Ensure One Travel-Writing Gig Leads to Another
Today: *** How One Article Can Beget Another... and Another... *** Let Us Refund Your Money on Every Travel Product You Bought From Us in the Past 12 Months, Details Below... *** Practical Writing Prompt of the Week: Spice Your Articles with a Pinch of History *** Reader Feedback: I Got a Grand Tour *** [...]
How to Avoid Hidden Booking Fees: Six Tips for Booking a Fair Deal
If you want a good deal, be prepared to research the fine print. Here are a few tips that can help…
Deciphering Guidelines: Terms You Need to Know
Writing is all about words, but sometimes it seems that just becoming a writer involves learning a whole new language: kill fees, simultaneous submissions, FOB... Writer's guidelines can be intimidating (what they say and what they mean can be two different things) so let's go through some terms you need to know and I'll include [...]
How to Win an Editor with Your Headline
Headlines are designed to grab your attention and draw you in. Yet most travel writers all but ignore this aspect of their stories when they send them to an editor. Here are a few tips from freelance writer Jennifer Stevens on how to increase your article sales.
How to Reach an Editor
You should always submit your story or your query for your story with a well-targeted headline on it. You want it to catch the editor's eye and show him, immediately, what your article is about. It's one of the most effective ways to distinguish yourself from the bulk of other writers also submitting material.
Don't Worry, We're Recording It...
Lucky for me -- and for you too if you're missing this year's event -- we're recording it. So at least we'll have an opportunity to hear the new presentations from guest speakers.
Grabbed, Pinched, and Kicked: Turning Travel into Checks
TRAVEL THRILLS (AND CHILLS) By Roberta Beach Jacobson in Karpathos, Greece A notice in a recent newsletter of Budget Travel Online grabbed my attention. It was a simple request: "We're asking readers to scan or snap a digital photo of any evocative, thrill-inducing passport stamps from far-flung countries. E-mail the images to letters@budgettravelonline.com with the [...]
Turning Social Issues into Travel Articles
TURNING SOCIAL ISSUES INTO TRAVEL ARTICLES On Monday I wandered into a dive shop in San Pedro, the main town on Ambergris Caye in Belize, but instead of signing up for a scuba trip I somehow dove into an animated debate with Gilbert, a tall, 30-something Belizean entrepreneur. You see, Belize is a poor country [...]
How to "Localize" a Piece for More Profit
Add "Local" Flavor to Any Article, and You Can Sell It Here... and There Last week I talked about three ways you can improve the odds you'll land a newspaper by-line. (Missed that issue? You'll find it in the archives, here) As I explained in that piece, by "localizing" your article -- that is, tailoring [...]
Not-So-Elusive Benefits of Travel Writing
If you simply learn a few important tricks of the trade about putting an article together and about dealing with editors -- exactly the sorts of things you'll find documented in our archives -- then you'll be well ahead of the majority of new writers (even seasoned writers) out there.
Three Tricks for Breaking into Newspapers
Three Smart Ways to Sell Your Story to a Newspaper's Travel Editor Open any newspaper's travel section and you're bound to see articles picked up off a wire. They're easy to spot. Under the by-line they'll say something like "Los Angeles Times" (though you're reading the Denver Post). It's not that editors don't want other [...]
Bonus Report: Real-World Secrets to Fund Your Travels (Part 2)
Editors -- always looking for ways to keep their readers engaged -- like to publish articles that are timely and "current." As a writer, one way to meet that need is to peg your stories to a trend. Jen Stevens spoke to this point here at our Ultimate Travel Writer's Workshop in Paris and gave [...]
3 Ways to Repackage (and Resell) an Article
Once you've invested the time and energy in researching, writing, and editing an article, it's a pity to get just one sale out of it. Now, if you maintained some rights to the piece, then you can resell it as-is in non-competing markets. (We've written about this option before. Go here for an article by [...]
Graveyards and Ghost Tales
Today: *** April Means October: How to Turn Your Spring-Time Months into Saleable Articles this Fall *** Electronic Guide: How to Find the Best Story Ideas and Where to Publish Them *** Practical Writing Prompt of the Week: Writing Funny Travel Stories *** Reader Feedback: Published in Common Ties *** More Opportunities and Resources for [...]
Are You a Scaredy-Cat Writer?
Are You a Scaredy-Cat Writer? Four Steps to Conquer Your Fears and Set Yourself up for Success this Week If you have yet to find success as a travel writer, odds are, it's not because the three articles a week you're sending out are all ill-suited for the publications to which you're sending them. No, [...]
