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American Writers & Artists, Inc and International
Living present
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The Write Way to TravelEdited by Lori Appling in Kauai, HI "Best writing advice I've ever received: Sell everything
three times." Today:
A Note to Budding Travel Writers:Do you know two more people who'd enjoy the freedom and independence of a writer's life? They, too, can receive this free e-letter weekly if you send them the following link: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/eletter Dear Reader, In order to earn a decent living as a freelance travel writer you have to write a lot -- probably every day. Travel writers who go prolonged periods without traveling or writing are bound to have a difficult time meeting high revenue goals (although there's a trick to bumping up your income, which you'll learn in today's issue.) Writers are paid per article. So it would stand to reason that the faster you write, the more money you make. Turns out, that's not necessarily the case -- although it's true that a writer who can churn out 10 articles a week is likely to make more money then another who writes only five. You can maximize your earnings, though, in other ways. HOW TO TURN ONE STORY INTO THREE Freelance travel writer Steenie Harvey is a pro at this. In fact, she just got back from Thailand, where she collected material for at least 25 articles -- copy she'll pitch to as many publications as she can. Below she reveals how she does it. Before I leave you to Steenie's piece, I want to take a minute to congratulate workshop attendees Loren W. and Eunice T. Both students wrote me this week with news of being published after attending one of our live workshops. Find out exactly how each did it in an upcoming issue... Have a great weekend, Lori P.S. Now is the time to sign up for one of our upcoming workshops. Students are already claiming seats for Paris, scheduled May 9-12, 2004 and Chicago, scheduled June 17-20, 2004. If you sign up before the end of the month, you save $100 on the enrollment fee. Don't miss out -- there's no better way to jump-start your travel writing career. For details: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb Advertisement AWAI students are entitled to two free issues of Writer's Digest magazine at: https://secure.palmcoastd.com/pcd/document?ikey=0768PIW08 HOW TO TURN ONE STORY INTO THREE (OR THIRTY-THREE), by Steenie Harvey in IrelandFirst let me explain that it was International Living Magazine that sent me to Thailand. My brief was to do an article for the magazine and some "postcards" for the website. However, the editors also wanted a "journal" for a special issue for their long-time subscribers, plus a real estate article for Island Properties Report. I’ll get paid separately for those. I spent 14 days in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, and on the tropical island of Phuket. Keeping a journal, even if you haven’t been asked to write one, is something I’d really recommend you do. My "IL journal," over 13,000 words long, has 35 entries. I’d say at least 25 of these have potential to be turned into full-scale articles for other publications. Take Bangkok. Why cram all my experiences of the city into just one article? I can do a full-length piece on "Bangkok’s Scenic Backwaters: a long-tail boat trip down the canals of the Chrao Phraya River." I can do a piece on Spirit Houses. Another on the city’s five must-see Buddhist temples. Another on what it’s like to undergo a traditional Thai massage. And if I can find the right publication, a piece on the city’s seedy nightlife. But that’s not the only way I operate. With a bit of tweaking, I can sell the same story twice -- or more. Look at the opening paragraphs of these two articles:
Can you hear that strange rattling noise across West Bow’s cobblestones? It’s the death coach of the Satanist Major Weir – a noose awaits him at the Grassmarket gallows. Those muffled bagpipes? A piper’s ghost, trapped in passageways below the Royal Mile. Now sniff the air -- there’s a meaty smell wafting down Canongate. This street is haunted by an aristocratic madman. He roasted a kitchen boy on a spit -- then ate him.
A moonless night at the Mercat Cross on Edinburgh’s Royal Mile -- and it’s Ghostbusters gone mad. Thirty people are following a black-cloaked witch down Advocate’s Close. From the screeches, something nasty is happening in the City Chambers porticoes... maybe it’s to do with the body-snatcher now racing down High Street. And here comes a vampire, chivvying his charges behind St Giles High Kirk. There’ll soon be more screams if the trailing brown-cowled monk is a "jumper-oot." Sold to different publications, both basically tell the same story -- a story about Edinburgh ghost walks. Get into the habit of thinking up different openings... of telling your story in a different way. Do that, and you can get paid twice -- or even more times -- without doing any more research. Some travel stories are classic. If you use a fresh approach, they can be sold over and over -- and over. For example, I’ve placed the story of Ireland’s annual pilgrimage to the mountain where St. Patrick reputedly banished the snakes to four different U.S. publications. Here’s another way to increase your travel writing income. Many U.S. publications buy "First North American Serial Rights." This means they have the right to publish a particular piece in the U.S. first. There’s nothing to stop you re-selling the piece -- exactly as it's written -- to another U.S. magazine, so long as you inform the editor that another publication has already used it. You probably won’t make a packet on "second-time rights," but hey, it’s basically money for nothing. And unless a U.S. magazine has bought "world-wide rights" to your story, you don’t have to recycle it in a new form to sell to other parts of the world. Don’t forget that Britain, Australia, and other countries in the English-speaking world all pay money for good articles. [See issue # 2 of The Write Way to Travel in the E-letter Archives at http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com for details about getting published in the U.K. and Europe. Steenie will be joining Jen Stevens, John Forde and Rose Burke in Paris this May for our next, live Travel Writing Workshop. For more details visit: http://www.thetravelwriterslife.com/workshop/bb] Advertisement Last month, Krista strolled into her boss’s office and quit a job that paid her $81,000 and offered great benefits. Why? Because she received a better offer... to work as a writer… Here's her story: http://www.thewriterslife.com/kj/tw4 A Free Issue of Marco Polo MagazineThe editors at Marco Polo Magazine are offering a free issue of their publication to anyone interested in adventure travel for people ages 50 and up. Take them up on it. Not only do the issues offer a good read -- but this could prove a great market for your own articles. http://www.marcopolomagazine.com/samplecopy/index.asp?ref=reader030404 CONGRATULATIONS EUNICE TRASKE! Eunice attended our Travel Writing Workshop on board Royal Caribbean's Cruise ship, which sailed along the Pacific coast of Mexico this past November. She sent her article to one of the many publications we featured for their interest in working with first-time writers -- and they accepted her piece for publication in June. Eunice sent Jen and me this note… "Without all of you and the workshop, I would still be out there foundering amongst the hit and misses. Meanwhile, another article was published in a newsletter out of San Luis Obispo, CA, for the hundreds of ex-DEWLiners across the U.S., Canada and Greenland and Iceland. And I overhauled the Mazatlan article for an Inflight magazine and am awaiting a response. I am currently researching 3 additional projects and have support from the west coast PR for the Fiji Islands (my home away from home). Can't seem to stay still for 'retirement!' That's my best excuse for traveling. Thanks again and Blessings!" FURTHER RESOURCES:
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 To ADVERTISE in The Write Way to Travel or to send comments, news, research, or story ideas, e-mail Lori Appling at lappling@awaionline.com. NOTE: If URLs do not appear as live links in your e-mail program, please cut and paste the full URL into the location or address field of your browser. CHANGE OF ADDRESS? E-mail us at memberservices@awaionline.com with both your old AND new information in the body of the message. |
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