Scott Monaco Is Open for Submissions

We pay $50–$200 for writing and photography about the Global South and less-traveled destinations. Open through July 31.

Hi,

It’s been a little over two weeks since you last heard from me, which is the longest gap since this newsletter began. There’s a reason for it, and today I finally get to show you.

For the past few months, I have been building something, and it can be summarized in one statistic: 80% of travelers visit the same 10% of destinations around the world. None of this will surprise you, but the extent of it is unbelievable. The famous places grow more crowded every year while the rest of the world goes largely unvisited, even as much of it becomes easier to reach, safer, and more interesting than it has ever been. A traveler willing to look past the usual list has more of the world available to them right now than at any point in history.

This is what Scott Monaco is for: covering these places well, and making them feel as reachable as they actually are. The writing stays here, as it always has — nothing about this newsletter changes (although there was a refresh here, too). What is new is scottmonaco.travel, which went live this week and the things that come with it. Have a look around when you have a minute.

That said, the tent is now getting bigger. A larger platform means more stories from more corners of the map, more opportunities for the destinations that deserve attention, and more opportunities for you.

The Open Call

Scott Monaco is now a publication, and it carries more bylines than mine. You’ve already seen the first guest work appear here and here in recent months. Today, that becomes formal: from now through July 31, submissions are open to everyone.

Essay — 1,000 to 3,000 words of personal narrative or reported feature grounded in firsthand experience. Pays $200.

Photo Essay — 6 to 15 documentary images with 700 to 1,500 words of prose, telling a single story. Pays $200.

Humor — 500 to 1,000 words, travel-related. Pays $50.

Every submission is read blind. Your name, bio, and links are collected by the form and set aside until after the decision is made, which means the work is judged on the work. Decisions go out on a rolling basis, and accepted contributors are paid within a week of publication and featured on the main site with a bio and links to their own platforms. Work you've self-published on your own newsletter or blog is welcome.

Full guidelines, eligibility, and formatting details are on the submission page.

Who Should Submit

You do not need to think of yourself as a travel writer. If you write about travel, culture, food, art, history, or daily life in the Global South or the less-traveled world, this call includes you. That is true whether you're writing about the country you live in or one you traveled to. What matters is firsthand experience and a real story. If you're unsure whether your story fits, spend a few minutes on scottmonaco.travel to understand the mission and the types of experiences we cover.

I read constantly, and some of the best writing about these places is being published by people doing it entirely on their own. This call is a way to pay for that work and put it in front of readers who come here looking for exactly it.

Where This Comes From

There’s precedent for this. When Shannan Mann and Karan Kapoor launched Strange Pilgrims, they described it as “attempting something rare” — a reader-supported, ad-free literary magazine that charges no submission fees and pays its writers. By all accounts, it has worked, and watching them build it has been genuinely inspiring to me.

When I look at travel writing, at destinations that need coverage and rarely get it commissioned, at the talent already writing about these places on their own, I believe the same mechanics can work here. I hope that reading this, you believe it too, whether that means submitting your work or becoming a paid subscriber who helps fund it.

And in a happy piece of timing, Strange Pilgrims’ summer reading window is open right now. If you have literary work (fiction, essays, flash) I recommend you send it to them.

How This Gets Paid For

Contributor payments come from paid subscriptions. When you upgrade, your subscription goes toward paying the writers and photographers whose work you’ll read here, along with the time it takes to read and evaluate every submission properly.

Paid subscribers also get year-round submission access. When this open call closes on July 31, paid subscribers can keep submitting in every category, at the same rates, through the paid subscriber’s link on the guidelines page.

What's Next

New work from me resumes next week, and I’m sitting on stories from a recent trip that I’m very excited to share with you soon. Guest pieces from this call will publish as they’re ready.

The goal now is to put this call in front of as many people as possible who might want to submit. If you know a writer or photographer whose work belongs here, please share this with them. Together, let’s tell the stories from the other 90%.

— Scott