Top 10 Travel Writing Books

Travel Writing 2.0: Earning Money from your Travels in the New Media Landscape

Travel Writing 2.0:
Earning Money from your Travels in the New Media Landscape

– A well-written and easy to understand guide for aspiring travel writers that covers today’s digital environment as well as traditional publishing, both of which are vital for a truly successful career in travel writing. With plentiful and generous advice, and numerous interviews with successful travel writers and authors, Mr. Leffel offers a comprehensive learning tool that should be a part of every writer’s library.

» Read our full review of Travel Writing 2.0

Lonely Planet Guide to Travel Writing book cover

Lonely Planet Travel Writing (How to)
– The definitive guide for both aspiring and experienced travel writers. What Lonely Planet is to millions of travelers around the world, this guide is to those who want to write about their travels. Whether you want to become a professional Travel Writer or are already a Travel Writer and just to improve your skills, we highly recommend this book. Limited budget and can only afford one book? This is the one.

The Writer's Handbook - Guide to Travel Writing

The Writer’s Handbook Guide to Travel Writing
– Full of good advice and a number of very interesting interviews with leading Travel Writers, The Writer’s Handbook is one you’ll refer to often as you build your own business and reputation. Learn how to avoid many common mistakes and get started on the right path to becoming a successful (or more successful) Travel Writer.

Travel Writer's Guide

Travel Writer’s Guide
– a solid basic guide that is better suited for beginning Travel Writers, particularly those who have not traveled extensively in the past, the Travel Writer’s Guide has a lot of great tips for planning and organizing a trip, along with good advice on how to interview others, how to structure your writing, and how to market your articles.

» Read our full review of Travel Writer’s Guide.

The Travel Writer's Handbook

The Travel Writer’s Handbook:
How to Write – and Sell – Your Own Travel Experiences

– A unique perspective and solid tips on some of the smaller details (such as record-keeping), as well as a good focus on basics (like researching your destinations) make this book a useful and illuminating read, worth your time even if you’re an experienced travel writer. The newest edition covers relevant topics missing from previous versions, such as the opportunities bought about by the internet, as well as the advantages (and disadvantages) of digital photography.

» Read our full review of The Travel Writer’s Handbook.

ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing

The ASJA Guide to Freelance Writing:
A Professional Guide to the Business, for Nonfiction Writers
of All Experience Levels

– filled with great suggestions and valuable tips, each of this book’s 26 chapters was written by a different member of the American Society of Writers and Journalists. Although you’ll find a lot of good nuggets of advice, the book’s focus is on writing, something that can get overlooked in the quest to become a professional writer. The best way to ensure your success as a writer is to make sure your writing skills are of a professional caliber, and this book will definitely help with that.

The Renegade Writer

The Renegade Writer:
A Totally Unconventional Guide to Freelance Writing Success

– Unconventional is definitely the singular descriptive for this book. While full of common sense and good advice, this book turns most of the conventional rules of freelance writing upside down and breaks a few along the way, while still proving that success can often be found by not following the rules. Additionally, this book offers a unique value by providing readers with an online Wiki for writing markets, and access to successful query letters to help you with your own. The authors also offer online courses taught by successful freelancers on a wide variety of writing topics, including travel writing.

How To Make A Living as a Travel Writer

How to Make a Living As a Travel Writer
– A well-organized primer on the industry of Travel Writing in general, with a number of good examples of different types of travel writing styles and articles. Nothing new here for experienced professional travel writers, but it’s a good starting point for those looking to become a travel writer.

Travel Writing

Travel Writing: See the World. Sell the Story.
– A thorough, comprehensive, and well-structured guide that includes exercises to reinforce it’s lessons, written by an experienced and successful travel writer. Included is a well-written explanation of the various classifications of travel articles, and a number of additional resources, such as writing examples, marketing directory listings, organizations, and more. This book stays focused with just nine chapters, so there is not a lot of wasted fluff here – a good read with good sound advice, perfect for beginners, but all travel writers can pick up a thing or two here.

» Read Our Full Review of Travel Writing: See The World, Sell The Story

Get Paid To Write

Get Paid to Write! The No-Nonsense Guide to Freelance Writing
– This book is unique amongst all others in this genre in that its author was also an editor and publisher, and he shares his experience and insights into the other side of the travel writing partnership – getting published. You may have wonderful writing skills, but getting published is about giving readers what they want, and this book will help you to do just that. Packed with good advice and insider tips and success secrets, this book is a “must-have” for any serious freelance travel writer.

» Read our full review of Get Paid To Write!: The No-Nonsense Guide to Freelance Writing

The Best Travel Writing 2008

The Best Travel Writing 2008: True Stories from Around the World
– Reading this collection of some of the very best articles from Travel Writers is a great way to get a feel for what makes a great story. Learning from these examples may just help you find your own style if you’re brand new at Travel Writing, or to improve your style if you’re already an experienced, if not already successful, Travel Writer. Some of these stories are so good you’ll feel like you were there – Travel Voyeurism at it’s finest!

A Sense Of Place

Bonus! A Sense of Place:
Great Travel Writers Talk About Their Craft, Lives, and Inspiration

– Not a “travel writing guide book” – you won’t find how-to’s or getting-started advice here – but what you will find is an entertaining and illuminating look at the literary genre of Travel Writing from the perspective of some of the best in the business – writers whose words paint pictures and whose stories have drawn tourists from all over the world to the places they’ve written about. This book won’t teach you, but it will inspire you and encourage you, and you’ll likely find yourself reading it many times over.