Edited by Lori Appling in Delray Beach, Florida

"The ability to focus attention on important things is a defining characteristic of intelligence."
-- Robert J. Shiller

TODAY:

• Three Ways to Broaden Your Focus and Bump-Up Your Travel Writer Income
• A Night Out in Chicago
• Do You Have What It Takes to Write for This Market?
• This Week's Featured Travel Publication: Chicago Parent
• More Opportunities and Resources for Writers

Imagine A SUMMER OF TRAVEL... FREE.

What's more, you'll earn a few hundred... maybe even a few thousand… dollars for your trouble. Sound too good to be true?

Well, that's exactly how retired television executive Duane Harm and his wife Harlene spent the summer of 2002 -- traveling across the western U.S. All told, they visited 23 different dude ranches in Colorado, Wyoming, and Montana over a three-month period, staying for free an average of three days at each ranch. The total value of their summer stays? About $55,000… and they didn't pay anything. Not one cent.

What's more, they wrote an article for Steamboat Magazine, a high-end coffee-table publication based in Steamboat Springs, CO that comes out twice a year. And they were paid for their work. Here's more: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb

Dear Reader,

June 17th is just around the corner.

If you're still sitting on your rump and you haven't signed up for our next live workshop in Chicago, you'd better hurry. We always get a flood of last-minute sign ups and have to turn people away in order to keep the group review sessions small.

Jen Stevens, John Forde, Steenie Harvey, Denise Ford (no relation to John), yours truly, and the editor of the Chicago Tribune (Randy Curwin) will be there.

Jen's adding three bonus sessions -- How to Write Real Estate Travel Articles, The Secrets Behind Researching and Interviewing, and How to Imagine Stories That Sell Every Time. And, she's got some questions for Randy you won't want to miss.

Plus, the materials covered at these live workshops don't apply to travel writing alone. Katherine P., who attended our live workshop last year in Paris, found herself in town again this year and stopped by to say hello and to tell us how much mileage she'd gotten out of her workshop experience.

The "storytelling techniques" she picked up through our program have served her very well, she told the class. They helped her in getting a travel article published (in Russian, no less). But beyond that, she's applied them with great success in her consulting business. Writing proposals that make use of the techniques we teach for grabbing a reader's attention and writing to the heart before the head have landed her more work than she ever imagined.

On that subject, I've asked Jen to give you some insight into what else she does with her travel-writing expertise -- ways she's used it to create opportunities beyond straight travel articles. I've included her comments below.

Don't forget to keep me up-to-speed on your travel-writing success. If you have a story to share, send me a quick note at lori@thetravelwriterslife.com.

And let me know if I can expect you in Chicago. A bunch of us are getting together on Friday night to see Second City after that day's lessons. Although these workshops are fast-paced and intense, travel writing is fun, and a night out on the town might spark a few article ideas. For details: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb I'd love to see you there.

Take care,

Lori
Director, AWAI's Travel Writer Program

P.S. Know a friend or two who'd enjoy the freedom and independence of a writer's life? They, too, can sign up to receive this free e-letter weekly at: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/eletter

THREE WAYS TO BROADEN YOUR FOCUS AND BUMP-UP YOUR TRAVEL WRITER INCOME : By Freelance Writer Jennifer Stevens in Chicago

What you know about good travel writing holds true, in my view, of all good writing.

The skills I teach in Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course (http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sh/tw4), many of which I've also discussed here in past issues of The Write Way to Travel -- like how to read critically, analyze your audience, grab a reader's attention, organize your material, and so on -- those skills will serve you well no matter what kind of writing you do.

So, too, will falling into the good habits the most successful travel writers employ -- like noticing stand-out details all around you, discovering article ideas wherever you look, writing daily (or at least regularly).

And what you know about getting in touch with editors and marketing your material applies well beyond travel writing as well.

This week, I thought to introduce you to a few ways you can parlay your travel-writing know-how into related writing opportunities -- some of which often pay better than travel writing typically does.

*** Pursue an Interest

One way to increase the number of writing commissions you get is to position yourself as an "expert" in some field. I've put "expert" in quotes because while having an advanced degree in horticulture, for example, would allow you to claim an official expertise -- you needn't endure all the coursework to build a reputation as somebody who writes with authority on that subject.

Let's say you love to garden. Whenever you travel, you do so with an eye to what's in bloom. You go out of your way to tour botanical gardens. You take in flower shows. You visit castles for the grounds. When you trek through a rainforest you're more interested in the bromeliads than the howler monkeys.

There is absolutely no reason why you can't start writing stories that are plant-related. They could be plant-and-travel-related -- perhaps you write a piece about Sweden's summer gardens or about fall displays in America's mid-Atlantic or about a plant-related nature hike through the Ecuadorian Andes.

And you might position these articles for travel publications -- or you might not. You could just as easily write for Horticulture magazine or Chicagoland Gardening or the Australian publication Your Garden, for example.

I have no official schooling in real estate. Yet I suppose I'm what you'd consider an expert of sorts on international property investing. I've spent much of the past decade on the road for International Living and Island Properties Report -- seeking out not just travel ideas readers of those publications would enjoy, but also investment opportunities. I really don't think I could count the number of undeveloped beaches I've strolled along. I certainly couldn't put an exact figure to the number of homes I've toured around the world.

And so, a bit by default mind you, I've developed a certain perspective the average traveler (and even the typical travel writer) doesn't have. I can talk about relative values. I can tell you what $50,000 will buy you on Nicaragua's coast and what the same cash will get you on a lake in Guatemala, for example.

And so when the BBC was looking for somebody to talk to about direct, individual foreign investment in Ireland, they called me. When AARP wanted to do a special feature online about where to retire overseas, they called me.

[continued below]

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There's no reason why you can't develop for yourself the same sort of specialization. If you've always wanted to learn how to Scuba dive -- do it. If you really love it, learn about it. And write about it.

If you've always loved to cook -- and your friends praise your magic in the kitchen, try out a cooking school in India and write about it. Or take a food-and-wine tour through France and write about it. Or stay close to home. You could do a round-up piece for the food section of your local paper about five places you can learn to cook nearby.

Pursue what interests you. There's no reason why you can't parlay those interests into an "expertise" that can increase your writing income. I assure you -- collect by-lines for three cooking-related articles, and all of a sudden, you'll be not just a travel writer... but a food writer, too.

*** Cash in on Expertise You Already Have

I've met a remarkably diverse selection of folks in the travel-writing workshops I've taught over the years. Architects. Physicians. Teachers. Accountants. University professors. Guitarists. Opera singers. Painters. These folks already have an expertise. You may as well.

So think about what you read for your "professional" career. Why not write for one of those publications? Your stories needn't be travel-related at all, though they certainly could be.

A "clip" is a clip is a clip. What I mean is that as you're starting out and working hard to get those first three by-lines so you can show editors you really are a professional and begin to develop for yourself some track record as a writer -- it doesn't matter if those clips are travel-related or not.

Certainly, a travel editor would like to see some travel clips. But it's not absolutely critical. The editor wants to see that you can write. And she can discern that from a non-travel piece just as easily as from an article devoted to travel.

*** Break into Promotional Travel Writing

If you're really most interested in travel and travel writing, then you might consider branching out beyond straight editorial into travel-related promotional work.

Writing persuasively is critical to good travel writing. And as you gain success as a travel writer, you're polishing the techniques you can employ to persuade your reader to take action -- to book a trip that follows in your footsteps, for example.

As you can imagine, that's exactly what a travel brochure is meant to do -- sell a destination or a tour or a service or a hotel. And so many of the same skills you already possess will apply directly to marketing writing that's travel-related.

As a rule, marketing writing tends to pay better that editorial writing. That said, however, I'd suggest you start small -- just as I suggest you start your career writing articles by approaching lesser-known publications.

Look at small tour operators overseas who might need help with their websites, for example. Perhaps you stayed at a great B&B in rural Mexico -- you stumbled across it by accident and their promotional materials just don't do the place justice. You could offer to do a new brochure for them.

In the same way you're building your portfolio of travel articles you can build a portfolio of travel brochures or travel marketing materials. And just as one by-line leads to another so does one marketing job.

While you might not be paid -- at least at the outset -- more than a couple of hundred dollars to put a short brochure together, you can raise your fees as you gain experience and clients. And one way to cash in on travel perks would be to offer a hotel a new brochure or new website copy in exchange for a few nights' stay, for example.

I write a lot of travel-related direct-mail copy. This tends to be longer marketing copy sent to a specific audience to sell -- in the case of most of my clients -- tours or conferences.

I'm usually writing about a destination I've covered in editorial (so I'm comfortable writing about the character of the place). I'll write, for instance, about a week-long health and healing excursion to Ecuador or an investment trip to Honduras. To me, it's a lot like writing travel editorial. And, typically, it pays much better. An experienced "copywriter" as such marketing-writer types are called -- can earn anywhere from $1,800 to $5,000 or more for such a project.

The resource I most highly recommend for learning more about this kind of writing is AWAI's copywriter course. It's called Michael Masterson's Accelerated Program for Six-Figure Copywriting, and it's available here: http://www.thewriterslife.com/bb/tw4

[Jen Stevens has spent the balance of the last seven years gallivanting through Latin America and the Caribbean -- to Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Belize and beyond reporting on and writing about the best locales for overseas travel, retirement, and investment. She is the former editor of International Living and Island Properties Report, and she was a writer and editor for several years at Trade & Culture magazine. Jen is the author of Passport to Romance: The Ultimate Travel Writer's Course, published by the American Writers & Artists Institute: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sh/tw4]

THIS WEEK'S FEATURED TRAVEL PUBLICATION: Chicago Parent

Chicago Parent is a publication targeting parents in the Chicago area. The publication features a number of departments including a Getaways column that covers traveling with children and is usually focused on a destination. The Getaways column can be either a mini-Getaway running 600 to 850 words or a full page column running 1000 to 1500 words. Send queries to Suzy Schultz, editor, Chicago Parent, 141 South Oak Park Ave., Oak Park, IL 60302. Include an SASE. Learn more about Chicago Parent’s writer’s guidelines at http://www.chicagoparent.com/submissions.htm.

OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:

• Everything You Need to Build and Grow Your Successful Writing Business -- Starting and running a successful writing business is a strategic, methodical, big-picture undertaking. You’re no longer an employee... you’re the boss. Are you running your business the right way - by maximizing your efficiency and profits and minimizing your stress and mistakes? Get the answers to the hundreds of questions and concerns commonly asked in specific, step-by-step details by clicking here: http://www.awaionline.com/bib/tw891/
• THE AWAI FORUM FOR TRAVEL WRITERS -- You'll find this excellent online resource at: http://www.awaionline.com/forum/. It's a place to get answers to your questions, discuss your story ideas, find readers to review your articles, and stay connected to a community of writers.
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• If you have what it takes to write a powerful "report" that sells vitamins or alternative health therapies you could make very good money in a specialty field that desperately needs you…that will give you as much work as you can handle…and that routinely pays $8,000 and up – with royalties – for each piece you write? Find out more: http://www.thewriterslife.com/health/tw4
• For These Proprietors, Success Means Grossing $1 Million a Year… Last December, Michael Masterson lead a small group of ambitious AWAI students through a pilot program designed to turn them into savvy direct-response entrepreneurs. The goal? To gross $1 million or more a year. It’s working. And now the program is open to all AWAI students. Visit: http://www.agora-inc.com/reports/700SCBMO/W700E130 for details.

The Write Way to Travel is a FREE weekly newsletter from the American Writers & Artists Institute, available to AWAI students and friends.

© 2004 American Writers & Artists Institute

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