Question 1

THIS IS A JOURNEY! (Overview)

Accepted Answer

Welcome to "BeachSide"! We are so excited to launch this project. Let us give you a little background.   First and foremost, this is an organic effort meaning that we are looking to the Anastasia Island community to supply the content for the e-Magazine. My wife, Carole Trufant, and I are doing this because we love the beach community. We have successfully managed e-publications in NC and Jacksonville for profit. We are now retired and are launching this effort for fun (life is short). We have no staff (it's just us), we have no reporters and we are not selling any ads. So we are hoping to light up the community to be the main contributors to the e-magazine.   We have not published this model before. We have utilized commercial content for revenue. Not this time. The subscription is free and you are our reporters. We hope the community embraces this platform to inform, entertain and support the best of Anastasia Island. There are many creative folks on the island. We hope we bring a fun and valuable resource to locals and visitors a like.   That said, as editors, we are not sure what content will come our way or exactly what we are looking for to publish. This will be a work in progress as we refine our guidelines and find the sweet spot of content for our readers. It will take time to get it right and we believe over time BeachSide will become a unique and treasured resource. Please give us feedback at sabeachside@gmail.com.    Michael & Carole Trufant

Question 2

TELL US A STORY... Inform us, help us or entertain us."

Accepted Answer

We are looking for stories. Stories about life at the beach, stories about events coming to the beach, stories about the attractions on the island, stories about your expereinces here while walking, surfing, sailing, family outings, fishing or more.   Tell us a story. It's that simple. Tell us an interesting story. Tell us a story that others would enjoy reading. Tell us a story that helps us. Tell us a story about a nonprofit doing a good job. Tell us about a unique entrepreneur or retired service member.   300 words is all it need be or as long as you like. Inform us, help us or entertain us.

Question 3

Do I need to be a professional writer? (No indeed!)

Accepted Answer

No indeed! Beachside is a unique model where anyone may contribute to our e-Magazine. 300 words is a great size for a submission. It's easy and a digestible size for creating as a writer and consuming as a reader. Feel free to tell us a story in just 300 words (or more)!

Question 4

If you are an author with published books (FWA, FWAACC, etc.)..."

Accepted Answer

We are so excited to have a relationship with book authors/writers via the Florida Writers Association - Ancient City Chapter (https://fwaacc.com/).   We are a proud member of the Florida Writers Association (https://www.floridawriters.org/). You DO NOT need to be a member of either to contribute to BeachSide.   Because of your talent and background, we would love to have you write articles for BeachSide. Hopefully you will submit articles and build a reader relationship/following on Beachside by writing articles that our readers will love. When that happens, your name gains relevance and their interest in you grows to where they will want to know more about you. From there, we hope readers of your articles will read your bio section (we provide you), where you can certainly promote yourself and can provide links to your website where they will hopefully embrace you as an author and buy your books).   We want to be honest here. We look for articles that beachlovers want to read. The chances are pretty good that may not be you promoting your book via an article you submit. Promoting you and your work (in the bio) comes from successfully published articles that they want to read (beachy stuff). Trying to morph an article as a bread crumb to your book (in the article) isn't what we feel our readers desire. Write good articles for our readers and they'll be interested in who you are in the bio section we provide you for each article.   Our suggestion? Submit an article let's see what happens. Just take a look at the online submission form to see how we collect your bio information. We want to be successful and we know you do too. Let's work together. We imagine readers who, over time, can't wait to read your next article, buy your books and even attend a local book signing! You have talent. Apply it to our readers. Thank you!

Question 5

What kind of stories do we want?

Accepted Answer

Well, our prime focus is the beach. So imagine you are living on Anastasia Island or enjoy visiting there. Either one. Tell us your positive stories that a "beachy" reader wants to read.   The list is endless for a beach life lover. TELL US A STORY! Give us your preferences of what Anastastia Beach area is the best. Tell us about surfing, sailing, fishing, shell hunting or catching rays. Tell us about a nonprofit doing good work. Tell us why the beach is so much fun/romantic/soothing/playful. Tell us the most fun things to do on the island. Tell us about a concert coming up at the Amphitheatre and the nostalgia for you. Tell us about attractions and why you love them so much. Give us tips and tricks for enjoying the island. Tell us your childhood stories growing up/visiting the beach. Why did you move here? Tell us a fictional story cast on Anastasia Island! Any story a beach resident or visitor may enjoy. It's all fun. You need not be a journalist or an full time author. Share a story you think "beachies" would enjoy!   EVENTS - we LOVE events!   We want our readers to know what is "happening" on the island! If you have or know of an event, submit it as a story (write about it) or submit it as a story idea here and we'll catch it.

Question 6

What kind of stories are we NOT looking for?

Accepted Answer

So, we are not a news site. We are a magazine. A magazine shares the "flavor" of the island. We look for the positives. We bring the best of Anastsia Island to our readers (locals and visitors).   We are not a political site, so we are not looking for political stories. We are not engaged in any discourse or causes. There are plenty of places for that on social media, so that is not our place.   We don't want restaurant or business reviews. We'll reach out to both for stories, but submitted reviews can be subjective and misinterpretted.    We want to promote our island business community and we want our island businesses to submit stories, but we don't want stories that are outright ads. Visit our FAQs for businesses here.

Question 7

How does your submission get published? (IMPORTANT)

Accepted Answer

All approved submissions are published in the St. Augustine Beachside Digest. This is the home base for all stories we publish. It keeps all stories archived and available in a searchable blog database.   FROM this database, our weekly newsletter platform, The St. Augustine Beachside e-Magazine, uses AI (artificial intelligence) to review all the content submitted each week and selects a number of stories to include in the weekly to each subscriber. Not all stories published in the Digest wil be included in the weekly email, but readers can always go to the Digest anytime and view current and past stories.   EACH and EVERY subscriber gets a different e-Magazine newsletter each week. No two subscribers get the same e-Magazine newsletter. Because we use AI technology, as you select/read the stories you like each week, the AI platform learns your preferences and "serves" up more of the stories you like. For example, if you read surfing stories, you'll get those stories more often in your weekly email. Think of it as your "front page". While someone else may like beach attraction stories, they will get a different weekly email "front page" featuring stories they prefer.    So you may not see your story in your weekly email, but it may (based on the AI reading and "serving up" reader's preferences) go to other subscribers. Your story will always be in the Digest and you can certainly share the link on your social media channels. We will also capture data on readership of your stories that make it to the weekly email.

Question 8

Contact us

Accepted Answer

Michael is the Publisher and manages all the technical, marketing and program aspects of Beachside. Carole is the editor and responsible for the content that goes into Beachside.   Michael & Carole Trufant sabeachside@gmail.com 904-510-3373

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