Dear Right Way to Travel Reader,
“Where should I publish my article?”
This is one of the most common reader questions I get. So I asked Bonnie Caton, one of our staff writers to send you step-by-step instructions on how she got her first three articles published…
You’ll find her article below…
-- Lori
Lori Allen
Director, AWAI Travel Division
P.S. Right now is prime time to get low fares on plane tickets to the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop, coming up this July in Denver, Colorado: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tww/denver09
Tickets from New York, Chicago, San Francisco, and other U.S. cities to Denver are a low $250 - $300 right now on Kayak.com.
If you fly United only, there’s a New Year’s sale on fares within the United States if you purchase your flight before Friday, January 16, here: http://tinyurl.com/unitedsale
Reserve your spot at the workshop today, and you’ll also save $300 during our Early Bird Discount right now, here: http://www.thephotographerslife.com/tww/denver09
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January 10, 2009
The Right Way to Travel
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GETTING PUBLISHED: A TRAVEL WRITER’S ROADMAP
By Bonnie Caton in Arlington, Virginia
Before I got published the first time, I imagined having to go through a lot of rejection.
Then I went to the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop in Portland. Freelance writer Jen Stevens spelled out all the steps and made it look so easy.
So I followed every suggestion she made... and got published on the first try. Then I did it again. And again.
Here’s what I did, and how you can up your chances of getting published on your next try, too:
** 1. I picked a publication that fit my style, and would therefore be more likely to publish something from me. I was living in Portland, Oregon, and loving the city, so I picked Oregon.com.
** 2. Paying attention to the length of the articles and sidebars, I carefully read through the stories on the website. At the workshop, Jen, who’d once been a magazine editor for a number of years, said that the easier you make an editor’s job, the more professional you’ll look... setting yourself apart from other writers. I wanted to make sure my article followed the exact same format as the articles in the publication.
** 3. I read the writer’s guidelines. Usually, you’ll find them on the publication’s website, but there weren’t any guidelines on Oregon.com. I wrote to the editor, informing him that I was a travel writer interested in writing for his publication, and asked if he had guidelines he could send me. He did. Jen stressed the importance of this over and over at the workshop, so...
** 4. I read the writer’s guidelines again. I followed every suggestion in them, tailoring my article to the exact length requested, with a sidebar exactly as the editor wanted.
** 5. I crossed my fingers... and sent in my story. Some editors prefer that you query first, others want you to send the entire article. I always make sure to figure out how the editor wants my story before sending it in.
The editor wrote back the very same day. He was more than pleased... he was excited that the story followed all of his specifications, fit in with the other articles in the magazine, and didn’t need any extra work. He paid me, and asked when I could send him another story.
Jen Stevens says that if you don’t get published the first time, don’t worry. Just ask yourself: does my story fit in with the style of this publication? Have they already published something like it? Where else can I submit it?
[About the Author: Bonnie Caton came to the Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop in her hometown of Portland, Oregon, with dreams of being a published travel writer. A few weeks later, she used what she learned there to land her first paid clips. Now, she writes for us here in the AWAI Travel Division and edits Travel Post Monthly.
Reserve your seat at the next Ultimate Travel Writer’s Workshop this July in Denver, Colorado, and find out what Bonnie and other successful attendees learned that made it easy and fun to get published -- and paid -- here: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/tww/denver09 .]
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(c) 2009 American Writers & Artists Inc.
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