The marketing component of freelance writing scares away many writers. Most novice writers are clueless at marketing themselves and their work, and worse, fear it like the plague. Other writers “just want to write”, believing that somehow, miraculously, editors of top shelf magazines will call them with assignments. However, if you want to be successful […]
Many aspiring travel writers never get around to sending out pitches because they can’t quite figure out how to write a query letter. Writing a marketable query is especially difficult in travel writing because beginners have the tendency of wanting to pitch a story about every attraction at a destination. I get this. Early in […]
I’ve met hundreds of travel bloggers during my freelance travel writing career. Almost without exception they tell me they hadn’t realized how much work would be involved in creating and maintaining a blog. And, most of them tell me they’ve made little or no money from their travel blog, even after two or three years. […]
*If you own your own website. Travel writing has never been a lucrative business. The glamorous view which people had of the profession ensured that there were always more people who wanted to do it than there were jobs available. Nonetheless, it was possible several decades ago to make a decent living as a travel […]
Freelance travel writing is definitely not for people who expect the freelance world to conform to them. A willingness to be flexible by adjusting our approaches, writing styles, topics, and sales and marketing techniques, is absolutely essential if we want to see our work published in print, and be paid for it. We must adapt […]
Over the past several years of working with novice travel writers, I’ve noticed they tend to make a lot of incorrect assumptions about how things work in freelance writing. These assumptions cost them assignments with paying magazines and newspapers. One prevalent assumption is that some paying magazines will not be interested in their stories. I […]
As a travel writer for print media, I’m often asked by other freelancers how digital media has affected the print travel magazine business. That’s a fair question. DEFINITIONS Print travel media consists primarily of travel magazines, travel memoir books, & travel guidebooks. Digital travel media includes travel websites, travel blogs, travel service websites like TripAdvisor.com, […]
Over the past couple of years, I’ve received several desperate requests from novice travel writers, …. ….asking me to help them round up some last-minute assignments, so they can request complimentary accommodations, meals, entry to tourist attractions, rounds of golf, fishing trips, boat cruises, and a host of other freebies, at their destinations. There’s only […]
Do you envision yourself on a distant shore, documenting your daily adventures, while at the same time, funding your dream lifestyle? Many people are finding that becoming a travel writer is an attainable goal. But a few missteps can shatter those dreams in record time. Some of the suggestions below are applicable to all who […]
Wouldn’t it be great if we had the power of foresight? We could gaze into the future and learn from our mistakes. Well, I may not have the superpower of foresight, but I’ve learned a lot—and gained a lot of valuable experience—in my ten years in the rough-and-tumble freelance travel writing game. Looking back on […]
