After twenty years of travel obsession, Ben Holbrook signs up to the London School of Journalism’s travel writing course – here’s the inside scoop on his bizarre but brilliant experience. Sitting at a bar drinking ice-cold San Miguel, a suitcase-sized screen showed lions ripping deer to pieces on National Geographic TV. I scribbled notes in [...]
No one wants to think that their website sucks. And no one wants to admit that it might, even when it does. But what does that even mean? At its core, a website has to do something for you, otherwise what is the point of having one? Just what it “does” for you is, of [...]
Most of you reading this know that TBEX10 was held this past weekend, in New York City. Some of you also know that I was there, because we finally got to meet in person (yaay!). No doubt you’ll be reading many “wrap-up” posts from any of the several hundred bloggers who also attended, as [...]
A couple of months ago I was honored and privileged to be asked by Andy Hayes to review an advance copy of a new eBook from Travel Online Partners. Many of you already know Andy through social networks and his consumer travel website and travel blog, “Sharing Travel Experiences“, but you may not know [...]
Reviews for The Travel Writer’s Handbook (Subtitled: How to Write – and Sell – Your Own Travel Experiences) by Louise Purwin Zobel and Jacqueline Harmon Butler call it “brilliant and highly informative … everything I would want to know about travel writing technique” (Carol Guanzon of Scenic World) and “the best on the subject I’ve [...]
Few travel writers and travel bloggers, if any, don’t know who Rolf Potts is. When you say the words “travel writing”, many people think of a “went there, did that” guidebook-like style of writing, and in truth much of travel writing is exactly that. What prolific writer, author, and well-known vagabond Rolf Potts produces, however, [...]
Twitter has become enormously popular. Celebrities such as Oprah are on Twitter. Ok, Oprah is probably not tweeting herself, but someone from her organization is. It’s a great way to keep fans and followers up-to-date on what is going in your life or to promote your blog or website. Instead of spending hours every day [...]
Now travel writers can monetize their reviews. In my never ending search for inspiring retreat holiday destinations I’ve just stumbled across a new travel website called Simon Seeks. The site has been created by Simon Nixon, that’s the guy behind moneysupermaket.com and travelsupermarket.com. He’s used his internet enabled brain to create what may be the [...]
On occasion travel writers find themselves with a story that is much more than just material for an article. They may decide to try their hand at writing a book. And as often happens with writers, they may find themselves in need of help getting their story told. If that’s you, you may want to [...]
I’m assuming that a majority of travel writers are relying on their blogging platform and its built-in plugins to optimize articles for the best search engine results. The problem with this method is that you are relying on automated code to guess the best target market. For example, my article “5 Extreme Winter Sports That [...]
Louisa Watson Peat O’Neil is no stranger to the travel writing industry. She is a former staff writer for The Washington Post and has had her travel writing published in several esteemed national and international newspapers and magazines. So when she writes a book about travel writing, it makes sense to read it. Travel Writing: [...]
Travel fiction can be a refreshing approach to writing about travel. There are many ‘non-fiction’ books on the market and a work of fiction could be a breath of fresh air that a Publisher is looking for. Many travel writers submit a guidebook or a ‘travel tips’ book. Set yourself apart and take a stab [...]
Many of the travel writers I communicate with are long-time, traditional freelance travel writers who are very accustomed to producing content structured in accordance with the editorial guidelines of whatever publication they are writing for. They can produce the exact number of words, use the desired point of view, and can “style” their writing to [...]
It’s really clear that the folks behind the hugely successful MatadorNetwork have put a lot of thought and work into how they’ve structured MatadorU, their new Travel Writing Course. Theirs is an amazing success story – Matador began with just an idea back in 2006, and it’s grown it into one of the top online [...]
There are a lot of writing tools available that are designed to help travel writers and travel authors, to make the writing process easier. Whether you’re crafting a narrative-style travel essay or a travel book, you’re in effect weaving a story that you hope will intrigue, engage, and entertain readers. Some people are natural born [...]
