Edited by Lori Appling in Washington D.C.
"Always bear in mind that your own resolution to succeed is more important than any one thing." -- Abraham LincolnToday:
- How to Recognize a Contest Scam
- Three Ways to Fund a Lifetime of Travel
- 10 Must-Plan Travel Adventures for 2006
- Photography Contest: The Best of America
- This Week's Featured Travel Publication: Travel + Leisure
- More Opportunities and Resources for Writers
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HOW TO MAKE A SIX-FIGURE INCOME TRAVELING THE WORLD
Learn travel secrets designed to fund your vacations and make you $100,000 or more a year as you explore the world like a VIP.
Last month, five savvy, sophisticated travelers met for a special round-table discussion about the three tools they use to consistently fund and profit from their vacations. To find out how you can get your hands on a recording of that call, visit: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/twcall.
Listen to the call today and you'll receive $500 off our Lucrative Traveler Conference in February. Add that to the Early Bird discount and you'll save a full $1,000.
Dear Reader,
The International Library of Photography Contest I mentioned two weeks ago is a scam.I mentioned this contest to you in a past eletter along with a few others I thought you might look into for fun. This week, two of your fellow readers wrote in to say it's a scam.
I looked into it further and boy is it ever. I found posting after posting of applicants who were conned into buying an over priced ($60-$70) book with their picture in it. Regardless of whether or not you buy the book they invite you to their annual conference where your pictures will be displayed if you pay $160 more.
One woman claimed that she was so excited about winning she wrote the check right away. Before her husband let her send it in he snapped a picture of an old chewed up teddy bear they had laying around and entered the contest to see if he'd win too -- he did.
There's an entire thread of complaints here: http://www.betterphoto.com/forms/QnAdetail.asp?threadID=14647
I'm telling you this so you don't make the same mistake I did and fall for such a thing.
Here are some guidelines to help you recognize a future scam:
TELL-TALE SIGN IT'S A SCAM #1: The Release Form
If you're asked to sign away too many rights, it's probably a scam.
One posting I read said that they had to sign away All Rights for their photographs to be used in any way the contest organizers see fit. The organizers then combine all the photos submitted for the contest and sell them as royalty-free stock photo CD's to the public. The photographer gets no recognition nor compensation for the sale.
What's worse, if your picture is used for commercial purposes and you never got a model or building release, it's you that will be sued, not the company that sold the picture.
You should read the fine print and all the disclaimers. Never license anything in perpetuity. And don't send in your best work unless you know for sure you can retain the copyright on it.
TELL-TALE SIGN IT'S A SCAM #2: They Want Your Money
You shouldn't have to pay to see your photos in print. They should be paying you, not the other way around.
TELL-TALE SIGN IT'S A SCAM #3: Everyone Wins
I remember poetry contests like this. The applicant sends in his or her submission and receives a note back about how good it is. Then each is asked to buy a book in which all the submissions are included.
TELL-TALE SIGN IT'S A SCAM #4: You've Never Heard of the Company
Search Google.com for the company name and see if you can find out more about it. Reputable companies have contests all the time, and they're a great way to practice your photography and earn cool prizes. Don't let the bad guys ruin it for you completely. Just do your homework before you enter.
I don't mean to scare you. As I said, for every bad guy out there there are at least ten good ones.
Every year, several major publications and photographic-equipment manufacturers, for instance, sponsor reputable contests that might interest you, including these three:
- National Geographic Traveler -- http://www.nationalgeographic.com/photography/
- Islands Magazine -- http://www.islands.com/photocontest/
- Nikon -- http://nikonimaging.com/global/activity/npci/npci2004-2005/
As always, remember to keep me up-to-speed on your success. If you have good news to share, send me a quick note at lori@thetravelwriterslife.com.
I hope you have a great weekend,
-- Lori
Lori Appling
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
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By Freelance Travel Writer, Steenie Harvey, in Ireland
Professional writers and photographers aim to maximize their travels - and novices should too. Plan carefully, and any trip will yield a bounty of articles and photos. If you're seeking ideas for a Big Trip that's beyond the mainstream, here are some great round-the-world destinations with fantastic potential for both scribes and snappers. Having experienced all these places in the last three years, I can guarantee you'll find more than enough to keep you busy for months to come. And you'll have fun too.
(Where possible, don't spend every night in hotels. Rent an apartment for a few days and you can also write a 'Live Like a Local' article.)
BUENOS AIRES, ARGENTINA
One of the world's best-value travel destinations at this moment, Buenos Aires is South America's most sophisticated city. Take a tango lesson...explore the colorful port quarter of La Boca...see who else besides Evita is buried in Recoleta cemetery...check out the San Telmo antiques market...hunt down the perfect steak...go clubbing in Palermo...join the cafe society...experience a local soccer match...kayak the waterways of the Rio del Plata. Short side trips could include a visit to a ranch or the beaches of Mar del Plata. For a longer add-on whilst in Argentina, you could tour the Mendoza vineyards, head south into the wilds of Patagonia or visit the colonial northwest around Salta.
ANDALUCIA, SPAIN
Bullfights, flamenco and ice-cold gazpacho. Free bar snacks called tapas -- how many different ones can you sample? Sugar-cube houses with courtyard patios and terraces hung with vines, honeysuckle and jasmine. Although Cordoba, Seville and Granada are the stars of the Andalucian show (you could do a whole article on 'Tales of the Alhambra' alone), numerous small towns and villages throughout Andalucia also invoke the glory days of Moorish Spain. Spare some time to hike the Alpujarras, the southern foothills of the Sierra Nevada mountains...then head down to the coast to see why the Costa del Sol is one of northern Europe's favorite vacation destinations.
CHIANG MAI, THAILAND
Silk-making, silverware, hand-painted parasols. Teak furniture, celadon pottery, even elephant-dung paper. The center of Thailand's crafts industry, Chiang Mai offers boundless opportunities to cover shopping and import-export opportunities. (The city's mammoth Night Market deserves an article to itself.) What else can you photograph or write about? Well, how about Thai food (both eating and cooking courses)...or encounters with hill tribes...or elephant conservation...or traditional Thai massage...or whitewater river rafting...or jungle-trekking...or a side trip to the notorious Golden Triangle. And that's just for starters! You'd probably start your Thailand trip in razzle-dazzle Bangkok -- and that steamy city has the potential for a shed-load of articles too.
CORSICA
Can't decide whether the charms of la belle France outweigh those of bella Italia? Then visit Corsica, birthplace of Napoleon. Although this little-known island belongs to France, its nearest neighbor is Italy. You get the best of both worlds: excellent food and wines, great summer weather, hiking trails with mesmerizing scenery, and towns steeped in vendetta history. Plus a sea that shimmers peacock blue. If I had to pick a favorite place in the Mediterranean, Corsica would be it. Ajaccio, Bonifaccio and Calvi make three interesting bases to discover the island - if you're looking for an entanglement with a handsome brute wearing a kepi, Calvi is still home to an outpost of the French Foreign Legion.
GREEK ISLAND HOPPING
In toytown harbors, weather-beaten fishermen repair bright yellow nets. Donkeys clop down steep alleyways and wayward goats try to scrabble up into olive trees. White houses cascade with jasmine, cats doze away on terraces and 'ya-yas' (wizened old ladies) sit in doorways shelling peas and exchanging gossip. And the Aegean Sea is as idyllic as in Homer's day: mother-of-pearl at dawn...deep blue at midday...shot-silk at twilight. Of Greece's hundreds of islands and islets, 166 are inhabited - so you won't be short of places to write about. If somebody put a gun to my head and forced me to choose one single destination, I'd go for Crete, the country's largest island. You can wander the ruins of Knossos (home of the legendary Minotaur), hike the Samaria Gorge, and visit Spinalonga -- this was Europe's last leper colony.
MARTINIQUE & GUADELOUPE - THE FRENCH WEST INDIES
Combining small island charm with Caribbean chic, Martinique and Guadeloupe are the two main islands of the French West Indies. Odd though it seems, these two islands are as French as Provence. Islanders carry French identity cards, use Euros, and fly tricolors from town halls. Although you'll come across beach shacks, free-ranging hens and throbbing zouk music, you'll also encounter six-lane highways, nudist beaches, manicured golf courses and stylish marinas. Fishing, sailing and diving opportunities are incredible: off Guadeloupe's western coast is the Jacques Cousteau Marine Reserve - an underwater realm of corals, sea sponges and tropical fish.
MEXICO'S COLONIAL HEARTLANDS
Visiting Mexico's colonial cities is like falling through a crack of time into the 16th century, the heyday of the Spanish Conquistadores. Don't miss the creepy mummies of Guanajuato, the opal sellers of Queretero, or Zacatecas and its silver mines. (When I was in Zacatecas you could go dancing in one of the mines -- and I also stayed in a bullring that's now a hotel.) There's also the quaint art-and-crafty town of San Miguel de Allende; Dolores Hidalgo, birthplace of Mexican independence, and Morelia home of the Museo del Dulce. This candy museum showcases over 300 varieties, many the original recipes of nuns. Here Mexican food is aimed at Mexicans, not gringos -- as well as sampling the restaurants, you might want to take a short cooking course too. You can also factor in spas, horseback-riding and great buys in leather.
NEW ZEALAND
Auckland, the 'City of Sails,' and picture-perfect islands like Waiheke. Maori culture, hot sulfur springs and 30 feet high geysers at Rotorua. Green-lipped mussels and whale-watching. The vineyard trails of Blenheim where you can buy wine at the cellar door. And definitely spend a few days in Queenstown. On the South Island, this alpine resort is NZ's 'Adventure Capital.' Madmen -- and women -- come to indulge in thrill therapy that includes sky-diving, hang-gliding, canyon swings and bungy jumps. There's lots of gentler pursuits too: gold-panning, horseback-riding, vineyard visits, and golf. Plus you'll find day excursions into mountainous Fjordland with its glacial lakes or around locations where the Lord of the Rings movie trilogy was filmed. In Kiwi summer (winter in the northern hemisphere), there's skiing too.
NORTHERN BORNEO
Shared with the independent sultanate of Brunei, northern Borneo encompasses the Malaysian states of Sarawak (The Land of the Hornbill) and Sabah (The Land Below the Wind). The island is home to southeast Asia's highest peaks, oldest jungles, and the white-sand beaches of the South China Sea. To get the most from a trip, spend time in both Sabah and Sarawak. For me, Sabah was characterized by mountains, snorkeling adventures, and 'the People of the Forest': silky-haired orangutans. Sarawak has more in the way of jungle, longhouse settlements and Iban warriors. Look out for the blue tattoos on the fingers of Iban village elders - these indicate your hosts enjoyed a spot of head-hunting in their youth. (And I don't mean the kind of head-hunting that goes on in corporate circles!)
THE SCOTTISH HIGHLANDS AND EDINBURGH
With many local Highland Games scheduled, late summer is the perfect time to visit the Scottish Highlands. (Watch the caber tossers and shot putters and you'll discover the real truth about what Scotsmen wear under their kilts!) Discover the intricacies of Highland dancing - and try the steps yourself at an evening ceilidh. Stay in a castle hotel for a luxury experience...go golfing or try your hand at salmon fishing...sample Scottish culinary delicacies. Tour the whisky distilleries. Follow in the footsteps of Shakespeare's King Macbeth to Birnam Wood and the haunted castles of Cawdor and Glamis. Take the ferry to the holy island of Iona and nearby Hebridean islands such as Rhum - you're certain to spy seals. But spare some time for Edinburgh too -- I can promise you the Scottish capital has at least a week's worth of stories.
[EDITOR'S NOTE: If you've been to one of our live travel writer workshops, you know that freelance travel writer Steenie Harvey is an absolute riot! Students from past live workshops have said things like...
"Steenie Harvey is hands-down excellent, not stingy with immediately useful information and methods that worked for her."
"Steenie is a hilarious, a very effective presenter -- very informative, a true gem."
"Steenie adds great value -- a terrific mix of practical ideas, humor and encouragement."
You'll be able to meet Steenie and four other savvy travelers at the upcoming Lucrative Traveler's Conference, February 10 - 12 in San Antonio. If you act now, you can save $500... For details, visit http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/texas
Note: You can save an additional $500 by listening to our Fund Your Travels tele-seminar. Combine both discounts, and that's a full $1,000 off the workshop cost. For more details about the tele-seminar, visit: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/twcall]
* Contests *
THE BEST OF AMERICA: PHOTOGRAPHERS 2005
Kennedy Promotions is producing its second unique new book series, with 200+ winners featured in a beautiful soft cover book listed with major online booksellers.
Deadline: February 15, 2006. For more information or to download an entry form visit:
http://www.bestofartists.com/
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THIS WEEK'S FEATURED TRAVEL PUBLICATION
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OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:
HOW TO MAKE A SIX-FIGURE INCOME TRAVELING THE WORLD -- Learn travel secrets designed to fund your vacations and make you $100,000 or more a year as you explore the world like a VIP. Two days ago, five savvy, sophisticated travelers met for a special round-table discussion about the three tools they use to consistently fund and profit from their vacations. In the past, people have paid $1,597 to learn the secrets for mastering just one of these travel tools. But today you're invited to discover three lucrative travel tools... for less than $20: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/twcall
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© 2004 American Writers & Artists Institute
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