Author: Laura McGill

The Mississippi Tourism Association was looking for a new publisher for their 2025 tour guide. For the proposal, I worked closely with the art director to create a visual and well-written explanation of the company’s ability to meet and exceed the request details.

After the company secured the bid, I led the internal processes to ensure the sales team was equipped with the needed material. I met with the client to continue the conversation, to learn more about the expectations.

From there, the client and I worked on a very detailed editorial outline to make sure the entire state was covered. With that approved, I set out to contract with five freelance writers for major articles. I utilized two in-house writers for some of the regional content and carried the remainder of the copy myself.

To address the client’s need for more content than was possible to fit in the print guide, the art director and I created an addendum for the online guide. The extra 100+ pages held the attraction listings and events that were not included in the print version.

See the gallery below for examples and view the entire online guide here.

The Alabama Tourism Department uses the vacation guide to fulfill requests and to have at state and local welcome centers. The guide serves to both invite people to visit and to make the most of their time in the state.

My role was to lead the production team to produce the guide on schedule. This included the design, photography, written editorial, listings, and advertisements.

I worked closely with the sales team to adhere to the contractual terms for advertising. I reviewed all ads to ensure accuracy. For sponsored editorial, I handled the relationship with the advertiser and wrote the content.

For the Alabama Vacation Guide, I proofed all content for grammar and accuracy, created all needed QR codes as dynamic codes able to be edited later, and worked with the art director on photo selection.

My role also included reviewing all display ads for accuracy, working with advertisers and designer to create the enhanced listings, and leading the verification of all listings.

I worked directly with advertisers who purchased sponsored editorial. This entailed writing the content to fit the space, securing photography, and proofing to the advertiser. I wrote three articles and assisted with smaller pieces of content.

See the gallery below for examples and view the entire online guide here.

The 2025 guide reflects organizational changes at the tourism office. With a new point of contact, new agency of record, and a new branding campaign, the guide’s mission was to complement the new vision.

The client wanted more connectivity with their website. To accomplish this, they provided the top performing blogs. I took those and edited them to work within the approved design. This meant some were edited for length. For example, a blog that promoted 12 restaurants would only have space to promote six in print.

Other examples of editing were taking multiple blogs and blending them into one print article. An example of this is the Family Time print article. It is based on three blogs.

For the photoshoots, my role was to organized them by contacting the selected business to coordinate timing. I attended the shoots to provide support.

As project manager, I reviewed all ads for accuracy. I worked with the sales team to ensure ads were in line with the contract terms and to provide sales extensions as needed.

See the gallery below for examples and view the entire online guide here.

The Huntsville guide does not rely on advertising for revenue. This allows the entire 52 pages to be devoted to storytelling.

That scenario delighted the editor and project manager in me. As an editor, knowing that we did not need to reserve any space for ads meant that we could tell more stories and go more in-depth. As a project manager, it meant a streamlined process with no sales materials, no sales deadlines, and no ads to produce.

I worked with the client to determine the outline. I wrote the content and helped to secure the photography. With the art director, I worked to edit the copy to fit the design.

See the gallery below for examples and view the entire online guide here.