Blue Ridge Country is a bi-monthly, full-color magazine embracing the feel and spirit of the Blue Ridge region—the traditions and recipes, the husbandry and farming, the country stores and cabins in the woods, the things to visit and learn about. In short, it is everything that will allow and encourage the reader to “take a trip home for the weekend” even if he or she has never lived in the region.
Our territory extends from West Virginia south through Virginia’s Shenandoah Valley of Virginia down into northern Georgia, and includes all territory within about a half day’s drive of the Blue Ridge Parkway. It includes the mountain regions of Kentucky, West Virginia, Virginia, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, and Georgia.
MAIN PIECES: 750-2,000 WORDS
HISTORY AND LEGENDS
From people and events to unexplained occurrences or phenomena, full magazine prints, fascinating tales of past and present. In particular, we are seeking stories from “baby boomer” history—the 1940s to present.
THE BLUE RIDGE PARKWAY AND THE APPALACHIAN TRAIL
There’s a wealth of wildlife, beauty, history, and future plans involving the parkway and the trail and the areas immediately surrounding each. We’ll bring our readers a new piece of America’s favorite scenic highway and favorite footpath in each issue.
ENVIRONMENT
Well-researched, objective stories on environmental issues of relevance to the Appalachian mountains.
GENERAL ARTICLES
Anything that is well-researched, well-written, and brings us some of the flavor of the region will get strong consideration. We’ll be looking for at-home kinds of things—environmental issues, arts and crafts, natural history, and wildlife, and especially pieces that embrace the whole of the region. Plus humor, first-person adventure or discovery, and the “bests” of the region.
DEPARTMENTS (100-300 words)
Very much like the main pieces, but in shorter versions; places to see, things to do, recipes to try, great people doing great things, new books, etc.—anything and everything that contributes to the sense of the place. Shorts of 100-300 words run in the Country Roads department.
RIGHTS
We buy exclusive first North America serial rights until the off-sale date of the issue in which material is published, as well as exclusive rights to the work for promotional reprint and web use (writer bio and link(s) included with online publication). We prefer attribution any time an article is reprinted elsewhere that has appeared in our magazine. Blue Ridge Country rarely publishes reprints (the usual exception is book preview excerpts). Please inform us if you are simultaneously submitting the same story to another publication.
STYLE
With the exception of a few house preferences (i.e., inclusion of Oxford commas, putting major works in italics, etc.), we use AP style for all magazine content. Stories must include interview material from primary sources only (person-to-person interviews or, if necessary, Zoom/Teams interviews). We expect accuracy and thorough research in all submissions. We encourage first-person writing for outdoor recreation and travel writing.
ACCURACY
We fact-check all content before publication but expect all writers to submit thoroughly researched and accurate content that they have confirmed with real people, not websites. With all feature-length manuscripts, we require a list of citations and interviews for reference and final fact-checking.
PHOTOGRAPHY
We use primarily high-resolution color photographs (.jpgs or .tiffs, 300 dpi at a minimum print size of 5″x7″). We pay $50 (interior minimum) to $200 (cover maximum) for exclusive first North American serial rights until three months after the on-sale date of the issue in which the material is published, as well as rights to the work for promotional and reprint use. See photographic guidelines for more details.
HOW TO SUBMIT
Please send queries, along with a cover letter and a sample of your (preferably published) work to editor Sarah Riddell at sriddell@vistamediainc.com. We rarely publish unsolicited manuscripts.
