There are two major sections on GenevaLunch: News, which contains stories reported by professional journalists or drawn from external sources, and Community. The Community pages carry a mix of news and comment on events that matter to you, written by contributors called "community reporters."
How to Become a Community Reporter
If you are interested in writing for GenevaLunch (GL), contact the editor at editor@genevalunch.com, giving an idea of the topic or community you would like to cover. Please read the editorial guidelines. Upon approval, we will send you GL's charter and ask you to agree (a simple yes by e-mail is fine). You will then have your very own, free blog on the GL site, where you can provide information about and comments on your community's news.
We look in particular for people who feel passionate about and would like to write regularly on events in their "communities." These can be geographic, for example, a town in the region, or an age group such as university students or retired people. You might want to write for and about middle managers or amateur sports fans or family life. We're interested in including the voices of every group in the Lake Geneva region.
Here are the types of community reporters we're looking for:
Regular community reporters: If you would like to write regularly about a particular topic or your community, contact the editor at editor@genevalunch.com. We ask that you contribute at least once a month, or 12 posts a year. You are free to publish as long as you respect the editorial guidelines. Your "community" could be anything from your industry to your school or your sports club, or an informal group that likes to go clubbing on Friday nights.
Occasional community reporters: You'd like to write a report connected to something in the "news", but you don't think you're a regular blogger? GenevaLunch publishes community reports on a one-off basis, too. Let us know what event or news you'd like to write about. Contact the editor at editor@genevalunch.com with a brief description of the subject and a little information about yourself and why you feel qualified to write about this.
If you aren't sure about the news peg on which to hang your story contact us anyway and we'll try to help you find that peg.
There are some exceptions to news-related reporting, such as travel. This is a region rich in travellers, so please consider sharing your tales with the rest of us, who might want to follow in your footsteps.
Bloggers by invitation: Other occasional community reporters are people who have their own blogs and we've asked them to share a slice of these here. If you've seen a blog that you think fits, let us know and we'll contact the blogger.
Not sure how blogging works? It's much easier than you think! Start with our Blogging Basics page.
Journalists
For the News section: contact the editor at editor@genevalunch.com.
GenevaLunch does not pay contributors at this time. Our first goal is to make as much news and information as possible accessible to the entire community. GenevaLunch operates with very low overhead, using blogging technology. It is entirely supported by advertising. We intend to keep advertising costs low in order to help small businesses, who are important members of the community, reach others in the English-speaking community.
Why contribute if there is no pay (we all like money)? You like the subject, you have something your editor can't use, it's a way to gather material for future reporting while at least getting some exposure. Mostly, it's a chance to strengthen this community and make it a more active part of the Lake Geneva region. If the traffic flows to the site, we will be able to move to the next phase, sponsorship, and the first income will be used to pay journalists, starting with those who have contributed the most.
(Please note: while we are willing to work with journalists whose experience is limited, this is not a site for inexperienced writers hoping to add credits to their curriculum vitae.)