Dear Reader,

This week’s featured publication, TravelBeat, is a travel site that focuses not on the destination, but on hobbies and activities the world over. Whatever your interests, if you can take them on the road, then you can write about them for TravelBeat. Stories in this publication need photos, too. See below for more details.

-- Lori

Lori Allen
Director, AWAI Travel Division

P.S. Quick note -- folks have been calling to ask if our Sunday add-on sessions after the Denver workshop are full yet. The answer is: No, a few seats remain for both the Photography with Shelly Perry and the Food Writing with Kyle Wagner and Jen Stevens. They’re really fun, intimate events with lots of hands-on practice. (And in the food-writing one, lots of amazing food, too.) Click here for more details.

July 16, 2009

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Featured Publication: TravelBeat
Website: www.TravelBeat.net
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TravelBeat: Publish stories and propose your own paid column

TravelBeat is a hobby and interest-driven online travel magazine. It calls itself “a wide-ranging and far-flung information exchange for people who want to explore new territory in the arts, nature, sports, food & wine, history, volunteer work, or any number of special travel interests.”

You can explore the site by destination. But TravelBeat is designed to peruse by interest. Start by clicking on a hobby, or “travel beat” in the left column. Topics range from bicycling to birding to tango to wine. Within each “beat,” you’ll find stories from all over the world that revolve around that topic.

Each interest-driven beat has its own paid author. But you can still submit stories to individual beats. Or, if you have a special interest travel story that doesn’t fit into a beat, you can submit it to be published in the “showcase” section. “Showcase” is where guest writers can break into this magazine and show their stuff. If your story is published, you’ll get a free gift from the magazine’s sponsors.

All story submissions should include.

** Good grammar and well-proofread lines. The editors don’t want to spend all day checking and changing your words.

** Two or three photos. If you don’t have photos, ask your friends, or see if you can find some for free use from a tourist board.

** Links to the places and activities you’re writing about. Also include tags, or words that can identify your story. To see an example, click on any story on the site and scroll down to “index” on the left sidebar.

** No more than 800 words (500 is ideal).

** An “if you go” section, called “experience at a glance.” See any story on the site for an example.

Get the full Travel Beat writer’s guidelines here.

If TravelBeat editors like your articles, you could become a regular paid writer with your own beat column that focuses on one particular topic. Start by submitting at least five travel stories on that topic to the “Showcase” section. Once you get your own section, you have to be willing to write at least 30 stories on your topic. Payment is based on the number of page views your beat section attracts.

Right now, the editors are interested in opening up new beats on the following topics: “gardens, natural history, maritime art, period art, historical fiction, military history, fashion, science, architecture, photography, rail excursions, luxury-once-in-a-lifetime travel, caving, whitewater, theater, classical music, jazz, rock, travel with kids, family reunions...” They also welcome original ideas.

If you’re interested, pitch your beat idea by email here. Be sure to include “beat pitch” in your subject line.

[Ed. Note: Your interests can make for great travel articles... and they can even be the basis for creating travel tours, too. Cynthia Morris makes a good living leading small tours of like-minded people through her favorite destinations... to do her favorite things together. Read more of her story, and find out how you could get started doing the same.]

Further Resources:

TravelBeat: Read up on the Showcase section here.
TravelBeat also has a sports and events guide.

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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.

It is coming to you because you are either a member of The Ultimate Travel Writer's Program or Turn Your Pictures into Cash, or you have opted to receive information about getting paid to travel from the AWAI Travel Division.

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