Writing (and Selling) Travel Fiction

how to write and sell travel fiction
Updated: Mar 13th, 2012

Travel writers make great novelists.

They have all the ingredients – writing ability, courage and the creative fuel of seeing new places.

With this in mind, I thought I’d share a few tips about how to write and sell travel fiction.

I now write travel fiction for a living, but writing novels and getting paid for it isn’t easy, as anyone who’s tried it will know. I made plenty of mistakes before reaching publication and profit.

Let me outline a few of the secrets to success I wish I’d been given ten years ago, when I first decided to write travel fiction:

There’s more to a good tale than simply relating real life.
  1. Your travel experiences are the basis of a good story, but not the story
    Often, when you work abroad, or see some amazing or unsettling things in a different country, it feels like that alone could make a story. But there’s much more to a good tale than simply relating real life – even if real life is fascinating. Fiction needs to be made larger than life, so think bigger.
  2. Research, research, research
    Even if you’ve lived in a foreign country and feel you know it very well, it’s still vital to read as much about your subject area as possible. When I researched Glass Geishas, I was amazed by all the things I found out about sex in Japan, even though I worked in Tokyo’s sex district. Research really fueled my imagination and helped me write the book. Some of the best feedback I got about Glass Geishas were about the scenes I book-researched rather than experienced directly.
  3. Network to find an agent/publisher
    Lots of people send their beautifully crafted travel fiction to agents or publishers, where their hard work is thrown onto a great pile and waded through by people who are often too busy to read it properly.

    Sending manuscripts out blind this way requires an awful lot of luck for success. Now I must confess, I did get lucky this way. But it took me a very long time.
    Networking is a far quicker, and easier way to get noticed if your books are any good.

    How do you network? Visit publishing events, find people on twitter, but most important of all – find the thing you can offer an agent or publisher that they might want. No, not your manuscript. What can you offer? Well, if you’re as a journalist, you can offer press coverage, which is extremely valuable, and a great way to meet people.

And finally … ignore the doom and gloom. You can get paid to write travel fiction, so if this is your dream, go for it!

(If you want to read more about Glass Geishas, see my website here: Book Group Books).

~ Susanna

About Susanna Quinn 1 Article

Susanna Quinn is a former Guardian journalist who now writes novels about the sex industry in Asia. She lives in Brighton with her partner, daughter and many flocks of seagulls.

You can follow Susanna on Twitter

2 Comments

  1. Great post, Susanna. I personally went the self-publishing way for my travel books, but I do like your tips about networking to find an agent.

    • Hi Maria, what a lovely comment, thanks so much.
      I’m actually on the side of doing it yourself in many areas of publishing, particularly things like travel where people search by topic and key word. Basically, anything non-fiction I think can be more profitable if you go it alone.
      I love your book titles btw – very funny and interesting!

Sorry, Commenting is automatically closed on all Posts older than two years.

Some links on this page do earn us a small amount of money if you click on them and make a purchase. Not much, maybe enough for a cup of coffee or a beer, but we would never recommend any item if we didn't believe in it's value to you. Plus, every little bit helps keep this site going and helps us continue to provide you with great information.  We appreciate your support!