Editor's Handbook: So you want to be an editor?
This is a high-level introduction to what being a Wikitravel Press editor is all about.Editors and their books
Wikitravel Press is always looking for editors who are familiar with Wikitravel, who are very familiar with their target city or region, and who are enthusiastic about writing and putting out the best book they can. You do not need professional editorial or writing qualifications, and it's entirely feasible to work for WTP in your spare time: creating the book requires some effort, but updating it is quite painless.
For the guidebooks, all of Wikitravel is your oyster, but at present, the Press are focusing on two types:
- City guides cover a single, large, districted city, plus perhaps some notable destinations in the immediate vicinity.
- Region guides cover a number of destinations that form a coherent whole.
The guidebook must incorporate maps, either hand-drawn or (preferably) from OpenStreetMap. If the city or region you want to work on does not have maps yet, you will need to commit to creating them; see Wikitravel: How to create a map.
Both types of guides can include a reference section (extracted from the article of the country the city is in) and a phrasebook (if the local language is not English).
Working for Wikitravel Press
There are two stages in the life of a Wikitravel Press guidebook.
The first part is creating the guidebook. This means:
- filling up any gaps in coverage
- copyediting and tightening the prose
- compiling the articles together with Yucca, our Web-based book creation engine, and
- tweaking the markup so that the book prints beautifully.
Once you are happy with the way it looks as a PDF, we will ship you a paper copy for proofreading, and once you're happy with that, the book goes on sale.
Once the book goes on sale, the updates start. Typically, the editor commits to doing monthly updates of the book for a renewable period of one year. For each update, you have to verify and clean up all edits made to the Wikitravel articles since last month and then recompile the book. This rarely takes more than an hour, especially if you keep an eye on the articles anyway and quickly remove any vandalism.
Payment
Wikitravel Press currently pays editors on a royalty basis: you receive percentage of the profit for every book sold. The percentage and the book's sale price, and thus the profit margin, are individually agreed between Wikitravel Press and the editor based on the size, complexity and amount of effort needed for the book.
Wikitravel Press focuses on online sales, and the editor does not need to be involved in the day-to-day operations of this. However, promotion of the book by the editor can make very large difference to sales, and is strongly encouraged.
The editor may also choose to take up local distribution of the book to bookstores, gift shops, etc. Wikitravel Press can organize bulk print runs and will take only a nominal commission on cost; the rest of the sales proceeds are the editor's.
At this time, Wikitravel Press does not pay advances or expenses.
Interested?
If this sounds good to you, please send an email to proposals@wikitravelpress.com with the following information:
- Area the travel guide would cover, with links to Wikitravel articles for that area and present overall status
- Relevant experience in writing and editing
- Clippings or other writing samples
- Examples of experience working on Wikitravel or another Wiki web site
- Contact information
We look forward to you joining our team!
