Write for SnowSphere

Writer's Guidelines

What We Want
We are looking for articles about adventures off the beaten pistes, the more obscure the destination the better. In particular we'd like to hear about skiing and snowboarding in Asia, the Middle East, Africa, South America, Eastern Europe, Greenland, Iceland, Scandinavia, Russia, Turkey and Greece.

We are also looking for stories from the smaller, unknown resorts in Western Europe and North America but give us an interesting/unusual angle – for example, did you have it all to your self on a powder day, does it have a slush cup come spring, perhaps the slopes open 24 hours? Bear in mind that SnowSphere has a global readership, so what's local for you, is exotic for somebody living on the other side of the planet.

Fresh slants on well known destinations are also welcomed, but we will need something to set it apart from the same old stories that constantly appear in the mainstream media. Did you go back country and sleep in a snow cave in Whistler? Maybe you went cat skiing on the cheap in Andorra, or do you have a good story about your season in the Trois Vallées where you washed dishes all winter?

Have you ripped it up in a snow dome in Dubai or Tokyo, or a dry slope in England? Maybe there was just a freak snow storm in your town and everybody hit the local mole hill or had themselves a rail session at the local shopping centre?

We're interested in anything skiing or snowboarding related which is that little bit different, be it back country up Ben Nevis, cross country in the Arctic Circle, or catching big air on a glacier at the Iceland Park Project.

Got a quirky snow story that doesn't quite fit the descriptions so far? We love to read unusual stories with interesting slants. For example, articles we have published in the past include a story about a blind man learning to snowboard for a heli-drop and a guy who spent a season in Whistler – during their worst winter for 50 years. We are always open to new ideas, so get in touch if you think you’ve got a good one.

SnowSphere aims to capture the essence and adventure of the destination through writing. We don't do guide book reviews. We want to hear a personal account, including the interesting characters you met on the lift, the bizarre local specialties you ate, or your ‘old man of the mountains' back country guide.

What makes this place different from other places you've ridden? Why did you decide to go there? Build the story up, make us want to visit – we want a taste, a feel and a scent.

And lastly, drop a few facts in there. How did you get there? Was it expensive or a bargain? Where did you stay? What was the riding like? We like details.

Total word count for destination pieces should be from 1000-2000 words, and sent as a word file document.

What We Don't Want
SnowSphere is aimed at intermediate and above level skiers and riders, so we don't want any beginner stories. Nor do we have any interest in your seven day package holiday to Val D'isere, where you and your mates got wasted at the local Irish pub every night, and didn't get out of bed till 2pm each day. If your story involves more ‘piss ups’ than powder, we’re not interested.

Writing Style
SnowSphere thrives on having a range of international writers from all over the world, who each bring a part of their culture to their writing. Feel free to use your native version of English, but explain any slang words you use. Ensure you read the current articles to get an idea of the type of story we publish.

Pictures
Unlike other snow publications which favour glossy photographs and fancy graphics over written content, SnowSphere is fuelled by high quality, entertaining articles. However, someone once mentioned that a picture says a thousand words, so ideally we will need at least 5 good shots to illustrate your article for destination pieces.

They don't have to be tweaked out methods, backside rodeos, or double kink rail slides, just a range of shots that look good and illustrate the article well, for example local scenery, people or food, etc - try to capture the individuality of the location.

Pictures must be available in jpeg format, and must be no bigger than 400 pixels wide, and set to 72dpi.

Payment
As SnowSphere is a new venture with a very limited budget, we cannot pay for submissions at present. However, we do offer you exposure in a rapidly growing web magazine that is actively promoted in the UK, Australia, the USA and Canada. Your writing will be read by hundreds if not thousands of people, and we are also happy to promote our contributors projects, business' or web sites through SnowSphere.

We hope to form a relationship with regular contributors, and in future as the magazine grows we hope to be able to pay for your writing. Those who submitted material in the early days for nothing but love will be remembered.

SnowSphere simply seeks good quality writing so welcomes submissions from unpublished authors. This is an especially good opportunity for new and aspiring writers to get work published in a high quality web magazine.

Rights
Authors retain all rights to their work, but we ask permission to display your work in the online SnowSphere archives. We may consider previously published articles, but ideally we want brand spanking new, original writing.

How to Submit
First, send us a short query (taster) via email (up to 600 words) about your story, and inform us of the availability of photos. Give us details, and make it as enticing as possible, make us want to read more.

We aim to reply to queries within three weeks.

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