Travel book publishers and travel magazines seek articles about travel each week. You will find many opportunities to get paid to do what you love. If you have a desire to become a travel writer, you will succeed! Passion and perseverance will pay off!

Book It!: Check out Douglas E. Morris’ e-book “FabJob Guide to Become a TravelWriter” which can be found at fabjob.com. Douglas not only shares his travel experiences but his expert advice as well.

Steps to become a published travel author

1. Networking, networking, networking! Find other aspiring travel authors and obtain valuable feedback about your work! Check out forward motion for writers.
2. Go the traditional route. Write a book, and “shop” it around to agents and publishers until it’s accepted.
3. Find a small publisher aka a “niche” publisher who is looking for the right books. For example, if your book takes place in a specific country or location, find a publisher who only prints books about that area. A small publishing house will be interested in many different things.
4. If you can’t find a small publisher, you can try a POD (publisher on demand). You may be charged a fee and may not receive help with editing or marketing your book. Some believe there is a “stigma” attached to POD books. Apparently bookstores will not carry them and reviewers will not read them. But, if you are willing to do some or all of the marketing yourself, you can make money with a POD book.
5. Self-publish. You can do this with a publishing service, which will copy and bind your book, do the job yourself, or you can visit and sign up with cafepress.com. Click on “start selling” and find out how you can sell your books online! When you self publish, you are solely responsible for selling your books. This is why I mentioned cafepress.com. With a “click” of a button your book can be bound as saddle-stitch, wire-o, or perfect bound. Of course, you could drive around with books in your car and convince local businesses to offer your book to their customers along with merchandise that is already in the store.
6. Use a vanity publisher. To get a nicely bound book with cover art and your name on the spine, be prepared to pay for every man-hour that is used to make your book. People who use vanity publishers print a few copies and give their book away to friends and colleagues to impress them.
7. Create an e-book. This is a book that exists only as a computer file. These are very popular! A buyer transfers money to a publisher who then authorizes the buyer to download the book to his or her own computer. If you have a short travel book, consider offering it as an e-book.

Publish Alert!: Authors have more ways to get published thanks to computers and the internet. Getting published in the traditional manner can be tedious. As an aspiring travel author, be willing to consider other options. An “open-mind” will enable you to find quicker routes to publication versus those who go “old school” and insist on acceptance from one of the major publishing houses. Did you know that Amazon.com charges a commission of 55% to sell your book? There’s an in-depth calculation on how it comes out to be 55%. Who knew! Take care that you get a fair amount from your publisher.

Whew! Aspiring travel authors, you have some decisions to make. Keep on writing! As I “unearth” more information on becoming a travel writer/author, I’ll let you know!

Penning it,
~ Rebecca