month - $44 - - - ($191 for four months)
Fifth month - $42 - - - ($233 for five months)
Sixth month - $38 - - - ($271 for six months)
Seventh month - $34 - - - ($305 for seven months)
Eighth month - $32 - - - ($337 for eight months)
Ninth month - $32 - - - ($369 for 9 months)

Multiple spaces: 20% off additional spaces

For additional information or to place an ad, call 1-800-874-8423. Most credit cards accepted.

Transferring Files
Traveler maintains an ftp site for uploading of large files such as ad layouts and art. Call for details if you need to use the site.

Freelance Guidelines
Topics, writing styles:
We prefer stories that are specific to our area. Who, what, where, how, HERE! ("Here" is the east and central Missouri Ozarks.)

We prefer stories that relate an ADVENTURE that either causes a reader to relive a past adventure of his own, or to consider embarking on a similar adventure. By ADVENTURE, we mean active and new. Think of an adventure in camping or cooking — not just fishing and hunting. How-to is great, but as an adventurous example, not simple instructions.We LIKE "Me and Joe" type stories. We do use an occasional armchair piece concerning an issue. But by far we prefer an active story.

The general objection to first-person reporting is that it is easy to cross the line from reporting to bragging. On the other hand, it is awkward and difficult to convey emotion in third-person reports. We encourage good first-person reporting.

Taboos:
We routinely change "Coleman lantern" to "gasoline lantern". Don't name-drop brands in Traveler stories. Likewise, don't drop the names of suppliers, outfitters or resorts unless they fit naturally into the story. Our stories may sell Coleman lanterns, canoe float trips and a night's lodging, but that is not their purpose. Tell the reader about the ADVENTURE in a non-commercial way. If he cares to repeat it, he can find the supplies, outfitters and lodging in the ads we carry.

Having said that, however, I should also point out that a story concerning a place where we have advertisers or an activity using advertised products is going to be more interesting to us. We sometimes use stories that are about products, whether or not they are advertised.

Compensation, deadlines:
Traveler is published 11 times a year, generally on the last Monday of the month. Deadline is about the 15th, but unsolicited material should arrive sooner.

We don't pay well. Certainly not what its worth. Stories earn from $15 to $50 - usually $35. Photos earn $15 more and can sell the story. Cover photos earn $35. (NOTE: If you have seen what you consider a good pay schedule, we'd appreciate a copy of it.)

On the other hand, the market area we reach is limited and stories can often be resold. We buy one-time print rights. We prefer first rights, but consider reprints when previous versions have not been published in our market area. (St. Louis and the southeast quarter of Missouri)

Mechanics:
1200 words is about the maximum length considered. Shorter is better.

Electronic submissions: The simplest and best way to send us a story is to email it. Simply copy the story from your word processor and paste it into the e-mail itself. It arrives as text, which we can use directly in our page layout program. There is no conflict with our Macintosh system if you paste your story into your email.
Whatever your format, name, mailing address and phone or email should appear on or in the document.
Leading with a line or two about the nature of the story is a good idea. Like everyone else, we are very busy and may not get around to reading your story in a reasonable time if we don't have some idea what it is about.

If you prefer to attach a story to e-mail, we can accept most Macintosh word processor documents. We can convert most — but not all — Windows files to Macintosh. MS Word or ASCII text in Times, Times New Roman, Helvetica or Arial are the best choices. We discourage fancy symbols, or fancy formatting --something as simple as a Windows 1/2 symbol turns up as a Greek letter on the Mac. Better to avoid them, or tell us what it is, if it is absolutely necessary. If in doubt, save as "text" and send as part of the email.

We strongly discourage typewritten stories unless you have no other method. They should be double spaced in a plain typeface. They will be electronically scanned rather than rekeyboarded, so dog-eared copy will be rejected without reading. Number the pages and put your name on each page.

We do not return manuscripts, so keep a copy for yourself. We generally follow AP style. If you know it, use it; if not, don't worry.

Digital photos: We prefer to receive good digital photos. We use photos in jpeg or tiff formats. For best results, set your computer to never compress jpegs more than 10% from original size. Images should be a minimum of 300 dpi at 4x6 or 5x7 inches. (Exceptions allowed for smaller, historic photos.)

For instance, if you have a photo that is 20 inches wide at 72 dpi, it would convert to a photo 7.4 inches wide at 200 dpi. (Take the width of the photo at 72 dpi and divide by 2.7 and that will tell you how wide it will be at 200 dpi.)

If you are math-challenged, total photo file size should be between 1 and 4 MB, sharp and well exposed for best results. Don't worry if the photo seems very large. We can reduce it, but can't enlarge it.) Tip: Many servers limit the size of emails they'll transmit. You may have to send several emails with a single picture each if you are sending multiple photos. Our server cannot accept email plus attachment larger than 10MB. Story images do not need to be this large. Have a good, but large cover shot? Call for ftp instructions.

Paper photos: We can use black and white or sharp color prints. We try to return them promptly after we've scanned them. We cannot deal with slides or negatives. Please have prints made.

History of Traveler
River Hills Traveler was started in 1973 by Bob and Pat Todd. Bob had been working for the Cape Girardeau Southeast Missourian for a number of years, running the Jackson Bureau. Bob and Pat had a dream of starting a paper such as Traveler, but it might never have happened had he and the Missourian not parted company. With limited journalism employment opportunities in the Cape Girardeau/Jackson area, they were faced with relocating to find another job. So why not give Traveler a try?

The idea for Traveler came from another publication, the Ozark Graphic, created by Bill and Rocky Royce at Doniphan. It started out somewhat like Traveler, but was devoted pretty strictly to the lower Current River valley. Eventually it evolved into a local Doniphan paper, but before it did, it had planted a seed. Bob and Pat wanted to do their own "Graphic", with its own name.

"River Hills" has two meanings. The region of the eastern Ozarks along the Mississippi River - inland for about 30 miles - is known as the River Hills. Traveler was based there when it began and it had a regional outlook. So River Hills was a logical name. "Rivers" and "Hills" were also words that describe what Traveler covers. It is about places, mainly rivers and hills.

"Traveler" is a time-honored name for a publication - same as Post, or Journal. Many have had "traveler" as part of their name. But it is especially appropriate for River Hills Traveler since the publication is about travel in the rivers and hills of this region.

When it became clear that the Royces - friends of the Todds - were not going to expand the Ozark Graphic to regional coverage, the Todds laid claim to all of southeastern Missouri as Traveler Country.

They found themselves forever traveling to or through the Piedmont region. So in 1984, they moved Traveler to Piedmont to become more centrally located.

THE FUTURE
The River Hills Traveler came under new ownership Sept. 1, 2006, with purchase of the business by Emery and Virginia Styron.

Emery grew up in Granby in Newton County and Virginia hails from Chesapeake in nearby Lawrence County. Emery graduated from the University of Missouri School of Journalism in 1972 and has been in the newspaper field since that time including working as a reporter, editor, ad manager and publisher in Louisiana, Wentzville, Granby and Harrisonville, Mo., and Mt. Pleasant, Ia.

Virginia is a graduate of Southwest Missouri State University (now Missouri State) and has been a elementary teacher, coach and guidance counselor throughout her career, as well as working in the newspaper business.

The Styrons are delighted to be back in the publishing business in Missouri. They intend to continue the Traveler's strong focus on enjoyment of Missouri's beautiful outdoors through all kinds of activities including fishing, floating, canoeing, hunting, hiking, camping and wildlife-watching. They will be looking to add more human interest, color photos and content to attract young readers.