This "plain Jane," style, full-disclosure, Business Plan is what is needed in a non-razzle dazzle format so it can be for printed for the ease of marking paragraphs with questions for discussion between potential partners.

Without giving away “trade secrets” ten years in development, here is a summary to interest a curious, but casual reader who has clicked through so far from a free CraigsList.org listing looking for writers—

1) E-Travel magazines is looking for content for individual "State"TravelMagazines.com publications, that eventually will provide a national revenue stream for others covering a life of traveling, which through a earn to own “investor controlled” LLC will eventually put me out to a retirement pasture, safe from Wall Street manipulations of pension plans, as the Editor Emeritus of www.USATravelMagazines.com.  See the list of available state travel magazine domains at the end of this page.

You may have arrived here from www.USATravelMagazines.com. If not, return there to see just how little of a distance this 70-year old, and sidekick Bobby Magee, have advanced on the way from Alaska, to Florida, in an honest Information Age style. Below we have the current list of what states that need a editor that understands the big cultural/historical/geographical significance to travelers from elsewhere.

Or any other of the 50 state URLs I control at this time come up very high in search engine positioning (out of millions of hits) when a reader is looking for something as eyeball competitive as “Alaska + Travel.” Go ahead and prove my point by typing a query as that, or any of our featured articles as “Alaska + Float Planes,” from this established magazine. Then, just imagine the power of linking back and forth to valid travel information from other states.

A state name URL alone has web power for Americans, but when to destinations on a trip of a lifetime for International travelers who cannot buy a print publication on Washington State on their supermarket newsstand, USATravelMagazines.com, will almost becomes a travel information content directory, inside of the search engines people use today. Remember that win-win-win boolean searchable Information Age, Google listings have replaced high priced “Yellow Page” advertising — which should not be confused with an another Industrial Age derogative of “yellow journalism” — for the active visitor to the largest library man has ever known. This is a happy way for those of us promoting affordable tourism as an educational experience on the way to world peace, and a celebration of life through appreciating all the characters strutting across Will Shakespeare's stage.

2) You may have noticed our switch from an “old fashioned” desktop computer screen size. We now are “broadcasting” in a 16:9 format intended to fit a HD quality screen on a laptop computer, or the TV (via the Internet) in people’s living rooms. I was 14-years old before I witnessed television the first time. Nobody thought then the new media would replace national network radio, or national magazines as LIFE, Look, Lady’s Home Companion — to mention a few of my published credits. But, from my lifetime experience, I also watched travel agencies replace bus, railroad, and airline ticket counters, to themselves be replaced by online bus, railroad, and airline websites selling e-ticket, I suggest that “old” established business control of loyal hearts and minds is ever changing. I have no doubt, that with help —remember that so far this has been a mom and pop endeavor— we will soon be appearing on a blackberry of a commuter strap hanger on the way to the office.

Consumers who grew up reading fuzzy letters on a green screen at school, have no problem with an ever improving “electronic page.” Indeed, part of the excitement of reformatting the interactive informational format of a traditional magazine is the learning curve following how network TV’s 60 Minutes is itself loosing ground to “bottom up” Internet reporters. Perhaps in worldly matters as important as travel, we will loose non-reading couch potatoes holding their breath for the, “But wait, there is more, pay for the S&H and we will send you two famous Dinglehoffergismos,” as they rightfully belong to the top-down, “Big Brother” control of people’s lives. People who travel, read.

Those of us “bottom up,” “foot loose and fancy free,” demographic of “dead tree,” and outdated, “travel guide book buyers” are reveling in a magazine editors truism spoken at the death of The Saturday Evening Post, that it was the reader’s who really “owned” a publication. And that Industrial Age Wall Street accountanting firms, as Arthur Anderson who felt otherwise, are being exposed as charlatans.

I revel in the fact that as an editor of AlaskaTravelMagazine.com we are supporting other small businesses as Alaskan fishing guides, B&B’s , air taxi operators, besides the foreign competition of a PAC Congress controlled Princess Cruise Line monopoly ashore, in an affordable way through Google Adsense taking the pressure off our editorial decisions, by handling all links beneficial to our readers through our “traveler’s resource” pages. Eventually I hope USATravelMagazines.com will pioneer that the full page following our video articles will become a “readers resource” travel store that sells product in a win-win-win (www) sort of way.

3) So, bottom line, Internet citizens. Let me challenge a boring status quo with the suggestion that all things technical, as video, and computers, are nothing more than tools. In the Iron Age, an axe was all powerful. It was only a tool. In the Industrial Age the lunar rover was still only a tool. In the cerebral world of today where, to quote myself, “ Words are pictures; pictures are words,” communication skills are also only tools. What is said is important. And, what a travel actually sees, when recommending others visit is —to use a phrase stolen by Hollywood— is the paramount picture.

In other words, Don Hewett, the pioneer of transforming the magazine format to TV as 60 Minutes, was correct when he stated the simple secret was to “Tell me a story!”

I also had a Native American friend in Alaska who was 20-years old before he first saw a “white-guy.” As I was delighted to try smoked beaver tail when camped with him —when his children went “uck”— I learned that many important elements of a good story have to be researched in person. I know that actually walking in the footsteps of history is equally important to stopping now and then to really look at man’s connectivity to our earth. You don’t have to know the scientific name of a flower to appreciate the scent carried on a gentle breeze.

The people I am looking for to finish my life’s dream of the USATravelMagazine “empire,” themselves need to fulfill a quest to guide readers from foreign lands, or states, through their passion for their home. And this without a manipulated family ticket price of thousands of dollars better spent on keeping a mortgage up to date. Everywhere has something worth visiting without paying the CEO.

4) And that brings us to a “bottom line” buried so deep in my psyche that all Wall Street CEO manipulations of money seems evil. I am, a triple academic “drop-out” (high school, college, photo school) that has somehow survived not having graduated with a “sheepskin,” along with the rest of the flock. With no biz degree I somehow acquired a multimillion dollar paper worth —excluding media developed for the fun of it, and a qualified 501 (C)(3) non-profit— but apparently did not learn how to be an effective playground bully stealing fellow student's milk money.

As nobody in big business of publishing, or Information Age enterprises, accepts job applications from dropouts (as Walter Cronkite, and Ernest Hemmingway; or Bill Gates, and Steve Jobs) the only paycheck in my life was for being gainfully employed for four years as a U.S. Air Force photographer. This was followed by raising a family (my excuse for not finishing school) supported by freelancing as a photographer, and writer, to LIFE, Holiday, Lady’s Home Companion, Popular Mechanics, Western Horseman, South Africa’s Scope, San Francisco Sunday roto newsmagazines, etc. before I turned pro as a graphic designer for a high-end U.S. Forest Service brochure. Past that, not having my “self-taught” carrier solidly running on an Industrial Age track, through a fascination in the middle 80’s that one actually could set type on an Information Age computer, I ended up founding an advertising agency, and for four years publishing a heavy gloss paper magazine, Economic Currents —see the archives of www.Macandmurray.com.

My reason for listing all of the blah-blah-blah of, “I am so lucky to have done all this” in my career to attract quality contributions, is somehow attitudes have changed over the years. Whereas as a freelancer I spent my children’s Christmas present fund to buy an annual update of Writer’s Market of addresses of where to send queries, all of the e-mails I am receiving 50-years later seem to be coming from the “Entitled Generation” — where mommies counseled children they were so bright they automatically deserved to be an instant success— making sure that our mom and pop organization spells their name correctly for payment on an unasked for article, that is nothing more than a “crib notes” chamber of commerce cut and paste.

My agency experience was a nightmare of dealing with “honors graduate” employees so far left behind the eight-ball they should have paid me for an education they didn’t get in collage, instead of me underwriting yet another holiday in celebration of the opening of another branch of the New York subway system.

I know I don’t delegate well. Bobby tells me I use the Dr. House methodology in teaching. And the next twenty-something favorite nephew VP, that tells me I (as a 70-year old) don’t understand what 1970’s era C/PM, DOS, CIS was all about is going to get the zit on the end of his nose, popped.

That anger translates to this: There will be no corporate paychecks issued in the development of USAtravelMagazine.com. Instead my biz model will be similar to sharing the wealth on a whaler out of New Bedford, Mass in the 1800’s. Ironically many modern day lawyers running up huge bills litigating “workers rights,” and issuing expensive opinions on franchise regulations or IPO corporations, use a similar system Legal Partnership agreement.

5) So, if you want to set sail with us, here is the fine print of the “follow the money rules” —for today.

a) Individual writers/photographers/videophotographers/Flash programers are invited to submit quires about complete ready to run pieces for individual states that follow our format and editorial guidelines. You will also be expected to open a Google Adsense account in your name and tastefully manage google links or banners for payment of your efforts. This payment policy may be overturned by individual state editors, but anything published before that event will be protected as long as the piece is online. Know It is a very poor practice for an online magazine to offer pages through a search engine that produce a “404 not found” error, so my policy is to archive everything.

b) My main thrust of this proposal is filling in the linked map at www.USATravelMagazines.com. At this stage of building “our” travel information publishing empire, most individual state URLS may be leased at the rate of $100 per month (plus PayPal service charges), at $1200 payable yearly, in advance. This fee covers high speed server hosting, including FTP access and usage logs. In return for following “look and feel” guidelines for a uniform look across all USATravelMagazines that doesn't embarrass other state editors, the individual state publications will be promoted by valid back and forth interlinking that money alone could not buy. Editors who supply a “killer” photo also will be “gifted” a limited number of high-gloss business-cards, plus the PhotoShop master to add other names.

c) The advertising revenue flow of the “your state” magazine will belong to the lease holder. In the event of any “state” media salesperson harpoons a Moby Dick national advertiser that splashes across everyones lines, it is expected that the proportioned group rate national client be shared across the USATravelMagazines, on a standard 15 percent ad agency commission.

d) The state editor of a leased URL, provided they haven’t turned “Arizona” into a porn capital of the West, or “New Jersey” into an virtual boardwalk casino, will have the right to renew their leases for three years. At this time “founder, and the URL owner of today” Barry Murray (also, in his own right a state editor for Alaska, Washington, Oregon, California, Nevada) with the council of editors from others states may (depending on performance) offer continued access to that particular URL to the one developing an address. This will be a “buy in” for services rendered to a investor managed Nevada LLC that will be the corporation

e) At this time, until USATravelMagazines brings in a national advertiser, or develops a “reader’s reward travel catalog page on-line store”, the corporate involvement would be offering editors low cost help as video editing, music sound tracks, Flash programming, search engine optimization, on a not-for profit basis.

As mentioned I am looking to retire. My seconds left, to use a Mexican expression of standing next to the hole, are precious. It would make no sense that spend them by hiring myself, and Bobby, out to “do” a state, and give away the potential ad revenue. However, what I have been motivated by all through my life is having fun. I could conceivably see us, in the right situation, sharing with a group of passionate “editors” how to turn on an HD video, digital camera, laptop computer, and their minds to think, identify, and write down for others to read, what is exciting about a particular state.

I am a contrarian in that while I have expanded Gutenberg’s love of words into a media he would have found unbelievable, I dislike talking into modern communication devices while traveling down the road in our motorhome. Therefore, if anything I have said makes sense to you, call Miz Bobby Magee (my beautiful lifemate lover) at 503-753-5868 or e-mail us at: macandmurray@gmail.com.