OUR STORY
Dylan Guides started in Ojai, California. Every month or two, friends would come up to visit and ask about what to do, where are good nearby hikes, how best to spend a few days, etc. Normally, we'd just sit them down and explain some options. But after a friend showed up while we were out of town, we started typing up a list of suggestions.
Twenty pages later, we realized that a lot of Ojai visitors might benefit from this same information, so we decided to put it online. In short, this isn’t similar to what we would tell friends who came to visit, it’s exactly what we showed friends who came to visit. Call it naive, but to us, this guide was about being a better host and bringing the world closer together, and bridging the gap between the sometimes parallel tourist and local universe.
But we’ll stop there. When we buy guidebooks, we almost never read this kind of stuff and suspect you won’t either - but if you do want to know our biases, background, what it’s like to live in Ojai, etc. go to the back of the book.
WHAT'S NOT IN THESE GUIDES?
These are not comprehensive - just the opposite. But we get frustrated sometimes trying to read between the lines of guidebooks to find out what's actually worth doing.
Also, there aren't addresses, phone numbers, and hours and such - most everyone buying this will also have a smart phone to look that stuff up - and besides, who'd rely on the hours printed in a book by a third party instead of posted online by the business?
WHAT IS THIS ABOUT SALES LIMITS?
We limit monthly sales to five percent of a town’s total population. In other words, if a place has a population of 10,000, we cap monthly sales at 500 copies.
WHY?
These are special places to locals. If and when word gets out and they get overwhelmed by tourists, they become less special.
WHY SELL ANY THEN?
In our view, the incremental impact of more visitors is offset by the values of supporting local businesses and the good that comes from cross-cultural enrichment. Put another way, if we all stay in our own little valleys, we’re all a bit diminished for it. But no doubt some people would rather this book not exist and that that no visitors come at all. To those folks, all we can say is, sorry, we just see things a little differently.
WHY 5%?
It’s arbitrary but five percent feels about what most places can handle – more than 5% out-of-town customers to a beloved local eatery, for example, could begin to materially impact things like wait times and the chance of running into people you know. Besides, our writers go to all of these places too and want to continue going to them. But 5% more customers to restaurant owners, many of whom have just 10% margins, well, that can make a big difference at year end.
BUT YOU SELL 5% MONTHLY? DOESN’T THAT ADD UP?
It could, but few people go to the same weekend place more than once a month. Or for that matter, more than once or twice a year. Yes over time it could add up, but most of the content in these little books is perishable and not especially relevant after a few years. And a lot of people buy travel guides as research and never end up going so we feel we’re still in safe territory at 5%.
WHY ARE THESE ANONYMOUS? WASN'T IT JOAN DIDION WHO WROTE, "CHARACTER IS THE WILLINGNESS TO ACCEPT RESPONSIBILITY FOR YOUR OWN ACTIONS?
We love Joan Didion, but these guides work because their anonymous. How many guides, for example, have a section called, “Restaurants To Avoid”? So to Joan Didion, we’d reply with a Lewis Lapham from Harper’s: “In a small town, you don’t want to cut off anyone in the parking lot because it may be your son’s music teacher, and now they’re going to assign him the trombone.” In other words, if we’re going to write these short, opinionated guides, we're going to need some tinted windows.
HOW DO I WRITE FOR DYLAN GUIDES?
Well, first you have to live in a place we'd want to visit. That sounds snooty, but these take a lot of work and we just assume not put in the time to a place we don't love. Think we'd love where you live? Great. We’ll pay you, but you need four things to write for Dylan Guides:
1.) At least seven years living where you intend to write about.
2.) Crazy wanderlust not just for the world, but your town.
3.) A sense of humor.
4.) No jerks - life is too short to deal with jerks.
If you think you meet all four of these, please send an email to authors@dylanguides.com with the name of your town, your writing experience, and three sample entries: a restaurant suggestion, a short hike, and, something to do that’s highly local, really cool, and that wouldn’t be written up anywhere else. Bonus points if you also send us a link to your all-time favorite YouTube video.
Anyway, if it seems like a good fit, we’ll send you a copy of our author guidelines and be in touch about next steps.
YEAH, OKAY. BUT HOW DO I JUST, YOU KNOW, CONTACT YOU?
This a work in progress. Feel we’re not getting it right? Contact us at dylan@dylanguides.com or @dylanguides