Brendiver's World

Contributor Guidelines - California Diving News

Back in the early 90's I used to visit San Diego a few times each year to visit my good friends Steve and Renee. As well as diving, we'd knock around the dive stores poking around at the latest stuff and collecting as many diving magazines as we could.

California Diving News was one of my favourite free reads - it had really interesting reviews of diving locations up and down the coast as well as fascinating write ups of spearfishing adventures (mention this in the UK and you'll be cast out to an eternal hell!).

If I'd known then what I know now I would have written up many of the dives we did in the San Diego area for them, but I mistakenly believed back then that you had to be a professional journalist to get published.

Last year CDN had "Editorial Guidelines" available on their website, now you have to write in for them. However, Dale and Kim from the publication are pretty sharp, they've always replied to my queries within 24 hours.

There have been a few changes to the guidelines, the pay has gone up, the word count has dropped from 1000 to 800 max and the want list of diving destinations (Northern and Central CA, San Luis Obisbo and San Diego Counties) has disappeared to be replaced by inland diving sites. This is an example of how it is always worth checking for current guidelines and editor wants - as the magazine develops these will always change.

CDN has a media kit available on their site for download and just in case it disappears for any reason you can find it here:

Download CDNMediaKit.pdf

I've included this as it provides a massive amount of useful information from the circulation data to diving interests and the next purchases of their readers. To demonstrate the importance of knowing your readers to this extent I'll add these snippets to my analysis of the contributor guidelines.

Editorial Guidelines

                                                                        

California Diving News is published eleven times a year and dis­tributed mainly in the Western United States. The editorial drive of the publication is to inspire and inform the beginning through intermediate divers into seeking the full underwater experience that California waters have to offer. All material is upbeat and positive. Please, no “Why this diver died” or shark attack type articles. Our goal is to encourage divers to get out and enjoy California scuba diving more often.

                                                             

The media kit outlines the fact that the majority of their readers are PADI OW to Rescue, so, there's no point in trying to write about a deep technical dive in the La Jolla canyon. As their readers also tend to be 'local' there would be no harm in contextualising your copy to include some local interest anecdotes.

                                                                     

Subject matter is 90% California oriented. All equipment and “How to” articles should have a California slant.

Article lengths are generally 500 to 800 words. Shorter, light pieces are preferred over long pieces. Submissions should be emailed to dale@cadivingnews.com.

                                                                            

As they have trimmed down the word count max from 1000 to 800 words this should tell you something - make it easy for the editorial team to say 'yes' by not going over the word count limit.

                                                                  

The large majority of our articles are done on speculation. Queries will be considered only from well known and experienced writers.

                                                                     

If you're a budding photojournalist you'll need to submit the whole package, but as the word count is really small, and their articles tend to be quite factual this shouldn't be too much of a bind.

                                                               

Articles should be emailed with good quality photos and/or graphics. No photos or poor quality photos is frequently a cause for rejection.

                                                                        

So don't submit rubbish shots! Take a look at what they like to publish and take pictures like these.

                                                                        

If possible accompany dive spot articles with good quality original maps.

                                                                               

Watch out for copyright issues here - you may have to draw one but make sure it follows the style used in each copy of CDN.

                                                             

CDN buys first time North American publications rights. Payment for articles range between $40 and $150 with most payments rang­ing between $60 and $100. Payment is on publication. Payment is based on article length, amount of editing needed, quality of photos, experience and notoriety of the author, and publication’s need for the material in question. Although submissions are usually evaluated in a couple weeks, they may be held for up to four months before acceptance or rejection.

                                                               

"Notoriety??" Not sure if this is what they really mean? If they haven't replied after four months an e-mail or phone call nudge would be acceptable.

                                                                        

DIVE SPOTS: Specific dive locations up and down the California coastline and around its offshore islands. Prefer locations the aver­age diver can dive. Cover marine life, bottom terrain, depths, facilities, how to reach, etc. Include a “Dive Spot At-A-Glance” (see publica­tion) and a map if possible. Unknown or little known dive sites are always appreciated. We also have need for inland freshwater dive sites. Write-ups on general areas such as “Diving Catalina Island” should overview and highlight the location’s best dive sites. Again, good quality maps are a must.

                                                                               

If you want to get in with this publication I'd submit my first story on an inland freshwater dive site that hasn't been covered yet. Kim from CDN is really good at answering e-mails, the below response on the question of what they are looking for came back within 48 hours:

"We seem to be fine for most areas. Well written factual articles satisfy the most important criteria."
                                                                     

“HOW TO” ARTICLES: Approach this material not so much a “How to” but more as a “How to do better.” Deal with how to better handle particular situations for better diving enjoyment. Subjects covered in past include: Freshwater Diving, Surf Entries, Night Diving, Deep Diving, and Boat Diving.

                                                                                 

And as 14% of divers want to buy a kayak I'd go for Kayak Diving - if the list above is up to date, they haven't covered it yet.

                                                                           

MARINE LIFE: Stories should be accompanied by excellent photos or illustrations and briefly give an interesting and informative and perhaps humorous view of the animal in question. We are also looking for first person stories on unusual marine life encounters. Stories of this nature done in the past include: Encounter with a Giant Black Sea Bass, Diving with Seals, and Gray Whale Encounter.

If you're new to the photojournalism world I would avoid humour - really hard to do unless you really are the next Bill Bryson. The CA coastline is full of encounter opportunities, plenty of mileage here.

                                                                        

WHO’S WHO IN CALIFORNIA DIVING: Brief personality profiles on those that make diving work in California.

                                                                              

Who do you know? Or does someone you know know someone? Make sure you take advantage of every chance meeting to exploit this editor want. I'll give you an example, I mentioned my blog and my 'other world' of diving photojournalism - how I was looking to interview individuals connected with a certain aspect of the industry. Turns out his wife is good friends with one of the chaps who is top of my list - they're going to speak to him and arrange an introduction. Result!

                                                                                                

PRODUCT REVIEWS AND DIVE BOAT REVIEWS are generally written by the staff. Must be upbeat and positive yet honest. We like to highlight advertisers.

                                                                                                 

If you use a dive boat, make sure it is one who advertises - nothing to do with impartiality, this is about doing what the editor is asking for. As this is a free publication they have to cater to advertisers needs, and is there anything really that wrong with highlighting a quality operation that advertises with them?

                                                                                                

There is rarely payment for NEWS BRIEFS and HEARD THRU THE KELP VINE and never for NEW GEAR and NEW BOOKS

EQUIPMENT BUYER’S GUIDES are generally written by the staff. Specific guidelines are necessary if interested.

                                                                            

I wouldn't bother with the above - they don't sound keen.

                                                                                          

"HOW TO" PHOTO ARTICLES: Focus on a specific aspect or technique of underwater imaging (still and video).

COVER PHOTO SUBMISSIONS: Cover photos are usually purchased in conjunction with a story inside the issue. California orientated photos only! Must be very sharp, light tone with bright colors preferred.

                                                                                        

Take a look at previously published cover shots and duplicate the style they have used before.

                                                                            

CARTOONS are occasionally printed. Will consider regularly submit­ted strips. Pays $25 per cartoon or strip.

BEST SHOTS: This section highlights diving related photos of our readers. California material preferred. No pay.

                                                                        

Good way of getting exposure, although I would go for pics and words if I could.

                                                                         

Tips:

• Tie articles into current advertisers. CDN loves to support those that support us.

• A well written dive spot article with map and good photos are always welcome.

• Submit articles in by email with excellent quality JPG images

• We would like to develop working relationships with good, reliable, regular writers.

                                                            

Second time they have mentioned advertisers - take note.

                                                               

They want to develop a working relationship with you!

                                                            

Keep writing...

                                                                        

Brendan

Contributor Guidelines - Dive Zero (with added interesting 'stuff')

Dive Zero is a free Internet based publication, the dream-child of its editor and Director of Operations, Luke Boychuk. To give you a flavour of what they are about go to the About Us section.

A week ago I wrote in to ask for their Contributor Guidelines, Luke replied within 24 hours with: 

Thanks for your email.  We are looking for article contributors for the virtual magazine, and video submitters for Dive Zero TV.

The article must be unique.  Contributors would send a write up and photos, then we do the layout, credit, etc…

Do you have any ideas in mind?  If so, please let me know.

Which tells me that they don't really have anything specific in mind - if you write to the style of the magazine you are likely to get published. I did ask about payment but this subject was left out in Luke's reply - I suspect they don't pay.

I decided to use a recent article as a case study to find out what they were looking for and settled on: Diving in the Okinawa Ruins by Lisa Slater and Lee J Cowan.

By comparing this with other articles I came to the conclusion that there is no real house style - if it's 'kind of like the stuff' published previously then your copy will probably work for them.

What I did find interesting about Lisa Slater's article was the dive travel company mentioned in the article - Open Coast Travel.

If you go to the About Us page of Open Coast Travel's site guess who you bump into?

That's right - Lisa Slater, the author of the article about diving in the Okinawa ruins - all about diving with her own company!

What a great piece of marketing - no need to fly a journalist from another country and pay for all of their accommodation, food and diving, just write the article yourself.

And it gets better - go to the Press part of their site and you'll find more articles where Lisa has either written them or been featured as a central character.

A stunning bit of marketing, especially when you see how she has taken what amounts to 50 pieces of a journalistic 'jigsaw puzzle' about diving and travelling in the area and placed 20 or so of them in each article. Just enough to make each one different - an outstanding example of 'product placement.'

Anyway - back to Dive Zero and my analysis. Quite simply, a good place to get your first article published.

Keep writing...

Brendan

   

Writing for Free?

On my seminars and workshops I go into the different paths you can follow to get your photographs and words published.

One route I found very useful in my early days was in the diving travel sector. I'm sure this advice will horrify 100's of underwater photographers out there, but I used to provide my photographs for free to diving travel companies to illustrate their brochures. Eventually I built up a relationship with one called Harlequin, to the point where they would provide flights and all the ground arrangements for my assignments, and I would get an article on the destination published in DIVER. Harlequin would be included in the fact-file and I would provide them with more photographs for their brochure - it's a horrible cliche, but it was a 'win-win' arrangement.

I can think of several trips that would not have happened if I had not initially provided my photographs for free. So the question is - did I really provide them for free?

So, if I were starting off, on my return from a diving holiday I would call the company I used to arrange the trip and offer them photographs and a short write up for their site or brochure. It's a foundation, and you never know where it will lead to.

Here's an example of something I did recently for Dive Worldwide. They sponsored an assignment to Utila and Roatan, and as I wasn't overly complimentary about the diving in the resulting article, I offered to help them by writing something about another destination for their website. As I particularly love the island of Saba, and they were trying to promote it, I put together a short piece on this location. Note how it isn't written in a particularly publishable (for a magazine - unless it's a U.S. one!) style - it's in what is often referred to as advertorial. Not a problem here as this is what their site is. As an aside, it's all true, even if it were for an advertorial piece, I wouldn't tell any lies about a location in my writing.

You can find their website here.

DIVE WORLDWIDE - August 2007

"So, where is the best place in the world to dive?"

As a regular contributor to DIVER magazine I'm often asked this question. The answer? Well, it all depends on what you're looking for. If your search is for a remote island in the Caribbean, with stunning pinnacles, plenty of marine life and bags of character, then you'll be looking for the island of Saba.

"Isn't that in Malaysia somewhere?"

No it isn't, that's Sabah - for reasons I cannot fathom, Saba still remains relatively unheard of. Bizarre as it offers some of the best dive sites in this region and one of my top five dive sites, 'The Pinnacle'. Rising at an angle from 60 metres to its peak at 30; this tower of coral and barrel sponges is only a few metres in diameter. As you spiral round the summit, take a look below, there's almost certainly going to be a shark patrolling the base.

Saba's signature dives are its pinnacles and seamounts - peaking at about 28 to 30 metres they always provide something of interest, shoals of jacks, collections of brightly coloured sponges, frogfish, sharks, turtles. And then there are the drop offs - stunning.

On dry land, the red roofs of the gingerbread style cottages and the people who occupy them take you back to the Caribbean of yesteryear. It's an overused cliche, but the people of this island really are the friendliest I have ever met (try standing on one of the roads for more than 5 minutes without being offered a lift). They also care passionately about their environment, the marine park is well run and where else would you find workers who built one of their roads around a tree, they just couldn't bear the idea of chopping it down.

And for the non-diver, or a diving day off, there is Mount Scenery. Like the underwater pinnacles around it, this island's peak is veiled in year round mist, its rainforest making for a challenging day of exploration.

So, back to the question, where is the best place in the world to dive? If it's the Caribbean you're thinking of, Saba, with its handful of quirky hotels, restaurants, rain forests, remote villages and of course, great diving, is your destination.

Brendan O'Brien

Keep writing...

Brendan

Behind the Scenes - anatomy of a diving and travel article

Have you ever read a diving travel article and wondered what goes on behind the scenes?

I've just had an article published in DIVER magazine called, "Market Forces," about diving in the Algarve, Portugal. Click on the thumb nails to read it, and at the same time I'll explain how it came about.

Like most assignments, it started with a phone call from the editor asking if I would be interested in the trip. Prior to this the PR agency who represent the Algarve had been in touch with the magazine to offer one of its journalists an opportunity to visit the area with a view to putting together an article on the area's diving.

I found out later how for 2007 Algarve Tourism were targeting niche markets as opposed to geographic areas. In previous years they had promoted their business in countries where they wanted to increase the number of visitors. But in 2007 they changed their strategy to attract visitors who wanted to do more than just lie on the beach. So if you were a journalist in a niche area: golfing; cycling; windsurfing or diving, you were an attractive proposition. Hills Balfour Synergy handle the contract for the Algarve in the UK and helped arrange the flights, hotel,diving and hire car through the Algarve representatives in London and Portugal.

So, back to the Algarve. This was one of those trips where I had to find the angle on arrival, and fortunately the first contact we got to dive with was a real character. Salvador provided more quotes than I could use, and also provided a wealth of information about the environmental issues in the area (over-fishing and coastal building work). He's also one of the most prominent figures in the Algarve diving sector and was able to provide invaluable introductions to some useful contacts.

With the blessing of the Algarve Tourism representative assigned to this visit (who met us at the airport with a big smile, despite it being about 2200 on a Friday night following a full day at the office - PR is a long hours game) we changed the programme. Budgets would have been set for this visit, so to go outside of the programme without OK-ing it with the representative would have been poor form.

On the second evening we had dinner with the representative. This is common practice, a way of making sure, in an informal way, that everything is going to plan, and more importantly, whether the journalist is getting enough material. A few evenings later we went back to the same restaurant - our representative was there again, only this time she was entertaining ten Czech journalists. You need to be nice to the representatives - theirs is a busy life.

Unfortunately, the week was set back by poor weather, so we went on a tour of the Algarve checking out every dive operation we could find. Only a small part of our findings went into the article, just enough to rescue the piece as we had only completed five dives before the weather closed in.

We picked up several pages of quotes from visitors, locals and dive guides as well as detailed descriptions of dive sites and the history of the wrecks we dived on. I collect everything while I am on assignment, pamphlets, maps, booklets, photographs of dive sites, I even photograph restaurant menus. I operate on the premise that the one piece of information you decide to leave behind is the one you will need at a later date.                                                                                  

I'm a big believer in quotes - they "people the landscape" with characters and enhance the narrative so it's not all your opinion. The quote which really stood out was Salvador's, the one about the fish being in the market. I knew I would use it when Salvador said it, but just how remained a question at the back of my mind until our last night when the local fishermen were trying to get Salvador to reveal where the fish could be found. Sometimes it really does work out just like this, I knew instantly that I had my beginning and my end. Even after a plateful of good seafood and several glasses of wine, you still have to be alive to the opportunities as they present themselves.

Salvador at the restaurant Marisquera Fialho in Sino de Pinheiro, Luz de Tavira, great place - the best seafood

Back in the UK the process of writing it all up started. I sometimes meet people who think you might do two or three drafts before you send your copy off, but the reality for me is about 40 drafts, sometimes more. So, if you're about to put your first article together, and it all looks a bit messy after your first draft, don't worry, this is the way it is!

While doing this I also contacted Hills Balfour Synergy to provide them with an update on the assignment. I believe it's professional courtesy to report back on how the trip went (but not before you do so with the editor!). They tried to push Monarch Airlines by sending me a proposal for a paragraph that could be placed in the fact-file. We really appreciated the extra legroom seats, the free meal and drinks on board, and they are a quality airline, but they are also competing for the word count. They got a sentence.

As the week progressed it became clear that Algarve Tourism didn't know anything about the diving in the area, so, I prepared a set of bullet points for them on who could be trusted to provide them with some guidance for future trips. Always look after PR contacts, they may be the key to your next trip.

To go with the article I sent about 20 photographs, all captioned with a mix of landscape and vertical,

This one didn't appear in the article - but I kind of like it, and it links in with the opening sentence

above and below the water, including some 'arty' shots of all the anchors lined up on the dunes. This is the sort of shot the art editor might use to illustrate the article as a background shot. But on this occasion it wasn't selected.

Several months after the trip, the article appeared in DIVER.

Are you persuaded yet? Do you still think these assignments are journalist jollies?

Keep writing...

Brendan

Just write an article - that will be fine

I believe the best way to find out how the world works is to just get stuck into it. You can read all you want about a subject, but until you experiment and get your hands dirty the real learning doesn't really start. (And for those of you really interested in the theory behind these statements go to: Some of the stuff I learnt about for my MEd)

Which is why I like to talk to people, to get involved in their things, to share their problems, and help find solutions - all very satisfying.

I can't remember how I found it, but when I did this website caught my eye - it's for, "Dive St. Abbs and Eyemouth."

I've had some very memorable diving experiences in this area, there's some great shore diving, and a really pleasant B&B by the harbour (or at least there was 15 years ago).

I found the website interesting, very professionally put together and full of useful information.

But in a section called articles, there was just one lonely write up. The thing is, it wasn't an article at all, it was a few paragraphs about one dive over the May Bank Holiday written in the style of a press release. 

The site has all the appearances of being a fairly new venture, so perhaps they're just getting started on building up a bank of articles - but if they are all written up in this way, readers will instantly get turned off. This is what you read about in newspapers as advertorial self promotion.

As far as newspapers go, the group behind the site has done quite well in getting their name out there, short pieces in the local newspaper like this one are a useful way of locally marketing your own national marketing campaign. 

Intrigued about their plan to populate the site I e-mailed them to ask for their Contributor Guidelines, which led to a phone call two evenings ago from Dawn, "Hi Brendan, so, when are you going to write this article for us?"

Once I had explained my interest was in finding out more about their plan for populating their site with articles, I discovered that the group had no idea what they wanted, "we'd be happy if people just wrote an article for us," said Dawn, "we can't pay, but it's a way you could promote yourself, we'd be happy to add your e-mail address." Actually, they will do more than that - the one author on their site has a link, a short bio, photograph and an e-mail link.

Thirteen years ago I started to get my name out there and known in a similar manner - for those of you looking to build up a clip file, this opportunity is perfect. You just need to have done some diving in St. Abbs and Eyemouth. But then again, what local opportunities exist closer to home, or in locations where you have dived recently?

During my conversation with Dawn I asked what they would do if someone sent them a 4000 word article? "Mmm... don't know," was her reply. Dawn had just said how they wanted, "articles," but this word can mean many things to different people and clearly the current author on the site hasn't quite got it yet.

So, I said I would put some basic contributor guidelines together for them:

• 800-1000 words (online isn't as easy on the eye as on paper, and people's attention span isn't as great, shorter punchier articles would probably work better - but not press releases!).
• Should have a theme - for example, our first dive in the marine reserve, the difference the reserve is making, a local wreck site, shore diving, unusual marine behaviour.
• Articles which include information in a fact file about where to stay, family activities and where you would recommend to eat will be very welcome. (This links in with their website and their objectives as a group)
• Your article should have a distinct beginning, middle and end.
• Answer the who (went diving), when (best time? Weekend vs. weekday?), what (did you do?), where (the dive sites, stuff you did outside of the diving), how (any logistical challenges, method used to go diving), questions in your article.
• If you can, include some quotes from others, this helps liven up your writing.
• Send in some digital pictures if you can to illustrate your article - if you can't, don't worry, we can supply some, but think about the pictures you might take of your group? Getting in the water, kitting up, at the restaurant in the evening, photographs of the families enjoying the area outside of the diving?

I would suggest Dawn also takes a look at the Contributor Guidelines elsewhere on this site for more ideas. Word of warning though, you don't want to make them so complicated that people don't bother.

So - if you have been diving in the St. Abbs and Eyemouth area, and you want to get published, here's your chance!

Keep writing...

Brendan

The Big PR Question

One thing PR agencies and Tourism Authorities are often short on is experience in niche areas (wind surfing, climbing, sailing, cycling, diving etc), which is why I always get them to ask what I believe is a critical question of the ground contacts at any destination I'm about to visit. For my niche area this is:

What is the diving like during the proposed travel period?

The reason I always make sure this question is answered prior to travel?

Several years ago Tourism Australia arranged a three week trip to cover the diving in Tasmania as part of their Visiting Journalist Programme. They have an all too common rule for visiting journalists, you must visit two states (A few years ago I had an assignment to cover the Dutch Caribbean island of Saba, I also had to visit St. Maarten and Statia due to their 'three island rule' for visiting journalists). And so we spent a week on Heron Island in Queensland, followed by a pleasant four days of travelling down the South Queensland coastline. None of this was of interest to DIVER magazine, the assignment was to write about the kelp forests of Tasmania.

When we arrived in Tasmania the first question the dive operators asked was, "what an earth are you doing visiting now?" The weather was fantastic, but the visibility was awful. We tried to find somewhere along the coast where the plankton wasn't blooming, but everywhere we went the visibility was down to a very cloudy two to three feet. It was the end of the summer and the kelp was doing the underwater equivalent of shedding its leaves, so even if there were no plankton in the water, the kelp looked really ugly. 

This experience came as a surprise as Australia Tourism are usually an extremely professional and thorough organisation - I didn't think to question their planning.

By the way, if you go to their website you'll find invaluable marketing intelligence - very useful information for journalists. It's always worth checking this kind of website prior to a pitch to an editor as documents such as the March report for the UK:

Download tourism_australia_uk_mmr_apr08.pdf

will tell you if the idea has been covered already, as well as whether Australian Tourism would be interested in supporting you.

It's interesting to note how Australia Tourism are still using Equivalent Advertising Value as a measure for evaluation purposes. I would hope they are also supporting this with qualitative analysis of the media coverage to ascertain if their marketing objectives have been achieved. 

Back to the assignment - Australia Tourism provided us with: business class seats on Singapore Airlines, a limousine meet and greet at the airport, excellent hotels, tables at superb restaurants, hire cars, internal flights, ferries and all diving services. We also met with their regional representatives for dinner on the day of arrival in each area. All very professional and perfectly choreographed. However, as I only write for DIVER (I'm subject to an agreement not to write for other magazines) it was a marketing disaster. 

This wasted journey (but what a wasted journey!) could have been avoided if I had asked just one question of Tourism Australia in the planning stages. In evaluation terminology (I have a Masters in Education where I specialised in this subject) their efforts had merit, in that everything they did for me, as a visiting journalist, was of an extremely high standard. However, the overall trip had no worth as there was no resulting media coverage. As far as value was concerned, there was no ROI.

So - don't be afraid to ask what may seem to be obvious questions of any PR / Marketing firm or tourism authority. Trust me, they'll thank you for it.

Keep writing...

Brendan

P.S. If you are interested in the field of evaluation for PR and Marketing purposes, Michael Scriven's definition of evaluation will apply to the majority of projects: "the systematic determination of the merit, worth and value of the evaluand." 

The Voice of the Digital Dive Media Industry?

Welcome to:

You can find their site here.

According to their Home page they, "share a common set of philosophies:"

"A commitment to editorial excellence and to providing divers with valuable resources and experiences

Experts with extensive experience and deep knowledge of on-line publishing and marketing

Adherence to legal and industry best practices

Respectful of consumers privacy

Provide advertisers with professional client service and a well managed and relevant environment to reach valuable consumers

To further the awareness of and participation in the sport of scuba diving and its  sub-segments"

Which all sounds laudable, especially:

"When you see the UWN Seal of Approval, you can be assured that you are working with a reputable digital media company who is dedicated to providing consumers and marketers with the best experiences possible."

Considering the big on-line names who are members (Wetpixel, Scubaboard, et al), you'd expect all of this to amount to something which is pretty whizz bang as far as the on-line experience is concerned?

I liked the idea of promoting "editoral excellence" and so I decided to join the network.

Except that the "Contact Us" on their website doesn't work!

"Extensive experience and deep knowledge of on-line publishing and marketing?"

Keep writing...

Brendan

   

Scuba Magazine - Advertising Real Estate? The Magazine Divers Trust?

I've just received one of those automated e-mails from Scuba Magazine - "the magazine divers trust."

Previously I've mentioned how you can buy in advertising space at this magazine and they'll promote it. But on this occasion I'm being counselled to purchase real estate? Isn't this e-mail service is meant to be for diving news?

The problem with this kind of e-mail message is how the lines are blurred, is it the Cayman Diving Lodge who are recommending it or Scuba Magazine? You know, the one we all trust.

I promise you - if we win the lottery, I'm going to purchase loads of ad space at Scuba Magazine and promote next door's outdoor fish pond, complete with it's "myriad" of fish and "stunning vistas."

Keep writing...

Brendan

"Own a Piece of the Cayman Islands at the Cayman Diving Lodge & Spa

If you love the diving in Cayman and you respect and want to protect the environment, then consider the new Cayman Diving Lodge, which is proud to be the first, and only, Green Certified Resort in Grand Cayman!

Experience the intimacy and natural beauty of the Cayman Islands in an ecologically sustainable condominium resort. The Cayman Diving Lodge will be built to meet LEED Green building standards and operated in a responsible fashion each and every day, mindful of protecting and preserving the natural environment of the Cayman Islands.

Cayman's world-class East End wall and animal encounters will be right on your doorstep. Our unparalleled customer service and custom-designed dive boats will put you, your friends and family right in the middle of some of the best diving in the world.



We believe that your wellness of body and mind is as important as our commitment to Green tourism practices. Feel your best with a homeopathic treatment in our Organic Spa. With breathtaking views of the Caribbean Sea, our spa & fitness center is the ideal place to renew, refresh, and re-energize. This carefully planned amenity is sure to bring discerning divers to stay and offer you a decided advantage to gain investment return.

With a proven history of exceptional diving and hospitality, strong equity in the brand, and a legacy that divers will continue to be drawn to, the Cayman Diving Lodge is an attractive opportunity for both your investment and vacation needs.

Advantages of Ownership:
Rental Income Guarantee
Off-Shore Tax jurisdiction
Prime Beachfront equity holding
Short-Term developer financing
All Condos have 180-degree oceanfront view
Full Titled Ownership
Owner Storage Locker
Full Access to all Resort Services & Amenities"

(Part of e-mail received from Scuba Magazine as part of their "Depth Finder" news for "active divers." 7th May 2008)

Mischievous journalistic behaviour

In a previous post I've described how a five day dive trip to Bermuda set me back about £10.

Welcome to the world of familiarisation (often referred to as 'fam') / press trips, where a location's tourism board pays for everything in the hope it will result in an article or feature about the destination. When I say pay, it might not cost them that much. Depending on the airline they may have a set allocation of seats for press and PR purposes, hotels are normally keen to put you up and dive centres, when they hear you are from a diving magazine, will want to show off their facilities. 

Generally 'fam' trips are escorted to the extent that every minute of your time is planned out. You'll be exposed to numerous hotels, dive centres, restaurants and bars - I've even been on trips where breakfasts outside of the hotel have been timetabled in.

I've not been on a 'fam' trip where there have been more than eight journalists and fortunately on each occasion they've been a fun lot to be around. However, although these trips have been quite enjoyable, they're still a form of work. You're there to do a job, to get the story and write it up to meet the editor's needs.

The question is - once you have been on one of these trips, to what extent are you beheld to the sponsors? Especially if they are an advertiser with the magazine?

In respect of this question I've posted an ethical dilemma on wetpixel's forum - you can follow it here.

The dilemma posed is in respect of whether you should write glowing reports about a destination just because they are sponsoring the trip, or are big advertisers with the magazine, or both.

I believe the article that came out of the 'fam' trip to Bermuda will demonstrate   both my stance and that of DIVER magazine, however, I wouldn't try and pull this kind of stunt without first agreeing it with the editor. I seem to remember how Bermuda Tourism stopped advertising in DIVER a couple of months following publication - coincidence I'm quite sure.

Keep writing...

Brendan

 

This is how the PR machine works

I subscribe to quite a few PR and marketing e-mail update services - they're a useful way of gaining an insight into their bizarre world.

This one caught my eye today - it's self explanatory in respect of how the PR machine works to get articles featuring diving into newspapers and magazines.

How much do you think this will cost the industry? And do you have any idea of how dive centres, hotels and airlines will be involved, even if they don't really want to be?

I've got my own ideas based on my experiences but I may just e-mail the PR contact to find out - watch this space.

Keep writing..

Brendan

"Invitation to become a certified scuba diver

Do you know how many of your readers are certified scuba divers or are
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average to have this affinity.

**WRITERS ON STAFF AT LARGE CIRCULATION DAILY NEWSPAPERS & MAGAZINES ARE INVITED
TO PARTICIPATE ON ONE-ON-ONE DIVE CERTIFICATION PRESS TRIPS**

DEMA, the Diving Equipment and Marketing Association, is the largest
international membership organization dedicated to the promotion and growth of
the recreational scuba diving and snorkeling industry, and is extending the
opportunity to become a certified diver and report to your readers how easy it
is to be a part of one of the fastest growing recreational adventure sports
around.scuba diving! The sport of scuba diving is exciting and social, easy to
learn, and is a healthy lifelong activity for virtually everyone.

DEMA will provide writers on staff or frequent contributors to large circulation
daily newspapers and/or magazines a complimentary open water certification
course including all required course materials and equipment at a nearby dive
shop, and fly you to a destination in the Caribbean, Mexico or Hawaii to
complete the certification process, in order to provide you with the amazing
first hand experience of scuba diving, and therefore, better equip you to
personally report to your readers about the ease, excitement and benefits of
being a scuba diver.

The entire certification process, including classes and traveling to an exotic
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Please contact Sarah Biggerstaff at sarah@adams-pr.com for more information.

*Research conducted for DEMA among 308,000 active certified divers and
integrated into the lifestyle characteristics of the PSYTE geo-demographic
database to determine affinity."