Publication analysis
About the publication
Title: Budget Travel
ISSN: N/A
Website: http://www.budgettravel.com
Purpose, objective, or mission: Per their website, “Budget Travel inspires and empowers savvy travelers to see more for less. We specialize in U.S. domestic travel, including great American and Canadian road trips, cool small towns, great deals on hotel rooms, three-day weekends, national and state parks, ‘locals know best’ coverage of mid-size American cities, round-ups of the best budget destinations in America, cruises, island escapes, and start-today tips and how-to stories.”1
“Budget Travel is an award-winning multiplatform media brand that shares its inspiring and empowering message across BudgetTravel.com, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, free e-newsletters, our “Book a Hotel” tool, and television segments on The Weather Channel, CNBC, New York’s PIX11 Morning News, and more.” 2
“Budget Travel provides readers with the how-to advice they won’t find elsewhere: Destinations where the dollar goes the farthest; authentic, under-the-radar hotels and inns; and a template for getting the most from each travel experience.” 3
Target audience: Travelers within the United States.
Publisher: Lonely Planet Global, Inc. 4
Peer reviewed? No.
Type: Civilian.
Medium: Online.
Content: Each issue contains feature articles and a number of short items presented in regular columns and departments. Articles cover regional, national (USA), and international destinations; travel tips; strategies for planning and economizing; and events and trends in the travel industry that may affect consumers. The website is similar in scope and includes a number of “quick hit” items along with various tools to plan and to book travel and accommodations.
Frequency of publication: Frequent, almost daily online content.
About the publication’s submission guidelines
Location of submission guidelines: The “Contact Us” page provides a generalized submissions form.
Types of contributions accepted: No information is provided. Writers should likely send a query through the submission form on the “Contact Us” page.
Submission and review process: No current information is provided, previously the website has stated, “To be considered, email a copy of published work as a sample, your pitch (not a completed article) and a cover letter to info@BudgetTravel.com .”5
Editorial tone: This is not mentioned in the submissions information on the website. A review of sample articles gives an impression of a breezy, chatty tone. Some articles consist of very short descriptive listings built around a theme; some are written in the first or second person. The approach is informative, but subjective rather than authoritative and impartial.
Style guide used: Not specified.
Conclusion: Evaluation of publication’s potential for LIS authors
The potential here is possibly more for personal satisfaction than for career development. Those needing scholarly venues would find this of little benefit. But it could be a good fit for someone working in a public library or similar context. Libraries can be useful for gathering information about travel destinations, transportation, accommodations, and a variety of travel-related odds and ends. One can imagine articles describing how to effectively use library resources for travel preparation, but it may be more productive for a library writer to do the research and compile the results into a variety of lively, practical articles. For example, a writer might find ways to package research around different themes, including destinations, tips and tricks, lists, short annotations, and reviews of publications (e.g., bed and breakfast directories, travel writing).
Example of an article published in 2019: 8 Quirky Hotel Libraries You’ll Want to Book a Flight Just to Visit
Audience analysis
About the publication’s readers
Publication circulation: The 2020 media kit states the website has 150k unique website visitors per month, 450k email subscribers, and an engaged audience across platforms of over 4.5 million. 6
Audience location and language or cultural considerations: Budget Travel publishes content regarding travel destinations within the United States, as well as information and travel tips for US-Americans who want to travel internationally. The content is published in English. There are some cultural considerations in the articles published, but only as it pertains to travel destinations.
Reader characteristics: The 2020 media kit provides audience demographic information collected in 2019. It shows the average household income for readers is $100k or less and the average age range of reader’s is 25-55. 7
Knowledge of LIS subject matter: None expected nor indicated. It would be highly unlikely the general audience would understand LIS subject matter and/or LIS Jargon.
Conclusion: Analysis of reader characteristics and their potential impact on authors
Busy and time-sensitive readers suggest a need for specifics on what to do and how to it. In a jargon-free approach, authors can remind readers that information organizations can provide a lot of knowledge on travelling and destinations. There is the added possibility of promoting specific institutions for their unique features and services. People who travel for pleasure are typically interested in touring/observing architecture and design, as well as places that can provide history and story.
Last updated: October 25, 2020
References
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