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The Right Way to Travel
Edited by Lori Allen in Arlington, VA
November 30, 2007
"All truths are easy to understand once they are discovered; the point is to discover them." -- Galileo Galilei
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Today:
*** Little Clips Lead to Big Clips
*** A Personal Writing Coach for Less Than $20 a Month
*** Practical Writing Prompt of the Week: Quantity Over Quality
*** Reader Feedback: 34 Articles in 10 Weeks
*** More Opportunities and Resources for Writers
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LITTLE CLIPS LEAD TO BIG CLIPS
by Bonnie Caton in Arlington, Virginia
I'm a procrastinator. I'm also a nervous person... contacting an editor -- even by email -- makes my palms sweat. But that hasn't stopped me from convincing editors to pay me for articles. And it shouldn't stop you, either.
If you like to write, but you hesitate -- maybe because you're nervous, like me... or maybe because you're just not sure where to start -- then I suggest you follow my lead.
Submit your stories, first, to internet magazines.
They may pay little or nothing for stories, but they're easier to break into than those intimidating glossies. And your articles in them will give you instant "professional status" -- with clips to prove it.
I got my start by submitting stories to Bootsnall.com, a site we wrote up as a featured publication last June. (You'll find the article here: http://tinyurl.com/2wupjp.) Though Bootsnall.com doesn't pay for the stories it publishes, it is a place to get an easy and good-looking byline you can show to editors.
In fact, it was those small stories on Bootsnall.com that landed me a job writing -- and getting paid for -- articles on Oregon.com. When I first approached the editor and he asked to see my clips... I hesitated. I had never been paid for a story. Luckily, I had links to two articles I'd had published at Bootsnall.com -- and that was enough to convince him to give me a try.
He paid me for the first article I wrote... and then asked for more. And more. It was fun to write about my home town, too.
There are plenty of sites out there that gladly publish travel stories from inexperienced writers. Whether they pay for your story or not, those bylines are the first step towards landing articles in bigger publications and collecting handsome checks. The trick is to start small and work your way up, clip by clip.
I'm telling you this now because if you've been to our workshops or taken our course, you know what you need to do to get published... it just takes doing it.
Right now I'm working with the ITWPA on an online magazine called Travel Post Monthly that was made for people just like you who need to get started with a few clips.
If you haven't seen it yet, go take a look: http://www.travelpostmonthly.com.
Travel Post Monthly is special not only because it's an easy clip, but because each month, we send an issue out to a list of editors who are always on the lookout for new material.
One of those editors may want to buy your story -- but even if they don't, you'll have a good-looking clip you can link to when you're pitching stories to other editors. I've submitted a few of mine... in fact, I'll be writing a piece for next month's issue about simple, fun, and effective travel workouts.
We're always looking for good content. If you submit your story now, you could be a published travel writer by next month.
Still not sure how to start? Scroll down for today's writing prompt.
Have a great weekend,
Bonnie Caton
Staff Writer and Member Liaison, AWAI Travel Division
P.S. Know a friend or two who'd enjoy the freedom and independence of a writer's or photographer's life? They, too, can sign up to receive this free e-letter here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/eletter
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* Highly Recommended*
You've got just enough time to stir the eggnog, hang the mistletoe, and brush up on some holiday photo tips before the holidays come rushing in.
Download AWAI's Holiday Photo Guide today and you'll learn how to:
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It's downloadable, so you can start reading it in minutes.
Find it here: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/holiday
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PRACTICAL WRITING PROMPT OF THE WEEK: Get your words out, quickly!
Have you heard of NaNoWriMo? It stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it's the name of a site made to help people write an entire novel in one month. Writers signed up on November 1 and they have to submit at least 175 pages by November 30. See the site here: http://www.nanowrimo.com.
At NaNoWriMo's pace, writers average about six pages per day.
Now, we're focused on writing and selling travel articles -- not novels. But the folks over at NaNoWriMo are onto something with their mandate that you just get content down on paper. It really does open up the creative flow.
So this week -- in the spirit of quantity over quality -- think up an article idea... set a timer for one hour... and knock out a three-page article.
Now remember: with this exercise, the focus is on quantity, not quality. You may not come up with something you'll want to submit to an editor right away, but you will get a few ideas down on paper (or computer screen), and that will likely lead to other ideas.
Once you write three pages, or as much as you can in an hour, set your story aside for a day or two and go back to it later to see what you can use. You may be able to revise it and submit it to Travel Post Monthly, or another online publication.
You'll find the writer's guidelines for Travel Post Monthly here: http://www.travelpostmonthly.com/writers_guidelines
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READER FEEDBACK: Roy Stevenson sold 34 articles in 10 weeks, and he's not stopping there.
Jen Stevens, author of our Ultimate Travel Writer's Program (and our fearless workshop leader) passed along this note, which she just received from a gentleman who came to our live program in Portland, OR last summer:
Hi Jennifer,
I've continued to have good success pitching query letters and getting articles accepted for publication. My total in the past ten weeks, since I got serious about freelance writing is 34 articles. I'm quite amazed because I've only had one article query rejected by all magazines I pitched.
I've sold every other article that I've pitched, although I still have several in with some BIG national military glossies that I'm waiting to hear from -- they can take several months to respond, according to their writer's guidelines. I'm not counting them in my "pitched" total yet.
I had set a target of 40 articles by Christmas, but it looks like I will surpass this easily if I keep going at this rate.
Here are some details of my latest submissions/acceptances.
Military Magazine liked my article about the Ten Best WWII Museums in Western Europe so much they decided to split it up into a 10-part series. I then pitched them the idea of doing a regular monthly museum review column, and am waiting to hear back about this idea.
I pitched the Kitsap Sun newspaper an article about "The Five WWII Museums At Normandy For Americans To Visit," which they picked up and ran on Veterans Day ($60). I'm starting to get the hang of pitching to newspapers. I look for regional newspapers that have a strong military presence nearby, and they seem to be interested.
I pitched an article to an Erotica Emagazine about the Ancient Chinese Museum of Sex Culture and they replied they wanted it. I'm still debating whether to pitch it to travel mags too.
Sharon Miller [an editor Roy met at our Portland travel writing workshop last July] accepted my piece on "A Bali Hindu Cremation Ceremony", and then indicated she'd like to look at my article about the Catacombs of Paris.
I work at a Community College with over 50% minorities, and pitched an article about "Highline community College: Seattle's Multicultural Microcosm" to Colors Northwest magazine, which they promptly picked up, one day after I sent out the query letter. $250 for that one. I saw that magazine in a Teriyaki restaurant and thought, "bet I could sell them an article."
I just got $200 cash in the mail from the UK Classic Military Vehicles Magazine for the 4-part museum review series I wrote for them a few weeks ago. These reviews were only 500 words apiece, which did not take very long at all to write.
Mid-Columbia Magazine, a glossy Eastern Washington Magazine about wine, recreation, sports, events, travel, etc. has just picked up an article I pitched about "Where To Find Traces Of The Great Columbia River Basalt Eruption In Eastern Washington". I sent the query letter out to 6 Pacific NW magazines at 5:00 p.m. on Sunday evening, went to the supermarket, and came back an hour later to find an acceptance email from the editor. That's a new record.
I'm using all the ideas you taught us at the workshop in Portland, and of course learning lots of other things about the freelance writing business while I'm at it.
Anyway, sorry to bore you with a long email, but I wanted to let you know that I'm still revving along and thoroughly enjoying the game. I had to stop sending out query letters again because I have another backlog of articles to write. Not a bad problem to have for a beginner.
Best Regards, Jennifer,
Roy Stevenson
[Ed. Note: If you'd like to follow in Roy's footsteps, it's easy. Join us in San Francisco July 24-26, 2008 for our only Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop of the year. Like Roy, you'll meet editors, learn the secrets from seasoned pros, and have the time of your life, too. If you reserve your place before the end of TODAY, you'll save a whopping $700. Details here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/sanfrancisco/ ]
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OPPORTUNITIES AND RESOURCES FOR WRITERS:
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*HOW (AND WHEN) TO FOLLOW UP WITH AN EDITOR: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/biz/website
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* SAVE THOUSANDS ON TRAVEL -- LEGALLY WRITE IT OFF ON YOUR TAXES: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tax/website
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The Right Way to Travel is a FREE newsletter from the American Writers & Artists Inc., available to AWAI members and friends.
(c) 2007 American Writers & Artists Inc.
245 NE 4th Ave., Ste 102
Delray Beach, FL 33483
Phone (561) 278-5557
Fax (561) 278-5929
memberservices@awaionline.com
To LEARN MORE, visit:
http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com
http://www.thephotographerslife.com
