We’re honored you’re considering writing for us.

At Good Old Boat, we’re all about trailerable-boats, cruising boats, and everything in between. The majority of our readers’ boats are fiberglass production sailboats from the 1950s to the 2000s that reside in North America, and most do the majority of the maintenance and upkeep on their own.

In keeping with that theme, we publish stories focused on pride of ownership and articles that discuss upgrades, maintenance, refits, and restoration of good old boats. We also publish sailing stories in which the writer messed up and lived to tell us about it, to teach us what they learned. We like thoughtful ruminations on the sailing life. We also publish histories of the companies and personalities associated with the sailing industry.

Though some of our stories might involve cruising, like our “Short Voyages” section, we are not a long distance live-aboard cruising magazine covering places like the South Pacific, Mediterranean Sea, Caribbean, and more. Because these themes are well-covered by other magazines, we do not publish:

  • Destination articles
  • Cruising logs
  • Racing reports
  • Book excerpts

FORMATTING SUBMISSIONS

  • Most feature articles in Good Old Boat are 1,500 to 3,000 words, so plan your submission accordingly. If you submit an article longer than that, we will reject it or send it back with a request to make cuts to meet the word count.
  • Please do not send links to blog posts.
  • Submit your words in an editable file (preferably a Word or Google doc) and do not use fancy formatting. There is absolutely no chance that we will use your formatting. It will be deleted through our process without ever being appreciated by the editors. Simple is good. Simpler is better.
  • Submit your photos and words in SEPARATE files. Do NOT embed images in your Word or Google doc.
  • Use only one space between sentences.
  • Please include a two to three sentence bio at the end of your story.
  • If we have not acquired a story from you in the recent past, please include your mailing address (for payment).
  • Please refer to our Photographer’s Guidelines when taking or sending photos.
  • If you don’t hear from us, please make sure 3 weeks have passed before following up.

ACCEPTANCE (OR NOT)

We ask that you submit articles on speculation. Competition for space in Good Old Boat magazine is brisk, as we got lots of submissions. Our responsibility to our readers requires that we try to get the best and most appropriate material. Do not be discouraged if your submission is not accepted. A piece that is not accepted by one publication could easily be just what another publication is looking for. Send articles and photos to Editor, Andy Cross.

STORY CATEGORIES AND PAYMENT SCHEDULE (SUBJECT TO CHANGE)

Boat Reviews: Our comprehensive reviews of good old boats run 1,500 – 3,000 words and focus on sailing characteristics, layout and design, and pros and cons to consider when purchasing (possible trouble spots to watch for, and so on). We pay reviewers $700, but we assign these reviews to select writers. Unsolicited boat reviews will not be accepted.

Cover photos: We like to see people in these, there should be an obvious sailing reference. Could be a boat at anchor, people at the helm aboard a boat under sail, or a boat owner working on the boat in the yard. We need portrait orientation, high resolution, and great lighting and composition. We pay $100 for one-time use as a Good Old Boat cover, both in print and electronically.

Sailing Memories column: Have you got a memory you want to share about a time in your sailing life? If your prose shines and your subject is unique, we’re interested. These can run 1,500 – 2,500 words and we pay $150-$300.

History column: We’d also like stories about specific boat types (such as what’s gone on with Ericsons over the years), profiles of designers (the career of Carl Alberg or George O’Day and how the individual influenced what we’re sailing today), or about other things such as sail shape and materials, hull shapes, keel shapes, etc. We’re looking for depth, 1,500 – 3,000 words at $400 – $500.

Learning Experience column: Did you screw up big time and survive to tell us about it, to teach us what you learned? Please do. We’re looking for 1,000 – 2,500 words and we pay $200 – $400.

Reflections column: We want your thoughts and ideas on all facets of the sailing life in 500 – 750 words. These are the kinds of things that come to us when we’ve been “out there” a while. We pay $175 for these short pieces.

Simple Solutions: Have you completed a small project aboard that has made your sailing or liveaboard life better or easier? Do you have a quick tip that we’ll be eager to share with our readers? These stories can run 500-1,000 words and we pay $50 – $200 for them.

Short Voyages: This is the closest we get to a cruising story. These are less about crossing oceans and more about sailing through a place or region in a “we went to place A, B, and C”, sort of way. We’re looking for 1,500 – 2,500 words and we pay $200 – $400.

Unclassified: This runs the gamut, from sailing/technical/refit/maintenance/upgrade articles, shorter-length to feature-length (500 – 3,000 words) at $100 – $500.

TECHNICAL ARTICLES

While we appreciate humor in any article, fluffy technical articles that do not thoroughly cover the topic are not appropriate for our audience. We give writers of technical stories enough space to be thorough, even up to 3,000 words. Technical articles should contain enough information (including all relevant contacts and resources) that our reader is ready to embark on a similar project. Our reader should know whether he would like to do this work and is capable of doing it.

The writer should present potential stumbling blocks and point out areas which are open for misinterpretation. (For example, during barrier coat applications, just how dry must the previous coat be before applying the next round? Might this differ from one side of the boat to the other if the sun shines on one side only?)

Think of the work you are describing as a process involving specific materials and activities. Did you use epoxy resin or polyester resin? Instead of saying marine bondo, be specific about which product was used. Was the sealant RTV, urethane, or polysulfide? What kind of wood did you use? A process that worked well for you involving specific materials may not work at all if the materials involved are substituted for others that are not compatible with each other or not really suited to the task.

So give us more detail than we will need. If it breaks up the flow of words, include an appendix with materials and sources. We will publish as much of it as we think is appropriate to make certain that, if a reader attempts the project, there is a good chance of success. You cannot give us too much detail about materials used.

Our technical editor is a curmudgeon. There is nothing we can do about that. His notes follow. Authors should avoid the following usages:

  • Amps per hour, Amps/hr. and similar — Although actually published occasionally elsewhere, these are meaningless terms that only confuse the well-informed reader and demonstrate the writer’s lack of comprehension of basic electricity. If amps per hour does not grate on your sensibilities like fingernails on a blackboard, you probably should not write about electricity. If you do the algebra on this, you come out with the reciprocal of time (1/time) or charge divided by the square of time (T squared). Nonsense.
  • Electricity and water do not mix — Many writers eventually resort to some kind of water analogy to try to explain how electricity works. I have yet to see what I thought was a really good water analogy. If you want to explain electricity, talk about electricity. Hydraulics is another field entirely. Avoid this trap; it is already full.
  • ABYC — Marine technical writers often quote the ABYC (American Boat and Yacht Council) chapter and verse as though the quoted requirements came from the burning bush. This is not a popular practice with the Good Old Boat editors. The ABYC Standards and Recommended Practices for Small Craft documents are not available to the vast majority of our readers. Membership in the organization is quite expensive and is, therefore, not common among non-professionals. Although regulating agencies and insurance companies may adopt all or parts of the ABYC standards, the ABYC standards are otherwise completely voluntary having no inherent force in law. They also do not preclude good design and engineering alternatives.

Payments for Submissions

When we buy your story, we’ll let you know in what issue we plan to run it, usually sometime 6-12 months in the future. We’ll try and let you know later if that plan changes. We pay writers 30-45 days prior to publication. We normally pay by check, but can work out another means, such as PayPal, for writers out cruising or living abroad. We aren’t formal enough to fuss with contracts, but we’ll send you a copy of our simple writer’s agreement at the time we make you an offer.

Generally, the only photos we pay for separately are cover photos. We do things the same way for photogs as we do for writers, except that we pay upon acceptance for cover photos.

Images for Stories

  • Photos should be in JPG or TIFF format and at least 1200 pixels wide or 240 DPI.
  • Please provide photos without dramatic post-processing work, sharpening, HDR effects, or black-and-white or sepia coloring (unless they are scanned film photos).
  • DO NOT embed photos or captions in a Word doc. Please submit your photos and words in separate files.
  • Please name photos using your surname (e.g., Smith1, Smith2, etc.) That tells our editors and our designer which photos go with which story and helps to avoid confusion.
  • Provide a brief description telling readers what’s going on in the photo, and if applicable, where it was taken. If possible, write a caption that is a complete sentence, in present tense (we realize this isn’t always possible). Examples:
    • Yahtzee has Gedney Harbor all to herself.
    • Exilés sails toward Point Claire Yacht Club.
    • The bridge deck is clean and clear after Lee removed the old traveler.
    • Vivian works to replace the interior headliners on Ultima.

Related information: Photography Guidelines